Iceland and Norway Cruise

1^st - 13^th September 2013

Itinerary: Southampton - Reykjavik - Akureyri - Trondheim - Ålesund - Olden - Stavanger - Southampton

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1 Sep. Left home at about 10. Easy trip down until Southampton. Then a long line of traffic, but the cars moved quite swiftly. I was checked in and on board the Adventure of the Seas by 12:30. Four liners were in, hence the traffic. Us, P&O Ventura and Oceana and Crown Princess. Cabins ready about 13.30. Left a few minutes early in a convoy, led by the Princess ship. As we passed Cowes there was an aerobatic display on.

4 Sep. Reykjavik, Iceland. Arrived slightly early. Cool but dry weather. The Aida Luna was already docked. I had two excursions booked today. The first, a ships tour, was Blue Lagoon and Leisurely Reykjavik. It wasn't very good. It was raining when we left. First we went to the Blue Lagoon. This is about 45 minutes from Reykjavik, near the airport. We only had viewing tickets and couldn't actually go into the water itself. We had about 40 minutes there. It had stopped raining by the time we arrived and stayed that way for the rest of the day. After that we drove back to Reykjavik and went to the Perlan (Pearl) for about half an hour. On the fourth floor is a viewing platform with a good view of Reykjavik and the surrounding area. We then reboarded the bus for a drive around the town. Because we were slightly early, we were able to have a photo stop at the Hallgrimskirkya, a large church. The Aida ship was leaving as I got back to the dock. It was quite a disappointing trip as we weren't able to get into the water at the Blue Lagoon and there was only one other stop. I'll have to learn to read the brochures properly!

In the evening I'd booked a Northern Lights tour with an on shore company. We left the dockside at about 22:00 and it was still quite light. We drove to the bus station and waited there for about half an hour while the bus and three others filled up and then drove to Reykjanes Peninisula, near Keflavik Airport. It was dark by then. We parked by a small church in the middle of nowhere and walked a couple of hundred metres along a lava path and looked north. There was a faint bow in the sky with a slight glow above above it. This came and went about three or four times over the next hour. The weather was cold (chilly not cold to our guide) with quite a breeze. Although we did see the Northern Lights (just), the company declared the trip unsuccessful, which it was, and said that therefore we were entitled to another free trip, but no refunds. Which was a bit of a bummer. Overnight on board in Reyjavik.

5 Sep. Today the Caribbean Princess ship was moored by us. I took the shuttle into town. We were dropped off by the new Harpa Concert Hall. I walked into the town, up the hill to the Hallgrimskirkya and went inside. It was very plain and quite stunning. A complete contrast to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, that we saw earlier this year. The organ there has over 5,000 pipes. I then walked down through the main shopping street (such as it was) to the Parliament Building, which you couldn't go in. I had a coffee at a cafe that had blisteringly fast Internet. Sorted out my emails, walked to the Harpa and had a quick look inside before returning to the ship.

6 Sep. Akureyri, Iceland. We sailed in along the fjord to Akureyri. I was surprised to see snow on some of the mountains. It was quite cold and there was a bit of a breeze. My excursion today was called the Jewels of the North. After driving over a bridge to the other side of the fjord we travelled for about an hour to Dimmuborgir, where the lava has made some strange formations. Apparently you can see the Queens Elizabeth and Victoria there (people, not ships!!). I think I had suffered an imagination bypass, as all I could see were lava shapes! We then went to the geothermal area at Námafjall. This is where the hot water under the ground (200 degrees C) comes to the surface. Just like Roturoa in New Zealand it smelt of sulphur. We then saw the pseudo-craters at Skutustadir. These look like volcanic craters, but aren't. They're were formed by lava hitting the water of Lake Mývatn. Finally we went to the waterfalls at Goðafoss. These were quite interesting but effectively were just another waterfall. I enjoyed the trip.

7 Sep. Sea day. Didn't do an awful lot, but did try the Lafitte wine tasting, which was fun. One thing of note for me, was that I finally smelled something in a glass of wine. Usually when I smell wine, I just smell wine, but with the Merlot, after having a piece of Camembert cheese, I smelled liquorice. And according to the write up, that was one of the flavours!

