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Our Northern Isles Adventure |
We sailed out of Akeuyri at about 2:30 PM on August 14th enroute for Alesund, Norway! We pulled into the dock at Alesund at just about 8 AM on August 16th. It was raining outside, but not hard. We have no excursions set for today. It is a “free” day to roam around the city as well as the ship.
Before talking about Norway, let’s review the trek from Iceland to Norway. The captain had told all of us when departing Iceland that we should expect 6-8 foot swells. To prepare for this, we took the bomine tablets. As it turned out, there were no big swells! It was actually a fairly good voyage for being out in the open ocean. I wish we would have known that as the pills tend to make you a bit drowsy. But we were safe from any sea-sickness on this leg as well as all of the past ones.
Alesand is a beautiful city. We did not wander too far from the ship on account of the unstable weather. We did see the 400+ steps up the side of the mountain to the top where the picture above was actually taken. After seeing this picture, I now wish I would have braved the weather and gone to the top. However, there are other means to get there other than trekking up 400+ stairs!!!
We sailed out of Alesund about 4:30 PM on enroute for Bergen, Norway! We will be in that port for the day – arrive at 8 AM, and leave at 6:30 PM. Our Bergen excursion is supposed to be about 2 hours. It is called "Easy Bergen" and this is how it is described:
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Your panoramic excursion starts with a drive through Sandvika or Sandy Bay, full of charming white wooden buildings built in traditional Bergen style. Watch for beautiful St Mary's Church -- the oldest building in Bergen and one of the few Romanesque buildings in Norway. You will see the well-known fish market as well. Continue to the Nordnes Peninsula for a photo stop at the old Customs pier. Drive past the Bergen Aquarium and a typical, narrow Bergen street known as a smug. Your guide will point out the Bergen Theatre and, in the Haakonsgaten area, St John's Church. You will pass Grieg Hall, the busy Danmarksplass intersection and Haukeland University Hospital. Complete your tour with a drive through Kalfaret -- a residential area with many charming old buildings.
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This tour was second only to Akureyri. We saw some beautiful countryside. Bergen is the 2nd largest city in Norway. It also rains (according to our guide) about 265 days a year. When we began our bus tour, it was overcast. About 2/3 of the way through the tour, it began raining albeit lightly. We still got some great pictures to share. This is a country that would be fun to explore in more depth.
This was our last port. From here, we sailed back to Amsterdam arriving and docking on August 19th just before 7 AM. Our flight back to the States was at 10:20, so we had to scurry from the ship, into a cab and off to the airport (about a 30+ minute drive from the ship terminal building). We made it in time, and got back to Las Vegas (by way of Dallas TX) at about 6:30 PM on August 19th - the same day we left Amsterdam! That day turned out to be 33 hours - the longest day of us had ever experienced!!! It took several days to get adjusted to the 9-hour time change from Amsterdam to the western United States.
We have organized the pictures and videos by our destination city. Please click on the appropriate city/port name below: