Advertisement
Cruise Barcelona to Amsterdam via the North Cape of Norway, May 4-28
THERE IS A PROBLEM, PHOTOS WILL NOT UPLOAD TO THE BLOG SITE SO I AM POSTING THIS BEFORE I LEAVE FOR PNG TOMORROW AND WILL TRY AND ADD THE PHOTOS AS SOON AS I CAN. I HAD THIS PROBLEM ONCE BEFORE AND THE NEXT DAY IT WORKED AS NORMAL. IT ACCEPTED 5 FOR SOME REASON🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ This trip was a last minute decision when it became clear that the house hunt in Worcester was not going to happen as planned. So I jumped aboard a Holland America ship, the Nieuw Statendam, a pinnacle class ship which is HALs largest and newest class. I didn’t think I would blog as I wasn’t expecting the destinations to be too exciting but hopefully the trip would give me a few days of warmth in the Mediterranean before sailing up the Norwegian coast mirroring the journey Jim and I did in Astrid in 2019, but this time viewing the land from the sea and without having to drive on the treacherous and crowded Norwegian roads.
It was the zip, fish and Pickle ball
which changed my mind about blogging but more about those later.
Nothing ever works quite to plan and the first swerve was the weather. I packed half and half of warm and cold weather clothing. However, Barcelona started off coolish, and Cartagena, Ceuta ( the Spanish owned enclave in Morocco which they don’t mention when they are complaining about our presence in Gibraltar!) and Lisbon turned out to be cold, overcast and with showers. Then in Le Havre it was freezing and it poured down much of the day. My warm weather clothing won’t need washing!
But let’s start at the beginning, Heathrow airport. Going through security I was deliberately wearing the minimum to make it easy to get through unmolested, just a T shirt and stretchy jeans, but still managed to set off the alarm. A very pleasant young women asked if I had coins in my pocket, belt on etc, as they do and then when I said I had nothing like that she used her ‘wand’ to find the offending item.
Eventually after a thorough scan
she declared there was something near my lower back and did I have something tucked in my jeans or implants. No, I answered, so she asked if she could feel inside the jeans. What can you say but go ahead? So she felt around without success, scanned again and said there is definitely something there and she couldn’t let me go until she found it!
Oh dear, this could take some time. It was already more than ten minutes and my possessions had disappeared out of sight. So she started over and was getting very impatient. While she was doing that I felt around the back waistband and realised that one part was slightly thicker than the rest. I managed to turn it over inside out, and there, totally invisible as it is hidden under the seam, was a zip. Rohan always try to put a security pocket into their clothes but I thought they hadn’t bothered in the jeans as they are stretchy and in the 2 years that I have owned them I had never spotted it. So once the security person had tested to make sure it was the zip
causing the bleep and had tested me all over for drugs I was free to go. I have to say it was a testament to Rohan’s security strategy but why would that zip cause a problem and not the zip fastener on the front? The rest of the journey was easy.
I had one full day in Barcelona so worked out my plan, visit the Aquarium at the jetty and only a few minutes walk from the hotel in the morning then take the metro to Park Güell in the afternoon. I loved the Aquarium. It advertises that it houses the underwater life of the Mediterranean but in fact it contains marine life from all over the world. I spent hours there. There is a long tunnel through an aquarium which houses sharks and rays amongst other things so they swim all around you and over your head. Then there are numerous huge tanks set into the walls, protected by barriers to stop people getting too close to the glass with a sign on all of them saying do not touch the glass. Most people stayed behind the barrier but a couple of
Pulpit rock with people on top.
Will show the rest of the cliff when I can. It took an hour to get it to download one extra photo🤦🏻♀️small children squeezed through now and then and their parents generally hauled them back. However there was one young woman with a two year old who kept pushing her under the barrier and up to the glass where she would then hammer on the glass wherever she could spot a fish.
Eventually I made sure I wasn’t near them so I didn’t get irritated. That worked fine until the last exhibit which was a big pool full of large koi carp set into the floor with a very low wall around it so people could have a good view looking down into it.
Everywhere around the pool were signs saying not to touch or put hands in the water. The same mother and toddler were there and I did a double take in astonishment when I saw what they were doing. The mother was holding a large colourful koi carp firmly in both hands under the water while her daughter was jamming her own baby bottle full of milk in the mouth of the poor fish spilling lots of milk into the fish and the pool
around it. I was speechless. I couldn’t ignore that so I went and found a member of staff. I asked if she spoke English and she did so I explained what I had seen. She looked at me as if I was crazy. But on second look she realised I was serious and she sprinted off at top speed and hauled the offending pair away, although of course the toddler can’t be blamed. I had to blog to share that!
