Blogs from Norway, Europe - page 14

Scandinavian breakfasts and I were made for each other. It fits in with my "more is more" philosophy on life and gastronomy. We must hurry with reckless gluttony and eat our full Scandinavian hotel breakfast: tomato juice, muesli, cereal, pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs (scrambled), Danishes (better than you have ever had back home), ham, terrine of ham, herring will dill and tomato. It’s all so wonderful. And don’t forget fresh fruit, a healthy afterthought to the above and great to put in your bag to nibble on later during a bus tour. If only breakfast wasn't served as early as 7 am. If only we didn't have a bus to board at 7:30 am. You may have guessed I hate eating to the clock. Long, languorous meals are more my style. But with my Danish plumped ... read more

Day 6 of our cruise of the Arctic Circle with MS Kong Harald, and we sailed through Oksfjord and Hammerfest during the night. After breakfast, there's a Point of Interest talk on Deck 7, as we sail through Mageroysundet, about the Sami people and reindeers. It was really interesting but don't ask me to quote any fun facts, unfortunately I don't retain information unless I write it down. We arrrive in Honningsvag at 11.15am and have another shore excursion booked - The North Cape. This is one of the northernmost points on the European continent and during our 45minutes bus trip we marvelled at the spectacular sub-Arctic landscape. The latitude is North 71.10.21 degrees and the plateau itself soars 307 metres, almost vertically, above the Arctic Ocean. The North Cape is the point where the Norwegian ... read more

During the night we sailed through Bronnoysund, Sandnessjoen, and Nesna and at 7.45am this morning there is an announcement that we would be crossing the Arctic Circle. Not wanting to miss it, we head to Deck 7 and carefully make our way outside to get a glimpse of the famous globe shaped marker located on a small island which marks 66 degrees 33 minutes north, between Nesna and Ornes. This marks the southernmost point in the Northern Hemisphere where the sun stays above or below the horizon during the respective solstices. As we pass, the ship's horn is sounded and we are now officially above the circle. There is so much ice on the deck, you have to really be careful not to slip over and with so many people all clamouring for photo's it was ... read more

Our ship left Bergen last night at 9.30pm and we sailed through the night, stopping at several small ports along the way including Floro, Maloy and Torvik (these were just 10minute stops to drop off/pick up supplies).Waking up this morning, there was a fair bit of motion and we didn't rush getting out of bed. We hadn't been on a ship since our cruise of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in 2018, so I'd forgotten the feeling and needed to get my sea legs. Our package included all meals in the Torget Norway Coastal Kitchen, and there was so much to choose from at the buffet. I'm not ashamed to say I had three breakfasts (and will probably eat as much for lunch and dinner too if the breakfast selection is anything to go by). Feel free ... read more

Bergen - so much to see and so little time. Today we were on a tight timeframe as we were getting picked up from the hotel at 5pm, and transported to the port to begin our Hurtigruten cruise. In the meantime, we wanted to explore and set off straight after breakfast, walking into town. Last night when we went out to get dinner it was dark so didn't get to see much at all, but in daylight, we are both really impressed. Cobblestone streets, small wooden houses built into the mountainside, and very cute shops. Oslo let me down with its street art (I'm sure they have a lot but we just couldn't find it), but Bergen more than made up for it. Huge colourful murals on building walls were everywhere as well as smaller pieces ... read more