Copenhagen to Stockholm
July 8-26, 2022
Mike and Judy Henderson
I'll leave this map on each page so you know where we are.
July 11, 2022 (Monday) The Splendor sailed to Ålesund overnight. Our excursion to the "Saga Islands: Giske and Godoy" doesn't depart until 10:30, so we were able to sleep in a bit.
Our small group will be in a small bus, and Jean is boarding.
We headed first to the island of Giske to visit the 12th Century Giske Church. Access to the island was across a bridge (instead of a tunnel). Giske is on very flat land, giving it an unusual topography for the area.
The church, surrounded by a graveyard, was originally built as a Catholic chapel for the wealthy Giske family, but with the Reformation, it became a Lutheran church. It has been renovated several times, most recently in the 1860's.
The inside, looking toward the altar area.
A closer view of the altar and the altar cloth.
The ornate, carved pulpit.
A church member explained that the altar and pulpit were carved by the same person. The altar was carved when he was in his late teens, and the pulpit when he was a much older man.
After we left the church, we headed to the island of Godoy through a one-lane tunnel. I'm just amazed that the Norwegians are able to deal with one-lane, two-way traffic, but they do. One reason is that there's not much traffic.
The area to the left of the barrier is for bicycles and pedestrians.
I learned that there are about 1,245 tunnels in Norway, including the longest road tunnel in the world, the Lærdal Tunnel, between Lærdal and Aurland, which is 24.5km long. There are a couple of railway tunnels that are longer.
We're going to visit the Alnes Lighthouse, built in 1876.
We entered the lighthouse and climbed to the top, on a series of four or five very steep stairways. I didn't think to take a picture of the stairs. From the top, we had a good view of the surrounding area.
Here's the light, itself. Apparently, it flashes red, green and white.
Getting down was not easy. I went down the stairs "navy style" facing the stairs.
Then we drove back to Ålesund, to the Aksla Viewpoint, on Town Mountain. It's built high on the mountain and gives a wonderful view of the city. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see some switchbacks below the building. That's for people who want to walk up to it.
A view of the city from the Aksla Viewpoint. You can see the Splendor toward the left in the picture. It's the smaller of the two cruise ships there.
As we drove back to the ship, we learned about the Ålesund Fire, which occurred on January 23, 1904. Unfortunately, the guide had a strong accent and we had difficulty understanding her. The fire started in a canning factory and spread to the city, on a very windy night. The fire destroyed about 850 houses in the middle of the winter, affecting about 10,000 people. Even so, there was only one known fatality, a 76 year old woman, who, it is said, went back for her purse. Some relief supplies were sent by the Kaiser Wilhelm.
We had the afternoon free and I worked on this blog until dinner time.
And so ended our day in Ålesund. The Splendor sailed for Bergan at 7pm with an expected arrival about 10am tomorrow.
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July 12, 2022 (Tuesday) We arrived in Bergen about 9:30 this morning. Judy and I woke up early and I finished the first page of the blog and sent it out.
We don't meet for our first excursion until 10:45 so we can take it easy this morning. It's a small group driving tour of Bergen, so we were in a small van.
Unfortunately, our guide was not the best - she spoke quietly, with an accent and without any animation, just droned along. I don't have any pictures of interest from this excursion.
In the afternoon we had a much better excursion and a much better guide. She had a good personality and spoke clearly. However, it also started raining. Bergen gets an average of 239 days of rain a year, and this was going to be one of them.
Our first destination was the home and museum of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), probably the most famous Norwegian composer of all time. Here's the museum
And his home. The house was completed in 1885.
Also on the grounds is the "Composer's hut" which was completed in 1891. Grieg did all his composing in this hut, not in the house.
I won't try to describe all of the things in the house. If you're interested, see here. I thought this piece was interesting. It's a silver epergne, a gift to Grieg on the occasion of his 60th birthday from his musical friends of Christiania (the name of Oslo at that time). Grieg's wife Nina lived for many years after his death, and eventually was forced to sell many personal items. As his estate was being re-assembled, local people were very involved in re-creating the home it once had been.
This is a picture of Grieg's wife, Nina. This lovely sketch captures her gentle beauty.
After touring the house, we walked the grounds and went through the museum.
After we left the Grieg house, called Troldhaugen, we went to the Fløibanen Funicular. Here's a picture of the facility at the top of the hill, from a distance, in good weather. You can see the funicular track below the facility.
Here's the entrance at the bottom of the funicular track.
Waiting for the funicular.
All on board.
Looking back along the track as we went up. There are some reflections in the glass.
The other car was going down, while we were going up.
But when we got to the top, we were socked in and couldn't see much. And it was misting.