In the afternoon I took the metro to the bottom of the hill which has Park Güell at the top. It was then necessary to climb the pavement of staircase after staircase. My phone afterwards told me I had climbed the equivalent of 28 storeys! Finally I entered the Park. You have to buy a ticket in advance online. I found it a weird experience from start to finish. Firstly it is so badly signed that despite being a small area it is difficult to find your way around. Then it is not really a park. Originally it was conceived as a large and complex urban project by Gaudi supported financially
by a very rich friend and benefactor. The idea was to emulate the garden cities that had been created in England, but much more upmarket for the elite of the city. It was intended to create a luxurious suburb for the wealthy at the top of the hill where the air was unpolluted. The houses were to be villas with large gardens surrounding them and terraced boundaries covered by plants to provide privacy.
The project proceeded as far as putting in simple roads/tracks and footpaths, some Gaudi style walls and artworks and building a couple of villas which were meant to attract more buyers. The project was a complete failure. It attracted no buyers and eventually the land passed into the hands of the city council.
So for me the whole place had a feeling of neglect, an oddity with no clear role or purpose and only being visited because of the Gaudi connection. I had also bought a ticket for the Gaudi museum in the Park. It took me half an hour to find the building partly because it was unsigned and even worse the
various staff I asked for directions sent me the wrong way, and in different directions, three times! It should have taken five minutes. You can probably gather from all this that I wasn’t impressed. However there were lots of people there taking millions of photographs and seemingly enjoying the experience so perhaps it is my response which is the oddity.
The next day I went aboard the ship and before setting sail the captain introduced himself and I started to worry. I don’t know if any of you remember the comedy programme, My Hero, with Ardal O’Hanlon in the lead role? He was an alien in human form who found himself in chaotic situations as he didn’t understand how things worked on earth. The Captain could be A O’Hs double in both voice, Irish accent, appearance and even more worrying, humour. The likeness wasn’t just uncanny it was scary as My Hero always messed up. But he did have the saving grace of possessing Super Powers which helped him out of difficulties. It is amazing how prejudiced we can be by previous experience. I struggled to take the Captain seriously but
kept telling myself he had been in the role 14 years so he is very experienced.
Back to the cruise. The next morning I turned up to the Pickle Ball court for the beginners lesson. I have only heard of Pickle Ball on Holland America ships but I gather there are now clubs in the UK. It is supposedly the fastest growing sport, and it is a mix of tennis ( but on a much smaller court), and badminton, uses ‘paddles’ to hit a hollow plastic ball and has its own set of rather strange rules. For example much of the game has to be played with the paddle not being raised above your navel! I haven’t learnt enough yet to know when you can legally lift it. It seems you also have to try and ‘dink’ a lot. I am working on that. I managed three lessons and a couple of games before the sea swell and wind increased so much that playing on the top deck became unsafe. I did enjoy it and hope the weather improves so I can continue but I enjoyed learning something new that does
not require you to run quite as much as in tennis.
Our first port of call was Cartagena in Spain which turned out to be very lively as it was day one of a three day festival to welcome summer. There was traditional dancing across the town centre by children and adults, as well the remains of a Roman amphitheatre which was only discovered in the last few years. It was also the last day I saw the sun for some time.
Next we visited Ceuta which was also very interesting having beaches and a huge fortification over a river by the beach with extensive town walls stretching around it.
Lisbon was also much more beautiful than I was expecting with colourful buildings topped with red rooves. I went along the coast to Estoril which was a seaside resort for the wealthy of Lisbon before World War 2 and then during the War it became popular with the elite and celebrities of Europe who were able to use their wealth to escape danger and destruction in their
own countries. It was considered a centre of intrigue and spying as Portugal was neutral but powerful people from all over Europe mixed together. Ian Fleming spent time there working for the British government and trying to pick up intelligence about German operations. It is believed that his war experiences here inspired him to create the character James Bond.
Eventually we reached Le Havre where I joined up with another woman travelling alone (Uta) and we took the train for the one hour journey to Rouen. I have driven past the city numerous times but never stopped to visit it. I knew it had a Gothic cathedral but assumed apart from that it was just a modern city. In fact it has an extensive old town comprising superb medieval houses painted in bright colours, lots of lovely bars and shops and a medieval complex that housed victims of the Plague, with a cemetery adjacent. It is covered with gruesome carvings of various bones, skulls and headless figures dancing the Dance Macabre. It was a good day despite regular showers and constant sombre clouds.
