It’s now Wednesday, July 19, and we’ve just docked in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city – and we have sunshine! We’ve had patches of blue on other days but today is cloudless and predicted to be 22 deg! This must be the day they have summer.
Going back to Monday, we spent the afternoon in Ålesund, Norway’s art nouveau city that was rebuilt in that style after a fire in 1904 destroyed most of the old wooden buildings. It pelted with freezing rain the whole time we were there, but our walking tour was made enjoyable thanks to a charming Russian guide, who has called Ålesund home for 18 years.
The buildings are amazing given the tendency in the 1960s to rip down anything “old” and the inside of one of the grand old houses that we were able to visit contained some real art nouveau treasures of furniture and glass ware.
Here’s a misty look at Ålesund as we sailed away on Monday evening (by the way, sunset is around 11 pm!)
So now for yesterday – Tuesday, July 18, in the picture postcard perfect town of Geiranger, that sits at the end of a 16km long fjord, rightfully recognized by UNESCO as Norway’s most beautiful waterway. Sailing in during the morning, we passed dozens of waterfalls, the best being the Seven Sisters and the Suitor (pics below).
After lunch, we went on a 3.5 hr coach journey to Mount Daisnibba, 1500 metres above sea level and well above the tree line, where it snows every day, even in mid-summer! Not surpsing that it was so cold – the latitude is to the north of the Shetland Islands and pretty much in line with Rejkavik, Iceland.
The views were very special, not only of a glacier, mountains, and our boat way below in the fjord, but also of the lush green mountain meadows populated mainly with goats (farmers get 80c a litre for the goat’s milk) and the huts and farmhouses with turf roofs. How do they control the weeds? They put a kid goat on the roof to take care of the overgrowth!
A really spectacular day finished off with a great meal on board with a couple from Sydney, washed down with a very nice Douro red.
