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Published: July 17th 2018
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JULY 15 KRISTIANSUND
TODAY we are docked in Khristiansund a beautiful town on the western coast of Norway. Kristiansund was heavily bombed during wwII. Kristiansund is the capitol of the Klipfish industry in Norway. This is not as big as it once was but it is still the primary exporter of dried cod in Norway.
This morning we walked out into the town to find a good WiFi service. We passed beautiful beds of wax begonias in bright colors. They grow very well here because there are long hours of daylight but it is cool. We soon found a burger King that was open and had free WiFi. So I was finally able to get my pictures uploaded from the Russian ports of Solivetsky and Arkangelsk. Having sent off those two blogs I relaxed and had a burger. We walked back to the ship in time to leave on our tour.
In the afternoon we drove on the Atlantic Ocean Road across several islands to the Kvernes Stave Church. On the way we passed beautiful scenery. The houses look like they are from children fairy tales. They are very neat, and white with flower boxes. We passed and
island, Grip island, which had a very old settlement on it that was abandoned many years ago. The buildings are still there and now they take you by a Viking ship to the island to see the buildings. When we got to the Stave church, there was “New” Church next to it. It was beautiful. Painted white and inside all wood. Norwegian law says that all Norwegian towns must have enough seat in their church to seat all their inhabitants, so hall the towns couldn’t afford to tear down the old church and build a new one, so they kept the old church and right next to it built a new church.
The Stave Church was built in the 1300’s. They are not sure of the exact date. But it is in a diary from the 1300’s. It is all wooden with Huge vertical staves between the wall panels. Initially there were no seats inside, no pulpit or anything else. Then seats were added, windows, a pulpit and the whole interior was beautifully painted. The story of the creation was once painted on the wall of the nave but was later white washed over. There is a ship hanging
down from the ceiling that is 450 years old. We also saw a ship in the “New” church. I think this must be a feature of Norwegian churches. Christianity was brought to Norway by the Vikings,so perhaps this is the origin of the ships models hanging from the ceilings. The carvings inside the church are large and deftly carved, but everything is wood. There are only windows on one side where the men sat, the women sat on the opposite side.
It was situated on a beautiful site overlooking the fjord.
The Atlantic road is beautiful. It soars and curves among the islands and is entirely paid for already by the tolls. There are several long underseas tunnels that connect various parts of the road.
It was a beautiful day. The weather as always was perfect and once again we were reminded that Norway is a beautiful country.
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