From
there we travelled to Amsterdam where there was a change over of passengers with many from the USA ( including the rest of my trivia team unfortunately) disembarking to be replaced by a large number of Dutch people, who interestingly raised the standard of dress on ‘dressy’ nights ( no longer called formal) dramatically, with men in elaborate suits/ dinner jackets and many women in formal gowns.
Soon we were travelling up the Norwegian coast stopping in quick succession at Stavanger, Flam, Alesund and Trondheim. They all had something different to offer. Sometimes I went walking with Uta, the lady originally from Germany, now living in Toronto. She had visited all the towns some years ago but of course things change and at times we were lost but not usually for long. However we both have the same low level of patience with passengers who drift around aimlessly blocking roads and footpaths so we were happy to escape the crowds together.
In Flam I took an excursion by coach to Voss in the mountains and returned by two trains, the first an ordinary passenger train then the scenic Flam railway. In Voss I saw the procession celebrating Constitution Day. (Possibly Independence Day depending upon translation?) it was a surprise to see how many people of all ages dressed in traditional costumes. The costumes tend to be passed down through tthe generations but to buy a new one is very expensive, anything from €3,000 upwards.
The scenery from the Flam train was amazing but it had its weird moments too. One was when the train stopped to let passengers off to view one of the larger waterfalls. As we walked to the viewing point I thought I could hear gentle music playing quietly so thought a passenger was using a device but soon realised the sound was flowing around us from above. Then suddenly on the rocks high up beside the waterfall a woman (nymph, mermaid?) in a bright red dress with flowing blonde locks danced joyfully and mysteriously around ( if that combination is possible!) disappearing into the rocks and reappearing somewhere else unexpectedly. It certainly added an extra dimension to the waterfall. Then the guard blew a whistle and everyone raced to get back on board the train.
In Alesund Uta and I climbed the 428 steps up to the top of a hill overlooking the town. It was much higher than it sounds as there were steep paths before you reached the steps. The view of the town from different levels made it well worth the effort.
Trondheim is much more of a city so of less interest and although it has some beautiful shops the prices are ridiculously high. Definitely only window shopping allowed in Norway.
After four hectic port days with cool but surprisingly good weather, we then had a sea day to recover before reaching the far north ports of Hammerfest and Honnigsvag. From Hammerfest I took an excursion to Alta as it has an interesting museum and amazing petroglyphs only discovered relatively recently but which are now on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Some are between 6,000 and 7,000 years old, the newer ones being ‘only’ 4,000 to 5,000 years old. It is fascinating to see how they changed over that period. They show animals, boats and people but it is only in the later ones that they differentiate between male and female humans.
Many reindeer passed us on the road in ones and twos. It made me wonder how the Sami keep track of their herds as none of the reindeer are wild. They go up into the mountains in winter and migrate on their own down to the coast about this time of year. They are the ‘banks’ of the Sami people and it is considered rude to ask how many they own, like asking how much money someone has in their account. My question was answered at dinner by someone who had visited a Sami settlement on their tour and asked their host the same question, how do they find them all. The answer? They are tagged! Technology is available here as in most of the world. For a long time the Sami were discriminated against by the Norwegians, and not even allowed to speak their own language but now legislation is in place to improve their rights.
The next day I joined with Uta again to explore Honningsvag, the most northerly town in Norway and close to the Nord Kapp (North Cape) which is the big attraction, a huge cliff at the top of Norway. We had decided we would try to reach it by public bus as the cruise excursion was ridiculously expensive. We enquired at the tourist office and were told there was one bus a day, departing from outside the office at 10.45 and leaving the Nord Kapp to return at 2.20pm. It is possible to book online but without Wifi we had not been able to do that. The clerk said we should not have a problem as we could pay the driver when we boarded.
Having time to spare we walked round the town first, returning to where we believed the bus stop to be at 10.15. There were no signs but lots of people were waiting. We asked if there was a queue but were told that there wasn’t, people were just gathering around. People from the US like to have an orderly line (me too!) but that was not going to happen here. Eventually the bus turned up on time but on the wrong side of the road so there was a sudden surge as everyone raced across, clearly too many to get on the bus.
