Cruising Norway and driving the Atlantic Ocean Road

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The hotel we are staying in (Scandic Nidelven) has won many awards for having the best breakfast in Norway. I can understand why! I think this is the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen! To be honest, I wish my stomach let me eat more at breakfast, as I just did not do this spread justice! I managed to have a freshly squeezed vegetable (green) juice, a really good coffee (rare!), homemade muesli which i added fruit, nuts and seeds to and a juice 'shot' that contained ginger. I also made myself a ham and cheese rolls for my lunch.

We checked out of the hotel at 9 and made our way to the port as we were boarding the MS Finnmarken (of the Hurtigruten line) for an overnight stay, whilst we sailed to Bergen. Once on board we checked into our cabins - not the SilverSeas by any stretch of the imagination but pretty good all the same. The ship is certainly a lot bigger than I expected - probably a similar size to the Silver Cloud but obviously with many more cabins and hence people.

We then had time to ourselves until 4:30 until we reached Kristiansund, as we were going to disembark and go on a road tour. I spent time either walking continual laps of Deck 5, enjoying the very scenic coastline or relaxing in my cabin.

At 4:30 I met the others in our group on Deck 4 and we went ashore. There were many other people also doing this tour, so we were herded onto Bus 1 with the English and French speaking guide. We drove through the town of Kristiansund and our guide told us about the interesting sights and buildings along the way. Our first stop was to see a Stave church In Kvernes, which also has magnificent views over the Kvernes fjord and the Frei fjord. This particular church is the youngest Stave church in Norway as it is only 700 years old. There are only 30 stave churches in the world and 28 of them are in Norway (there is 1 in Sweden and 1 in Poland).

We then drove for a another half hour while our guide continued to inform us of the sights along the way. We then stopped at a restaurant at the start of the Atlantic Ocean Road to have dinner. We would all be having a traditional dish of Norway called Bacalao. The region we are in, including Kristiansund, is famous for its klippfisk (salted cod fish) exports to countries such as Spain and Portugal. This dish has an Iberian coast taste to it. It contains the klippfisk and is cooked with tomatoes, potatoes, olives and other herbs. Very tasty. This was followed by a Norwegian créeme caramel and a coffee.

Back onto the bus and we turned onto the start of the famous Atlantic Ocean Road (Atlanterhavsveien). This road is an 8.3km section of Country Road 64 and connects a number of small islands to the mainland, with eight bridges and several causeways built over the islets and scurries between Averøy and the Romsdal peninsula. It is a truely picturesque part of the world! The bridges themselves added to the whole experience. We were able to stop near one of the most dramatic bridges and could walk along the boardwalk and take photos as the sun was setting.

We continued on our journey to Molde, where we would meet up with our ship once again. The drive was spectacular and no photos could do it justice! Everywhere you looked there were beautiful coloured houses, fjords, waterfalls and waterways, green pastures and mountains. It is a feast for the eyes! People waved to us along the way, including some little kids on a balacony waving the Norwegian flag! I really enjoyed this excursion as a great way to experience the countryside of Norway.

Once we arrived in Molde we boarded our ship again. I spent a lot of time on deck, taking in the views of the town and watched as the ship pulled away from the dock. Another ship, about the same size as ours, was pulling in to dock as we were pulling out. It is amazing how the captain can drive/sail a ship of this size so perfectly. I stayed on deck until it got dark - which was just after 10pm. I met up with Felicia, Cynthia and Sandy and we headed to the bar for a cocktail. It was lovely sitting there, watching the silhouette of the islands as we passed them by.

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Photos

Sunset on the Atlantic Ocean Road
Spot the bridge?