August 13-15, 2015: Cruises, aside perhaps from those to Alaska and Antarctica, have never interested me. I have no desire to travel in close proximity to hundreds, never mind thousands, of strangers, and I quickly get bored on open water. Ferries that double as cruise ships, however, are another matter, with fewer passengers and more to look at. For instance, I quite enjoyed my three night trip on the Evangelistas up the Chilean coast a few years back. And then, I kept reading that the Hurtigruten cruises along the Norwegian coast were among the most beautiful in the world.
Solo travelers are not well-served by cruise companies, who price everything on the basis of two people traveling together. Even when a company does make some grudging provision for singles, it is always in the worst cabins, with portholes rather than windows, or inside with no view at all. Happily, my elder sister decided that she would like to take a Hurtigruten trip with me, and I went ahead and booked us on a date that would allow for some time in Oslo, and a few days back in England, before our niece’s wedding.
Hurtigruten started out as a lifeline for coastal communities, and still fills that function, but its ships also carry passengers in reasonable comfort. Don’t imagine that these are cruise ships in the currently accepted meaning of the phrase, though. There are no cabarets or casinos, no soaring atria or even swimming pools. The cabins are functional, not luxurious, and while the main public deck has mirrored ceilings and pretty chandeliers, no one would mistake it for a deck on a Princess or Holland America ship. Almost the only entertainment aboard is outside – the scenery – and there are both indoor and outdoor options for enjoying it – in blessed peace and quiet. I don’t know whether our cruise was characteristic, but the Panorama Lounge was largely silent. All the time.
The full cruise is a round trip, Bergen to Kirkenes on the Russian border and back to Bergen. We opted to take just the northbound leg, six nights on board (the return takes five nights). Neither of us anticipated any problems with seasickness. (I was once on a ferry that went round in circles outside Dover because conditions were too bad for it to enter the port, without experiencing more than a mild nausea, which I thought a reaction to everyone around me getting sick.) I thought our voyage, little of which was across open water, remarkably smooth, but I gathered others were glad they were wearing protective patches.
Aside from the beautiful scenery – yes, it was beautiful – the most remarkable thing about our trip was the weather. Forget the wind and rain that greeted me in Bergen, even above the Arctic Circle we had bright sunshine! Just the last full day, rounding the North Cape, was grey and misty, but really I think I would have felt cheated if the whole trip had had Mediterranean weather.
We boarded late afternoon, and dinner the first night was a buffet that was a foretaste of the lunch buffets that would follow, the offerings remaining pretty much unchanged. Among them was unlimited smoked salmon – that is, Scottish-style smoked salmon (or Norwegian in this case, I suppose) not the kind usually on offer in the US. I would not have thought it possible for me to get tired of smoked salmon, but I would have been wrong…
Next morning our first daylight stop was Alesund, which I had been keen to see as it had been rebuilt in Art Nouveau style after a fire in 1904. Since the ship would return to Alesund after visiting the Geiranger fjord I had entertained thoughts of staying there for the day, but it turned out that there was not a great deal to see, and most of it was of the National Romantic school of Art Nouveau. And it would have been a pity to miss the fjord, nine narrow and spectacular kilometers of soaring rock and graceful waterfalls. Most people were outside to admire the fjord, sitting by choice in full sun. I shared the sparse shade with a couple from Singapore, traveling with their son who would spend a semester in Copenhagen. You can always tell the people who live in hot climates – they’re the ones avoiding the sun.
We had opted not to take the ship’s excursions for Alesund and Geiranger, and the next day we tackled Trondheim on our own too. This was a less good idea, as it was a bit of a trek into town, and we couldn’t locate a taxi to take us back. The cathedral, which had been the object of the exercise, was really quite nice, but the associated museums were skippable.
The Kong Harald had, of course, been heading steadily north despite detours into fjords and around islands – of which there were very many – and the next morning would cross the Arctic Circle. Since this geographic feat was anticipated to occur around 4:30 am, we would not witness it. Nor would we participate in the associated ceremony, which looked decidedly uncomfortable.
Kathy! Oh, my! Lovely trip! BTW: Whose heads have been harvested by the mitre hatted man in the last image? LLOL!
Take Care! Yona
Hi Yona! Hope you’re doing well. Bishop Sigurd is holding his murdered nephew’s heads. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidaros_Cathedral_West_Front#Middle_row:_Norwegian_Saints_to_the_left_side