Day 1 and 2 Hurtigruten Bergen to Molde, inc. Geirangerfjord

My friends Rob and Jane, and their friend Dawn joined me in Bergen and will travel all the way to Kirkenes and back on the Nordkapp, Hurtigruten.
Could there be a better start to what is going to be a trip of a lifetime!
Perfect weather, if not a little on the hot side!
My cabin was far better than I expected and my 'limited' view was barely limited! It was a very spacious room and the rest of the ship more luxurious than I imagined for a coastal, postal boat.
Beautiful sitting areas both inside and outside.
We left Bergen with beautiful, gentle music playing, leaving this gorgeous city behind us. A short but wonderful stay. 
Wow! What a magical first evening, with balmy temperatures, clear skies and lovely pastel colors on the water.

We woke up to some fog in the distance, probably caused by the heat the previous day and cooler morning temperatures! Otherwise, clear blue skies and such still waters. How lucky we are.
There were some magnificent cloud formations.
Our first day was nothing short of magical. From Alesund we took a detour up the absolutely stunning Geiranger Fjord. What an unforgettable experience. We stood on deck all day long, in awe of the majestic scenery all around us.
This area is an Unescorted World Heritage Site. It attracts millions of visitors every year 
It's a dramatic, untouched masterpiece of nature.
Giant peaks tower above the fjord, with sheer cliffs reaching as far below the water as above.
It doesn't matter in which direction you look, the landscape is simply breathtaking. 
Waterfalls make a very long journey from the source to the fjordwaters below.
Some just a thin, graceful trickle of water,,
Others, like The Suitor, said to be wooing the 'seven sisters' opposite!
What a beautiful cascade of water!
This 15 km long fjord, 700 meters deep in places, finishes at Trollstigen, a road leading up 11 hairpin bends to 858 meters above sea level.
We couldn't have been luckier with our weather on this unforgettable introduction to the absolutely stunning Norwegian scenery.
Farewell to Geiranger. We asked ourselves if it would be possible to match such an awesome start?
Our first stop in the evening was Alesund, one of Norway's busiest ports, especially for cruise ships, as it is so close to Geiranger.
It's a small, yet colorful town, mostly rebuilt in art nouveau style after a fire in 1904. 
After a short stay there, it was time to cross our first stretch of open sea, to the little town of Molde. 
The tiny little town was abuzz, with crowds of young people enjoying an annual jazz festival. This otherwise sleepy little place attracts people from all over the neighborhood and really comes alive.
Actually, for us, the most interesting thing was the reflection of our ship in the mirror windows at the bottom of a hotel, built in the shape of a boat. We had to be quick to capture this on camera!
The end of an incredible day. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tairua and the Coromandel

Image
What a lovely start to the day! Sunrise over Tairua .  Although the journey through to Coromandel was not too many kilometres, the extremely winding roads and passes made it a long, though magnificent journey. The forested mountains here are just marvelous and everything seemed so lush. Our first stop was in Coromandel at the Driving Creek Railway, set up originally by a potter wishing to transport his clay to his pottery. As he needed to pay his debts and people became interested in his tiny little railway, he opened it to the public, and it is certainly worth a visit. Not only is it a feat of engineering and construction, but the views and the forest are sensational.    They have planted thousands of Kauri trees and we learnt some interesting facts about them. When young, they have little leaves sticking out of their trunks, acting as protection but also there to ensure that there is more chance of photosynthesis.  Clever tree! No wonder they get so old....
Read more

Family and beautiful places in Hemel Hempstead and Llantwit Major

Image
  Time is such a strange concept when you are traveling. 10 hours on a train can seem an eternity, or, with good company or spectacular scenery, is over far too quickly. So it was with the Polyglot Gathering. One moment you are surrounded by like-minded people (842 from 59 countries, speaking 196 languages), you are in your element swapping from language to language, and then in a flash, you are in another wonderful yet totally different world of family and everyday life. The PG seems so long ago already, but thankfully the motivation it gave me to learn, remains! I have checked up about The Moravian Sparrow dish Sergio was eating, and am pleased to find out that it has nothing to do with sparrows! Moravian sparrow" (moravský vrabec in Czech) is  a classic dish from the Czech Republic, particularly Moravia, that is not made with actual sparrows .  It typically involves braising pork with onions, garlic, and spices, often served with dumplings and cabbage. Hemel Hemp...
Read more

Kaikoura - Seals galore!

Back on the road again with my dear old Mazda, Ken. I needed to have a trip to settle me down and to appreciate even more how marvelous this country is! What more special place to visit than Kaikoura, and even more amazing, Ohau Point, just north of the town.  From the moment you descend to the coastal road, you can see seals all along the coast, in the sea among the waves, on the rocks and on the stoney beach. Yet Ohau is the main breeding colony, this year far too successful for its own good. There will never be enough food for all those hungry mouths. All the little black dots on the beach are seals, basking in the sun, waiting for their parents to return from fishing. The beaches of Kaikoura are certainly not used by sunbathing visitors. Hey are covered in most areas by very jagged but stunningly beautiful rocks, forced up by the power of the huge earthquake in 2016. Who could have thought that such a scary and costly event would produce such beauty. The late sun catching the r...
Read more