31 Mar 2024 - Flam

This is the last port of this cruise, and to be honest, it feels like we haven't seen that many places this time. Not that I'm complaining. Our cruises of a lot longer than 15 days, so this one has been relatively short. Overnight stops in Bergen and Alta were unusual, and spending two days in Alta was brilliant. But now we are at Flam.

Flam is a World Heritage site, and understandably so. The scenery is magnificently dramatic. Stood on the deck of the ship, we were surrounded by towering snow topped mountains, all lined with numerous waterfalls spilling down near vertical sides. Mist and wispy clouds rose near the tops, adding to the grey sky and giving everything an almost mystical air. The valley floor leading up from the fjord is scattered with brightly coloured wooden houses which look tiny against their surroundings, and if it wasn't for the lack of sun, it looked exactly like the pictures in the brochures.

We've been before. The main attraction here is the Flam railway. One day we should book ourselves on to it, it's not that expensive. I looked it up, it's about £46 per head, and involves a 1 hour journey each way to the Myrdal mountain station. But not today. Today we decided to walk up to the Brekkefossen Waterfall again.

We've done it before, and sort of remembered that we could walk on up past it. We are a little bit limited with regards to time, because Peter and I have been summoned to attend a tea party event in honour of one of a loyal passenger's 89th birthday. Peter had painted his gift (commissioned by Saga) and had to be in attendance during the presentation.

I really should get fitter again. My excuse is that I didn't walk much last year, Plantar fasciatis, and I'm sticking to it.

Still, we got to the top, took loads of photographs

After lunch we started to go further up. But the path was really quite scrambly and slippy. And we remembered that we had tried this before on our last visit and decided then that there was no benefit, so we turned and made our back to the waterfall, where ate lunch and talked to a couple of Norwegians with a three legged dog and a motorhome.

Out the bottom, we took a slightly different route back to the ship. A loud noise, like an incoming jet filled the valley, we looked up, trying to see an aeroplane, until Peter spotted the source of the sound. One of the many frozen waterfalls was having a mini avalanche. Really cool to see.

We were back well in time to change and make ourselves presentable for the birthday event. Then we had to change again to go back out on deck for the sail away. Flam is the longest fjord in the world, and takes a long time to sail out of. The captain announced that deck 7 forward would be opened to allow passengers to an excellent view as we cruised along the fjord. We were curious, so we had to go and find out where it was. The scenery was everything we expected it to be. Amazing.

We have a couple more days left on board now until we get back to Portsmouth. Barring anything out of the ordinary, that's it for this cruise. Next blog post should be for our next cruise in July; "An Arctic Summer" on the Spirit of Adventure. We'll be coming back to Norway, and then on to Iceland. Cooooool!

28 Mar 24 - Tromso

Our memories of previous visits to Tromso weren't that good. We'd been escorting then, and our view of the city was limited by that experience. This morning however, we were looking out from the balcony discussing the cable car on the side of Fløya Loavgavárri, (Fløya means peak apparently). I was less than convinced at first, but Peter was adamant that the cable car was running, we could walk to it across the bridge from Tromso, and that there was plenty of paths and walking at the top.

So after breakfast, we took the shuttle bus from the ship to the city centre and set off walking.

Tromso is actually on an small island between mainland Norway and another much larger island (that I can't find the name of). There are a couple of bridges and an underwater tunnel connecting everything up and Fløya Loavgavárri is on the mainland. Our walk took us past the marina to the Tromsøbrua (Tromso bridge).

I took photo's as we walked over it, noticing Eider Ducks in the water below.

I was also watching the gulls flying above. Except two of them didn't look like gulls at all and seemed extraordinarily large? It wasn't until they had passed under the bridge and reappeared on the other side that I realised they were eagles. White Tailed Eagles to be exact. Awesome. I wish I had taken a photograph!

Having crossed the bridge we walked past the Tromsdalen Kirke (cathedral).

And through the suburbs to the cable car lower station.

It cost 415Kr (a little over £30), each to take the return ride which took us to a point 421m above sea level. That might seem a little excessive, but once we were up there, it was absolutely worth it.

This time we weren't escorting a tour and could freely wander about the hill and beyond. It was just beautiful up there. The snow was so white and the sky so blue. I don't think it could have been better.

We wanted to stay and explore everywhere, and even walk to the peak itself a little way off. Only once again our lack of spikes hampered us. We were feeling a little uneasy walking around, especially where the ground started to slope away from us, or where ice patches spread out over the ground.

