Cruising to Norway

in #travel2 years ago

I already did a post about the P&O ship Iona which I was on last week and this post is about the places we visited.

Stavanger

After two nights at sea we reached Stavanger, which is a fairly big city. We only explored the areas near the docks. This consisted of the shopping area and the old town which both had lots of quaint wooden buildings, but there was plenty of newer concrete to be seen. This old street had the ship towering over it, but was very pretty. We found a gallery with lots of art made from glass and bought a piece to take home.

Houses

There was a nice homewares shop in town with lots of cool stuff, but it was not cheap. There is a lot of street art there. I think this represented a tree with changing temperatures on the rings.

Art

We could see a fancy modern building up the hill and found it was a museum that covers the local printing and fish canning industries. This was more interesting than it sounds. They covered the history of printing, which was important there as they needed to put labels on the cans of fish as well as producing various literature. The canning part was in the old factory where it all happened with lots of the old machines.

Museum

There is a place by the docks with a virtual reality experience telling the history of an early Norwegian king. That was fun.

Olden

The next day we reach Olden, which is a village up a valley. Obviously they have to pick places that the massive ship can get to. They said that if the seas are too rough then they cannot get inland, but we had no such issues.

This view was from a hill we walked up. The clouds parted enough to see the ship and the village 500m below. The river of bright blue glacial melt is quite a sight.

Olden

We looked in a couple of old wooden churches on the way up. This one did not even have electricity. I think they had to be rebuilt after fires.

Church

They do like a living turf roof there. I expect the winters are tough. They also like a flagpole in the garden.

Olden houses

Hellesylt

The next morning we arrived in the even smaller town of Hellesylt which is a long way up the Geirangerfjord. The scenery is spectacular and the weather was kind to us. The clouds did clear. I suspect they added some land to make a dock and to build on. There was a fairly large factory off the the left. You will see some snow on the hills and the melt from that must swell the river that comes roaring to the fjord.

Hellesylt

You could take a trip to the glacier by bus or hire an e-bike or Renault Twizy. We had booked a kayaking trip on the fjord. That was good fun. Some people jumped in, but the water was cold. There is actually a small beach with a pier and diving platform that seemed popular. Both my kids jumped in from there after the kayaking.

We had arrived there before most people were up, but the cruise out to sea was spectacular. These are the Seven Sisters Falls, but there was plenty of water coming down from the peaks. We passed several towns and also saw farms perched way up the hills. That must be a really hard life. You can see why the vikings were so tough if they could survive there.

Seven Sisters

The views were stunning and it is a fairly unspoilt landscape. I cannot imagine that you could do large scale farming or logging there. That far north it stays light pretty late in summer, but the nights will be long in winter.

Fjord

Going home

We were supposed to have a final stop in Haugesund where we were going to visit a viking village, but the ship had technical problems that slowed it down and so they had to go straight back to Southampton.

Apart from a school skiing holiday this was my first trip to Norway and I would like to go back. I think we would perhaps get a camper van and tour around to see more of it. You can get ferries to the less accessible places.

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Wow, this looks so awesome. This is a place I've wanted to visit for some time now. Great photos! That scenery! I couldn't imagine what it looked like in person. Looks like a great trip for sure!

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It's very different to anywhere in the UK. We may go back there some time to explore more.

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I forgot you were going on a holiday. I was wondering why I hadn't seen many posts from you lately. I am glad that you are having a relaxing time. It looks like you have been seeing some amazing sights! I have been traveling a bit myself, so I haven't been as active on here. Did you take your guitar and find a open mic to pop into by chance?

I'll catch up on your posts. This was a cool trip. I didn't take any instruments and I didn't see any opportunities to play them anyway. There was late night karaoke, but I didn't get to that.

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My wife and I hope to visit there sometime in the near future. Glad you had a lovely time!

It's a spectacular place and quite different to home. I'm not one for lying on beaches and exploring these places was more my sort of thing.

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Well I did one before we went. I could have done a full 5km on the ship, but just did a couple of shorter runs. I did walk 30,000 steps one day.

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It looks picturesque and beautifully quaint. I love the old brick street and mountains blending in with the river.

It does look good. I would defo like to visit Norway. Sound it in a van like you say works be a cool way of doing it. Not in winter!

Winter would be cold and dark, but they can get nice weather in summer. I think you have to take your chances.

Sounds like Scotland 🤣

Norway is one place I would love to visit. I would love to see the nature there and get into the wilderness. your photos are great xxx

Stunning indeed. I can't keep my eyes off the beautiful scenery yet am just viewing the pics taken. Wonder how you who was physically there managed to keep your eyes off

Great to see Norway again, I love that place. Did you say theres a ferry to Southhampton?!

I don't think there are ferries direct to Norway from the UK, but you can drive there from other countries.

Those look like great stop along your cruise. I can see how a canning factory could be interesting. Olden looks like a nice spot, even with the fog.

Great photos! Especially of the Olden houses.


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I see they get crappy weather just like us!

Well it was pretty mixed and not enough to stop us getting out and about. This was way north of Scotland, so you have to expect that. Their winters must be grim.

Nice sceneries.They city looks cool

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