I had planned for two day-long excursions off the ship to be interspersed with our leisurely sail up the Norwegian coastline. I knew the ship would stop at least once a day to unload cargo and pick up mail, food and other supplies and we could hop off and explore these ports of call. However, in planning the trip I was a little concerned that Doug and Emily might become bored at the slow pace of sea life.
I shouldn’t have worried.
We boarded the ship easily. Our luggage was waiting in our spotless stateroom. It featured side by side single beds, a well-furnished bathroom, and a picture window. We could easily view spectacular scenery all day and night long, since daylight lasted for 23 hours in August. (We soon found that in this season the summer sun is never far below the horizon, and we learned to lower the blinds and to go to sleep while the sun might still be shining.)
We checked Doug’s private inside room. It was even bigger than ours and offered total privacy. We found that the panorama deck had huge floor to ceiling windows and swivel leather chairs. Several lounges, bar areas and comfortable out-of-the-way corners allowed plenty of opportunity for quiet
reading or chatting with other passengers.
The restaurant featured ample meals that I calculated would please most appetites. I had salmon three times a day, as many crisp salads and vegetables (often potatoes, parsnips, and cabbage) as my plate would hold, caviar when I desired some, and an array of smorgasbord specialties available at all meals. We agreed dessert was somewhat unimaginative---mousse—vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry-- was standard fare, along with some fresh fruit. Maybe that’s what helped me keep down the weight on this trip.
Stops each day brought welcome distractions. We strolled through quaint fishing villages, drank beer at a local brew pub in the busy university town of Tromso, and sent postcards home from the 1,000-year old city of Trondheim. We sailed through narrow channels and fjords, passed by numerous tiny islands and observed towering dark cliffs all along the way.
Each day was a heavenly escape from reality.
Two special excursions stand out in my mind. Doug and I took the Geiranger fjord trip by bus and ferryboat off the ship for one splendid day. Our excursion took us by bus over winding two-lane narrow roads and tunnels through the mountains. More than once, we encountered dramatic hairpin turns with little room for passing. This forced our bus driver to back down the mountain slowly to accommodate cars appearing suddenly from the opposite direction.
Swirls of fog lifted at the tops of the mountains to reveal rushing waterfalls tumbling down mountainsides. Goats and sheep grazed on grass-covered hillocks, and valleys of strawberry fields were dotted with immigrant pickers since this was the height of the growing season. Our guide stopped the van at a mountain roadside stand so we could sample the local strawberries, the most famous in Norway. While Doug ran down the mountain to a gorge; I bought a huge basket of incredibly juicy strawberries. We ate the entire contents of the basket before lunch.
The day was memorable: I learned more about the agriculture, forestry and myths of Norway than I thought possible. In fact, I don’t know that I need to hear another story about the imaginary creatures called trolls in the foreseeable future.
The other special excursion occurred far north of the Arctic Circle and featured entirely different geography and terrain. We crossed the Arctic Circle at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, August 7. We were heading for the far north, beyond Tromso, which lies 400 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.
We were headed for Nordkapp, the North Cape. This is recognized as the furthest north land mass jutting out into the Arctic Ocean that you can reach by car-- the northernmost point on Continental Europe. (A tiny barren peninsula nearby is actually the northernmost land mass, but you must hike to reach that lookout point.)
At North Cape we had a chance to wander around a glass-walled museum that presents Imax films of the northern lights and strolled out to an observation area to peer down to rugged cliffs and gray seas far below. The barren northern outpost is situated at 71 degrees, 10’21’’ N latitude; from mid-May to late July the sun never falls below the horizon. Getting there was like driving on a road to nowhere!
[Go to Norway Part Eight]