We did some shopping and just hung around until it was time to descend. Here's a picture of Judy with our tour guide at the base of the funicular.
Then we went to the waterfront to visit the buildings where the Hanseatic League merchants lived and worked in Bergen. The merchants were supposed to be isolated from the general population, and were restricted to the buildings of this area. But that didn't always work.
The Hanseatic League was a medieval confederation of merchants and towns in northern Europe. It's purpose was defensive and economic. It created a uniform system of trade and laws. Here's a map of the area covered by the League in the medieval time.
For the dog lovers reading this, here's a Cavalier King Charles spaniel that we met. She's busy looking for her next adventure.
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July 13, 2022 (Wednesday) We arrived in Stavanger this morning about 8am, and have a small boat cruise of the Stavanger Archipelago and the Lysefjord. The boat was docked close to our ship, so we walked over to it.
It was misting a bit as we boarded.
There were three groups, all from the Splendor, on the boat, so it was full.
With the rain, no one ventured up to the top deck, so the initial pictures I took were through the window, and show reflections and water droplets on the glass.
We passed this ship, at dock. It was interesting to see that it was powered by Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and Battery. Given the size of the ship, I'm sure it was a lot more LNG than battery, but it's interesting to see that they're doing some things to get away from diesel and bunker fuel. Norway is very committed to maintaining a clean environment.
As we sailed down the fjord, the rain stopped and many of us went up on the top deck to take pictures.
Here's a view down the fjord - lots of moisture in the air.
A settlement along the fjord. The homes and land are very well maintained. In these northern areas, with their long, harsh winters, if you don't maintain your home, you may not survive the winter.
Another settlement area.
The Lysefjord Suspension Bridge spans the fjord. The road on the right side of the bridge went for a short distance and then entered a tunnel through the mountain. The Norwegians have really done a lot of road construction. They have some advantages, however. They're getting money from the North Sea oil and they don't spend as large a percentage of their budget on their military as the US does.
Prior to the 1960's Norway was one of the poorest countries in Europe. Now, it's one of the richest.
Jean checking out the sights. The weather has really cleared up but it could be extremely windy on the top deck.
And the three gals, Jean, Judy and Janet.
The captain stopped the boat and directed our gaze upward. There, at the top of the cliff, 2,000 feet up, was the famous Pulpit Rock, indicated by the arrow. It doesn't look like much from the water level.
A view from above, maybe taken by a drone (from Wikipedia)
An enlargement of the above photo.
Here's a view (taken from the web) of Pulpit Rock from the side, with people on it. You can hike up to Pulpit Rock, and approximately 300,000 people visit it each year.
A side note: Pulpit Rock is not the only "crazy" place to go in Norway. There is also Trolltunga. It's a 17km hike to get there.
Then we moved further into the fjord until we came to Whisky Falls, named after a man who somehow ran an illegal distillery, and was a popular outlaw.
After this, we turned around and headed back to our starting point. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant for coffee and Norwegian waffles.
Here we are ready to dig into the waffles. They were quite good.
After that, it was back to the ship, where some great news awaited us - Jean's suitcase had arrived, seven days after getting lost.
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July 14, 2022 (Thursday) We docked at Kristiansand this morning about 8am. As the crew was tying up the ship, I noticed a submarine across the harbor. It didn't look like an exhibit boat, but I was surprised it was in a commercial harbor.
We have a tour of Lillesand, by land and sea, this morning.
As we left the ship, the busses were waiting for us.
We were taken to a different part of Kristiansand where we boarded a boat, along with one other group.
Here's our guide for the day, Christine from South Africa.
Some of the people were on the upper deck, while we were on the lower deck, shown here.
Lillesand is about 22km NW of Kristiansand but the boat trip was mostly in the area of Kristiansand. As we were sailing out, we passed this lighthouse.
Unfortunately, this boat trip was very slow and there wasn't much to see at first. We did go into an inlet where there were some expensive homes, and I'll put a few pictures here.
Then we headed back toward the general area where we started - not the exact place, but close.
On the way, we passed this strange-looking ship. We think it was designed to lay underwater pipe to carry oil from the North Sea rigs to land. It's sometimes difficult to hear and/or understand our guides.
As we approached our dock, I noticed the submarine I had seen this morning. We were definitely close to the Regent ship.
We left the ship and boarded the bus for the trip to Lillesand, which took about 20 minutes.
Lillesand is a pleasant, picturesque waterfront town, with a number of shops, but not all that interesting. When we got off the bus, the tour guide told us to wander around and be back in about an hour and a half. Judy and I decided to begin by walking to the church, which you can see in the center of this picture.
The church was not open, so all we could do was view it from the outside.