We'd also forgot to grab some fruit etc. to bring with us, so after a good hour or so up there were beginning to feel quite hungry. There is a cafe/restaurant at the top, but a quick glance at the prices put us off (£10 for a slice of chocolate cake). Reluctantly it was time to go down.

We started our walk back to the bridge and came across a little cafe type shop near the cathedral. It turned out to be an ice cream parlour, with copious varieties and flavours. Not what we were looking for, but it also served coffee and hot dogs which were absolutely spot on!

We sat at small bar against the window, looking out as we ate. Bearing in mind that the temperature was somewhere close to freezing outside, the ice cream shop was incredibly busy with queues of people lining up for their favourites.

One person outside caught our attention. At no point on any of our visits to ports in Norway (and we've made quite a few), have we ever seen beggars or anyone that appears to be homeless. Norway is expensive, but it has always seemed to us that the Norwegians have an excellent standard of life. So, to see a woman searching through the bins outside the cafe was quite a shock. She was trying to be discreet, putting whatever it was she found into a rucksack, but we were really surprised. I suppose poverty and all the reasons for it can be found everywhere, and it makes you appreciate just how well off we are.

The ship left Tromso just after 6pm and we were treated once again to spectacular scenery lit by a setting sun.

And once again, after 11pm, we were all up on deck watching the sky in awe. To be honest, the lights weren't as bright or awesome as we had seen on previous nights, but we waited it out, hoping they would get better. And they did. (And I used the tripod = better pics).

A fantastic way to end a fantastic day. I consider myself a very lucky person.

27 Mar 24 - Alta Day Two

We've never been on cruise where they've spent two nights in Alta before, but we are very happy with it. We can see a little hill from the ship, and I'd spotted the path up it on Maps.Me. Yesterday, as we walked back from town, we could see where the path started from.

So today we are on are way up. Unfortunately, the only thing we forgot to pack this trip is something we really could have used a couple of times on the cruise..... Our spikes! We have a couple of different sets each, and they are perfect for all this ice and snow..... when you have them with you!

No matter, our walking boots have good soles, so we borrowed a couple of walking sticks from Saga, (available to all passengers, along with umbrellas), and off we went.

It was fantastic! It was a little hairy in a couple of places as the path was steep and the compacted snow a little slippy, and we would have probably ventured a little further if we had spikes on our boots, but all in all we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Definitely something we would do again if we come this way.

The ship left Alta about 6pm, and we watched the beautiful landscape change colours as dusk turned to night.

And if that wasn't enough, once again at about 11pm there was an announcement from the Captain that the lights could be seen over the ship. More Wows! And I'm still trying to get the photography right.

26 Mar 24 - Alta Day One

 A nice lazy start to the day. We've been getting up at 7.30 to be ready for Peter's classes, so the lie in is much appreciated.

We've been blessed with fantastic weather. Clear, clear blue skies and crisp, very cold air. We've been to Alta twice before, but the weather hasn't been this good, and we decided to take full advantage.

It's a good couple of miles from the port to the city centre, so we jumped on the free shuttle bus which took us almost to the front door of the Northern Lights Cathedral. There's a small charge to enter (50Kr or nearly £4), but it's quite nice space. Small in comparison to Cathedrals back in the UK, but really lovely anyway.

From the Cathedral it was on to the Alte Kirche, (Old Church), and cemetery, before deciding to pick our way through streets and houses down to Alta Fjord - a bit further along from where the ship was docked.

And it was all quite, quite lovely. Snow everywhere, with the hills and mountains rising steeply in all directions. We pottered around taking photo's before making our way back to the main shopping centre in the middle of the city.

After a quick sandwich from the supermarket there, we weren't quite ready to get back on the shuttle bus, so we decided to walk back to the ship. The Norwegians have an excellent attitude to walkers and cyclists, with wide gritted paths, plenty of crossings, and drivers who'll always stop if you want to cross the road, no matter where you are.

Back on board we found that everyone had a good day, there are loads of excursions, such as dog-sledding, reindeer sledding and an igloo hotel, what's not to like?

And then, just to add to a brilliant day, at about 11pm, the lights showed themselves again. I still haven't worked out how to get the best pictures (the white lines are stars - my hands are moving as the camera is taking the picture). Maybe it wasn't quite as good as our first display, but it was still awesome. How lucky are we?