Then the driver said he had to move the bus forward. I was jammed between the bus and the crowd and when the bus moved forward I had a brief horrible moment when I thought I might be pushed under it. At the same time a riot nearly broke out behind me as people pushed forward. A tall man ( from the US I guess) was shouting, ‘Time Out’ and making the T sign above his head. He was totally ignored. I am not sure how but Uta and I were about the fourth and fifth people aboard. We asked the driver if we could pay and he explained with a grin that all his machines were broken so it was free. A small compensation for surviving the angry crowd! We found seats as people continued to pile on. Then the driver told everyone without a seat to get off again as the law is you can only travel if you have a seat and a seatbelt. We drove off leaving about 30 people behind.
The scenery was stunning as we crossed a high tundra plateau with rounded mountains, covered with snow and ponds of ice and totally treeless. Tundra has permafrost under the soil. Uta was elated that we were having a free ride but then we started to worry about the return trip. We had no evidence that we were travelling out on the bus so would we be allowed back on? We decided that we should forget about that until later and if the worst came to the worst we would stand by the car park and try and hitch a lift.
Nord Kapp was anticlimactic after the adrenalin producing bus ride as you cannot see the cliff easily as you are standing on top of it. Still being concerned about getting back to the ship we went early for the bus as we knew where it was parked and it ended up full 30 minutes before scheduled departure time as everyone was experiencing the same anxiety. The machines were still not in operation so our return was free too. We felt the driver was really happy that he could not charge us!
We have had two sea days since the cape and the wind has picked up as we head into a low pressure front. The sea is rough with swell and waves reaching 7-9metres. The stabilisers are good but despite them there is a very strong ‘motion of the ocean’. Normally we feel very little movement. Tonight’s entertainment which should have been dancers has been postponed as it is not safe for them. I am happy about that as I prefer the comedian/magician who has a new show.
Tomorrow we should reach Geiranger Fjord where Jim and I had the encounter with the coach on the steep zig zag hill. I was hoping I might view the road with someone else driving this time but as the forecast is for freezing temperatures and possibly snow we may not be driving anywhere. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
To many people’s disappointment, especially the crew, most of whom have never seen snow falling, the expected precipitation consisted of just a few minuscule flakes. I decided not to go ashore for long as the higher lookout points were closed because of the weather and Jim and I had seen the views in lovely sunshine.
A few minutes after the All Aboard time the Captain made an announcement. We were missing 342 passengers! Then he said, if you want to see where they are, look up the hill. The same zig zag road where the coach driver and I had a terrifying standoff was now totally blocked with lines of coaches at a standstill. I never heard whether someone had broken down or it was an accident but two tow trucks had to make their way up before traffic started moving again an hour later. The road is unable to cope with the volume of traffic and we are not yet in the ‘season’ which starts next month.
Our last port call was Bergen. I set of with a copy of the map shown to us by the Cruise Director and headed for the town. Many other people were setting off to but many of us ended up lost. Then it poured down so I took refuge in a cafe where I could use Wifi. So including the cafe stop it took an hour and a half to get into the town. When it was time to return to the ship I was tired and dreaded the long walk back. Luckily I received good directions before setting off and it took me a blissfully short ten minutes to get back. The map supplied by the Cruise Director didn’t seem to have any connection with reality. I think we might have moored in a different place than where the ship was marked on the map. The only other explanation was that I found a worm hole!
Bergen really surprised me. It is a beautiful elegant town with lots of flowers and interesting buildings as well as lovely shops. I would happily spend a week there.
The next day was a sea day, so I had a leisurely start, breakfasted in the dining room, then returned to my cabin to change shoes for a walk on deck. Suddenly, I realised I didn’t want to go for a walk but wanted to lie on the bed. Strange! In minutes I was coughing, sneezing and knew I had a high temperature. I didn’t want to be isolated as I was due to fly back the next day so I stayed in my cabin, popping out only to collect drinks and food. I knew it was Covid but there didn’t seem to be any measures in place anyway and half the passengers were suffering but most were saying it was only a head cold! No wonder it spread so quickly.
I managed to fly home the next day but it was an effort. Once back in Worcester I tested myself and as expected it was positive. At least it had not spoilt the cruise but it did mean I couldn’t say farewell in person to Uta who had been good company in port and a couple of people who had made the trip a joy! Monica and Tamara, a mother and daughter from Chile had invited me to join them for dinner. We laughed so much and they were very patient with my poor attempts at Spanish that it was a highlight of the cruise for me. I was very lucky to meet them and hope they travelled home safely. The waiters Daniel and Christopher looked after us really well and, despite being busy, even managed to squeeze in some magic tricks for us.
Back in Worcester I have a few days to reassemble my bag and set off for Papua New Guinea, that should be quite a contrast with cruising!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 29; dbt: 0.023s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