We walked back along the waterfront and enjoyed the scenery.
After that, we went to a very nice coffee shop to wait until it was time to depart. When we got back to the bus, Jean showed off a souvenir coffee cup she had purchased.
Then we boarded the bus for a 20 minute ride back to the ship. We had dinner in the Prime 7 Restaurant, which everyone enjoyed very much.
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July 15, 2022 (Friday) We arrived in Oslo this morning about 8am and docked next to the Akershus Fortress.
Our morning excursion was billed as "Oslo by Land and Sea". Oslo is the capital of Norway and has about one million residents, while the Oslo metropolitan area has about 2 million residents. The population of Norway is about 5.5 million so over 35 percent of Norwegians live in or around Oslo.
We started by boarding a bus which took us to the hills behind Oslo, to the Holmenkolbakken ski jumping hill. Janet and Judy in front of the ski jump.
It's very difficult to show how big the ski jump really is, but here's a side view of the upper part. I couldn't even find a good picture of it on the web. It's visible from Oslo, including where the ship is docked.
Many years ago, a dog escaped his owner and ran up the ski jump during an intermission at the Holmenkollen World Cup. The audience loved it, and it became a tradition. See here for more information - in Norwegian but Google will translate for you. These pictures were taken from the web.
The pictures are obviously of two different dogs. The web site where I found this picture says February 8, 1948.
In February 2011, a statue, designed by Norwegian artist Elena Engelsen, was dedicated to this tradition. The inscription on the plinth is "Bikkja I Bakken" which Google translates to "Dog in (or on) Hill".
Judy had her picture taken with the puppy. A personal note is that her grandmother's name was Bakken (Hill).
Our next stop was at a popular restaurant nearby, noted for its good Norwegian food and a great view.
There was a statue of a ski jumper there.
Our next stop was a dock area for boarding a local tour boat, and two museums. While waiting for the tour boat we only had time to see the outside grounds and statues. The museum of Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the south pole, had his ship on display. Statues outside are of the five men who reached the pole: Roald Amundsen, Olav O. Bjaaland, Helmer J. Hanssen, Sverre H. Hassel and Oscar Wisting. Some additional information about Amundsen's crew can be found here and here. And a short summary of the voyage can be found here.
I don't know which one Judy is standing beside:-)
Also in the area was the Kon-Tiki museum of Thor Heyerdahl. Both museums looked interesting, but the tour schedule did not allow enough time. Unfortunately, our tour boat was late, and we stood around for a while, waiting.
The ski jump is so large that we could see it from the museum area. The picture was taken with a long photographic lens.
There is a memorial to the Norwegian seamen killed during World War 2.
Here's a chart of Norwegian maritime losses during WWII. The Norwegians lost 570 of their ships and about 4,000 seamen, working out of the United States, carrying war supplies and food to England and other allied countries.
Eventually, the boat arrived.
It was an old boat and cruised very slowly. We sailed around a picturesque island, and the skipper pointed out that there are many small cabins on the island. In the early days of shipbuilding, the land on the islands was not considered valuable, and it was given to the workers. Small cabins were built, without running water or toilet facilities. Eventually they became valuable are are now used for day trips, owned by individuals who use them for short get-aways. No more cabins are allowed to be built on the island so the existing ones sell for a high price.
In downtown Oslo, the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.
The Munch Museum, with some modernistic apartment buildings.
The Oslo Opera House. You can walk up on the roof, and down to the water.
Then we returned to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon we had a walking tour of the Akershus Fortress, the Nobel Peace Center, and a walking tour of the town. Here's a picture of the fortress, taken from our ship. The Splendor is tied up next to the fortress.
We met our guide on the dock and walked into the fortress. I didn't take any pictures worth including, while we were walking around the fortress.
We then walked to the Nobel Peace Center. Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, left his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace. All awards, except the Peace Prize, are awarded in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.
Side note: Nitroglycerin was invented in 1847 but was too unstable to be useful in commercial applications. Alfred Nobel, in 1866, invented a way to stabilize nitroglycerin by mixing it with diatomaceous earth, to produce what he called dynamite. Dynamite was much more powerful than black powder, which was previously used, and Nobel became rich from the sale of it. End side note.
The Nobel Peace Center was opened in 2005 and has displays and information about the recipients of the Peace Prize.
Judy and I toured the Center, but were tired and left the tour after our visit. It was a short walk back to the ship. We both took a nap and then I worked on this blog.
Tomorrow, we go to Gothenburg, but that's a story for another day.
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July 16, 2022 (Saturday) I haven't had time to prepare the pictures for Saturday but I wanted to announce that Janet finally received her luggage - after ten days! I'll do the rest of the pictures for Saturday soon.
