TRAVEL REPORT
NORWEGIAN FFIORDS CRUISE 19th - 31st July 2007
By Shirley Cuesta
6am Wednesday 18th July saw 10 of our group being whisked away from Calpe´s heat to Valencia airport for our flight to Heathrow. It was the first time we had traveled by Clickair, the Iberia low cost airline which we found to be most efficient and with decent bocadillos. By the time we reached the carousel at Heathrow, our luggage (all of it) was there and our coach driver Dave took us down to Dover for an overnight stop.
Those of us who were suffering withdrawal symptoms for UK shopping, made a beeline for the center of Dover, only to find that most of the high street stores were on the small side. Undaunted, we did manage some purchases. We met another 2 of our group in Dover and all went out for a meal together. Before meeting up at the cruise terminal the following morning, we managed to get in a bit more shopping, although it’s not a good idea to try on clothes after a full English breakfast.
After a very smooth check-in, we were in our cabins, unpacking and familiarizing ourselves with the ship. Our ship the MSC Rhapsody had originally been designed for Hugh Heffner, but was launched in 1977 by Princess Grace of Monaco for Cunard and known as the Princess. She was then chosen as the perfect R & R ship for US troops fighting in the Desert Storm campaign and after the war refitted for the Italian MSC line. The cuisine on board was excellent with a very good choice of dishes, but not one of us could manage a 6 course lunch or dinner daily. One of the bars we nicknamed Peter Pan, where we would meet for coffee on days at sea and in the evenings for a pre dinner drink.
Our first port of call was Eidfjord which was approached along some spectacular scenery. This small town is in the Hardanger region, famous for its orchards and National Park. A coach trip up to the plateau let us see the Voringfossen Waterfall which falls 180 metres into Mabo Valley below. Many of the houses in the town had grass growing on the roofs, it was quite amusing to see the goats grazing there. Behind the village were remains of gravel and sand terraces, formed from an inland sea which melted 9,000 years ago.
After a day at sea where we had our photo taken with the Captain, we reached Alesund. This town was devastated by fire in 1904 and rebuilt in Art Nouveau architecture. The town has a beautiful setting across several islands stretching out to sea, and is situated at the very entrance of the Geirangerfjord.
The area abounds with stories of the trolls – a dwarf or giant inhabiting caves or hills. They were ugly and powerful but could be stupid and naïve. The biggest of them all was Dovregubben (their king in the mountain Dovre). Henrick Ibsen made them famous in his play Peer Gynt. Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to write the incidental music for this drama, and the “Dovregubbens Hall” which we know as “The Hall of the Mountain King” is one of the most famous part of the concert.
On board the Rhapsody we had some very good entertainment, probably the best were a trio of young Moldavian musicians accompanied by a Rumanian soprano. They were so popular that an extra concert was put on. Each evening the resident dancers performed some unusual routines, always with first rate costumes (according to the men in our group)
By the 6th day we had entered the Arctic Circle and the land of the midnight sun, which was quite a spectacular sight. It really was quite strange, going to bed in daylight. Apparently people go mountaineering at 2am or paint the outside of their houses at 4am.
There was still some snow on the far mountains and even the occasional glacier. We had now reached the northernmost town of our journey. – Tromso, 400 kms inside the Artic Circle. Visits in this town included a cable car ride to Mount Storsteinen for some spectacular views over the town and surrounding islands. Also a visit to the Wilderness Centre where huskies are bred and trained. The couple who ran this centre had last year competed in the Alaskan Anchorage to Nome race through the Yukon at temperatures of –50C and their 2 teams of dogs got through 1500 pairs of bootees. Another worthwhile visit was to the Polar Museum with exhibitions of important polar expeditions and tableaux of early life in this area which was first settled by the Sami people, who even to this day travel with their herds of reindeer.
Our journey back south again began with a day on the Lofoten archipelago. We had docked at Leknes, the principal town on the second largest island. On the island tour, we were shown around a reproduction Long House which had been fitted out to show the various trades that had been carried out in Viking days. 1066 was the end of the Viking age and a reproduction Bayeaux Tapestry was on display in the Viking Museum. The Lofoten Islands are characterized by their mountains and peaks, sheltered inlets, stretches of seashore and large virgin areas. The Moskstraumen (root of the term maelstrom) system of tidal eddies is located in western Lofoten. In winter the land is covered in snow which helps keep the grass very luscious. Our guide explained that the cows eating this unpolluted grass, have such a high milk yield that they have to wear “bras” to avoid stepping on their udders.
After a day at sea, we arrived at Bergen where we encountered our first rainy day. Bergen is Norway´s second largest city, a university town that offers a mixture of the ancient and modern, and set among seven sweeping hills.. The Bryggen quarter has characteristic wooden buildings with pointed gables facing the harbour. Bergen is the self-proclaimed “Capital of the Fjords” with Hardangerfjord and Sognefjord. being the most popular. Perhaps the most scenically impressive of the fjords is the S-shaped Geirangerfjord, not very difficult to imagine a Viking longboat making its way home from a raiding party and hiding in one of the many inlets.
Bergen was our last stop in Norway, we now made our way down to Holland. We docked some 40 kms from Amsterdam, so most of us took the excursion coaches for a visit to the city or the surrounding countryside. The Van Gogh museum was a popular stop, before returning to the ship for our last night before docking at Dover the following morning.
In our 11 days we had seen some really spectacular scenery, and as for the clear unpolluted air, it was a pleasure to breathe. The Norwegian people were very friendly and polite, most of them speaking very good English. All our guides were very well informed and made each visit interesting. Once again our U3A group made good traveling companions. A big thank you from all of us to Janet for organizing it all.
Thanks to Shirley Cuesta and Manuela Schelkens for the photographs.
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