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Tuesday 4 November 2014

Alta - no escorts today

And it was really nice. The snow has continued overnight and on into the morning, sometimes falling quite heavy.

Since Peter and I aren't on any tours, we decided we needed to get off the ship, exercise the legs and get some fresh air.

The Tourist Information girl revealed that one of the only things worth visiting in Alta is actually a little way outside the town. The Rock Carvings at Hjemmeluft date back 2500-6000 years and Alta Museum is located right next door. We took the schuttlebus into town and then caught the "Bybuss" (city bus) which took us to the musuem.

Judging by the display in the museum, the rock carvings are quite fantastic. Graffiti in the prehistoric age it seems. Unfortunately we should have thought about this a bit. The carvings are all outside.......... on the ground............ And the snow had covered them!

So we didn't get to see them at all, although I think they would have been quite fascinating. We did get to see the views from the museum though. Brilliant!

So we caught the Bybuss back into town and then went to see the new, Northern Lights Cathedral. An amazing building, all credit to the architect.






It costs to get into the cathedral (30 krona).  Paying to go inside a church is not something we are used to, but it was worth it. 


Whilst we were there, the organist started to play and sing, which she did quiet beautifully. A magic moment in that space to be honest. Just awesome.

After the new church, we decided we'd go find the old church. A nice little leg stretch in all that snow. The old church wasn't open, but it did look very picturesque amongst the gravestones. I loved how red the berries on the trees looked against everything else.

From the old church we walked back into the town centre and wandered through the shopping mall before catching the shuttle bus back to the ship. Again it was an early finish as the ship left Alta at 2.30pm. It's starting to get dark actually, but the snow has gone and the sky has began to clear. People are whispering that if it continues, we might get to see the Northern Lights. That would be class!

Tomorrow we're in Narvik, and escorting again. It's a tour I'm looking forward to as it promises fantastic scenery. Class eh?

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