Tromso to Bergen - on board ship

---

Sat 12 August...A Very Looong Day in Tromso...

We slept in a bit as yesterday was a busy day and a late night, with interrupted sleep the night before. After breakfast we packed up and left our bags at the hotel, then walked to the Hurtigruten Terminal to check it out. Well there isn't one at Tromso - only a cargo shed. From there it was a short walk to Polaria, where we watched bearded and harbur seals being fed and doing their tricks, as well as a slideshow about Svalbard. The polar ice melting is of concern to people in this part of the world. We found a shopping centre and had a big lunch, before walking over the bridge again. This time we went up in the cablecar to a peak (Fjellheisen) above the city (no wet bottoms or legs this time as it was enclosed), from where we had fantastic views all around. We walked back into the city and saw the end of the third day of the cycle race on a large screen TV outside the Culture Centre. A local man won this stage, so everyone was really excited. As in Narvik, Tromso was gearing up for the finish the next day, with stalls popping up in the square, and loud music being played on a stage.... luckily away from our hotel this time. We wandered around the city centre for a bit, then bought some fruit and muesli bars as well as a snack for dinner and went back to the hotel. Luckily the manager let us wait in the lobby until it was time to go to the ferry...11.30pm !!!..... and luckily it wasn't raining as it had been earlier in the day, as there was no shelter for passengers waiting at the ferry terminal. It duly arrived at 11.45pm, and some passengers got off to go to the concert in the Arctic Cathedral, put on especially for them at midnight. We boarded and found our cabin by midnight, then had a wander around to see where everything else was. We went to bed about 1am and slept well !!!

Sunday 13 August. The ferry is run by Hurtigruten - a Norwegian company. The founder, Richard With saw the need for a freight and passenger run up and down the Norwegian coast, back in the 1890s, after a good harvest of fish rotted, as there was no transport to get the fish to the south to market. Now they carry goods and passengers and are in between a ferry and a cruise ship. This one holds 590 passengers but there are only 400 people on board this time, including the crew. One leaves Bergen every day and taken 11 days to go to Kirkenes, almost on the Russian border, and back to Bergen. Each town and village expects a ferry at the same time every day.

We left Tromso at 1.30am, stopped at Finnsnes at 4.15am, then Harstad at 7.45am. Some stops are very short - just to let passengers starting and finishing their trips, and load/unload cargo - and others are longer, allowing time to explore the village/town. There are also excursions you can go on, and rejoin the ship at the next port. After Harstad came Risoyhamn and Sortland - short visits, then Stokmarknes, where Hurtigruten began, and there's a now a museum there with one of the first ships up on dry dock. The history is very interesting, as it hasn't always been plain sailing...... they tried to keep going during WW2, but lost 7 ships to torpedos, so gave up until the war ended.

The weather was turning very windy, so 2 other excursions were cancelled - a ride up a fjord in a RIB, and another in a small boat to see Sea Eagles. By the time we got to Solvaer it was bitterly cold and raining as well as very windy, so we stayed on board instead of exploring this town. After the next town of Stamsund, we left the Lofoten Islands and headed across open sea to Bodo - a 4 hour trip. By this time the ship was pitching and rolling. I had already taken a Sealegs tablet and decided to skip dinner. Lee had a hamburger plus salad which cost $38 in the Bistro restaurant. Norway is not a cheap country, and we're told the ship prices are consistent with city prices at a good restaurant. We could have paid a lot more for 3 meals a day, but can't eat buffet breakfast and lunch, followed by a 3 course dinner, so opted for the breakfast only choice. That lasts us until afternoon anyway. Despite the stormy weather, I slept well.

Notices are given over the sound system in 4 languages - Norwegian, English, German and French. Luckily for us, English is the 2nd language in Scandinavia and most people speak it very well.

Monday 14 August - Bodo to Rorvik. We woke to calm seas, and sailed beween islands stopping at Ornes, Nesna and Sandnessjoen for short times. There are talks about different topics every day - yesterday was the history of Hurtigruten (before we went to the museum), where a crew member dressed up at Richard With's daughter, and was interviewed by another crew member about her life as a child and adult. All very amusing as the "daughter" was played by a bloke. Today there was a talk and slide show about other Hurtigruten destinations - Greenland and Antarctica.... all very interesting, but I'm not a good sailor, so am not planning any more right now. Another talk was out on Deck 7, when we passed a mountain range called the Seven Sisters. We were told of the legend about the sisters and it included trolls. Later we passed another mountain called Torghatten, which has a hole right through it, and there's a legend that goes with that too, but we were told that the scientists don't believe the legend and think the hole occurred during the last ice age !!! We had an hour stop at 2 villages, so a chance for a walk on land. In Bronnoysund, the church organist was playing the organ - Bach and Grieg (the best known Norwegian composer).... lovely to hear. Most of these towns and villages are fishing villages and latterly also involved in the oil industry. Another cool day and I wore 3 layers (2 were merino) as well as a jacket.

Tuesday 15 August - Trondheim to Alesund. The ship docked at 6.30am but too early to go out and explore the city. We were here until 10am - one of our longer stops. Trondheim is the 3rd largest city in Norway and has the northernmost Gothic Cathedral in the world. It doesn't open until 9am and is not close to the wharf area, so we only walked around it. We wandered from the ship through the central city - nothing open so early - to the cathedral, and back again along the river with its old bridge and colourful merchant warehouses, now housing businesses and cafes. There were no more stops until Kristiansand between 4.30 and 5pm. The wharf area didn't look that interesting so we stayed on board. The ship went out to sea a bit and started rolling, so I took another Sealegs tablet and skipped dinner again. We called in at Molde - city of roses, and we did get off as the streets came right down to the port. There were a lot of roses and it was very colourful. It was quite warm so a very pleasant evening.

Wednesday 16th.... Torvik to Bergen.

We had to have our luggage out and be out of our cabins by 10am, so no sleep in today !!! There was another listening session at 10.30 - Norwegian classical music - some we recognised, but most we didn't - nevertheless enjoyable. We then managed to find the most comfortable chairs in the bar area and watched the scenery (mainly bare, rounded rocks with minimal growth) until the ship docked at Bergen. The last hour was more interesting as we sailed up the fjord... past beautiful homes and holiday houses, under a bridge or two....

We found our hotel and unpacked - the most expensive hotel of our trip, but with fewest extras - no breakfast, toiletries, or room cleaning. There is a small fridge however, so we've bought breakfasts and fruit. The room has 4x glazing, so we won't be bothered by street noise !!! It was warm and sunny - a change from further north, but Bergen is known for its rain almost every day, so we are prepared. We walked into the central city, visited the i-site to book the Flam railway for tomorrow's trip, then to the railway station to book our onward trip to Oslo on Saturday. There were people at this railway station, who knew about Eurail passes, so it was easy. Bookings are not compulsory, but we didn't want to be standing for 7 hours.... we then continued to the old area... Bryggen, where warehouses from Hanseatic League days are painted in bright colours and are a very popular tourist area with hotels, cafes and souvenir shops. It's University Orientation week, so groups of students everywhere, dressed up in costumes and chanting or singing very loudly through town. We saw a NZ registered yacht moored there, but no-one at home. We walked back through the open-air fish, fruit and Nordic specialities market - all sorts of fish, reindeer and whale meat, as well as berries - cloudberries especially.

---