8 Sep. Trondheim, Norway. Sunday, so I wasn't expecting much to be open, and was right about that. The ship arrived at 11:00 and the weather was a little overcast and cool. After a while though, the day warmed up nicely, not something I was expecting. I wandered around the town. The first thing you pass are the wharves, the Bryggene. I strolled further into town past the Vår Frue kirke, where a service was being held, past some old buildings and towards the Nidarus Cathedral which was also holding a service. After a a cup of coffee (not the best) and a piece of cake, I carried on exploring. Next door to the cathedral is the Archbishops Palace. Which was a courtyard surrounded by four buildings, two of which looked modern, but may just have been recently restored. I then strolled through the gardens by the river to the Gamle Bybro, the old town bridge. I walked up a very steep hill, which had the Trampe bicycle lift on it, to the fortress, the Kristiansen Festning. There were some great views of Trondheim from there. I went back down the hill, much easier than the ascent, to the river and strolled along there until I got to the royal residence. I went into a hotel for the loo and saw some entertainment staff from the ship, and they gave me the code for the wifi, so I caught up on emails and ambled back on board. An unexpectedly nice little town.

9 Sep. Ålesund, Norway. We arrived early morning to a cool but dry day, and it stayed dry all day. I had booked a walking tour. Ålesund was originally a wooden town and in 1904 a huge fire effectively destroyed it. A new law was passed that said all new buildings must be built of solid materials like stone. Because of the era that it was rebuilt in, many of the buildings are in the Art Deco style. We walked round the town and it seems way more like an Art Deco town than Napier in New Zealand did when I was there earlier this year. Along the walk we passed Norway's oldest car ferry, that used to carry up to five cars. It is now a small museum. After the tour had finished, I went on to the other side of the town. I went into the Ålesund Kirke which was more ornate inside than I expected but still not as ornate as a Catholic Church would be. After a lunch of a small beer and sandwich, which came in at just over twelve quid, I wandered back to the ship. As we left two people came running for the ship. They missed it and turned out to be crew members, a trombone player and another member of the band. As we sailed out of Ålesund a fire boat sailed by with its water spraying.

10 Sep. Olden, Norway. Early arrival and tour start today. Olden is right at the end of the Nordfjord, about 100 km from the sea. It's a tiny little town, set in spectacular surroundings. My excursion was 'Fjaerland and Glaciers'. We drove through Olden and round the end of the fjord and passed along its southern edge heading south and eventually driving through a tunnel under the Jostedal Glacier. The glacier is the largest on mainland Europe. We passed through the most beautiful countryside and finally stopped off to see the Boya Glacier, one of the arms of the Jostedal. Disappointingly, we only really saw the edge of it. It is retreating and has lost quite a lot of length since the 1930's. A visit to the Norwegian Glacier Museum followed. We then drove to a pretty little town called Skei, where we had lunch before returning along the same route to the ship. We stopped off at a couple of viewing points and a small town to look at its church. We arrived a couple of minutes before 'all on board' time. About 15 minutes after I boarded, we left. This time a couple of speedboats played around in front of us. We were, apparently, the penultimate cruise ship to visit before the end of the season. A good day, with just a little disappointment about the amount of glacier I actually saw. In the evening I was told of a passenger under house arrest on deck six. So on my way back to bed, I strolled along the corridor and saw a guard sat outside the room. Apparently she had norovirus and disembarked in Stavanger at her own request.

11 Sep. Stavanger, Norway. We arrived early and as I was going down to breakfast, the Braemar was arriving and docking just across from us. She looks tiny. I was taking a ride on the Lysefjorden today. We left Stavanger and sailed past many small islands with summer houses on them. We cruised upstream for about an hour and a half. We passed a couple of seals and sailed up close to a towering cliff and then went past a couple of goats which are basically there as a tourist attraction. Then we saw the purpose of the visit, the Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). This is a 25 metre square flat rock 604 metres above the fjord. I wanted to go to the top, but it's a 2 hour walk from the nearest car park, hence the cruise. Immediately after seeing the rock we saw another seal and then the Hengjanefossen. Fossen being waterfalls. Then it was back to Stavanger. On the way back we repassed some strange balls set into the water, I still don't know what they were. Back on shore, I had lunch and strolled round Breiavatnet, a small lake. On my way back to the ship, I walked through Gamle Stavanger, which was really quaint and pretty. All in all a good day.