2022 Cruise - Part Three

 Viking Shores and Fjords Cruise: We now start the  Shores and Fjords portion of our trip.  We will head out of Bergen for 7 days and eventually end up back in Amsterdam for our flight home.  

Day One and Two - after spending one more day in Bergen and getting a lot of new neighbors we head out to Flam.  It is a beautiful trip up the fjords to Flam - I saw many snow covered peaks and waterfalls.  For our only day in Flam, we took the Flam train up into the mountains with views that cannot be beaten.  This 20 km long train ride is one of the steepest standard gauge railway lines in the world.  We were a little early in the season so we got more of a winter view instead of the summer green but was a beautiful way to spend the day.

 

Day Three -  Stavanger, Norway.  This port is on the southern tip of Norway and is one of its oldest towns. It has cobblestone streets and some of the best kept 17th and 18th century wooden houses.  It is also one of the oil and gas boom towns in recent times.  We later took a boat ride on a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to see the fjords.  The weather was perfect and they gave us quite a thrill ride with quick turns and a close up view of a waterfall.

Day Four - We headed out to Kristiansand which was named after King Kristian and was built on top of large sand dunes.  In the picture below you can see an attachment to the window frame which has two mirrors on the inside that point down either side of the street.  The occupants could then sit in their house and watch what is going on both sides of their street - these were called gossip mirrors.  We then went to an outdoor museum which had some old time homes that date to around 1300 AD.  This third house is built on stilts and is used as food storage and are attempting to keep out the mice.

Day Five - We headed to Oslo, Norway with a full day excursion around town. 

 

We first head over to Vigeland Park which was property donated to the artist Gustav Vigeland under the agreement that he would be responsible for all the art work and set up a public park.  As with most pictures they do not do this place justice. The sculpture park is Vigeland's life work, comprising over 200 sculptures in granite, bronze, and wrought iron.  

       

Church at museum

Viking boat at museum

Ski Jump

Oslo Oprea House

Day Six - We headed down to Skagen, Denmark.  This is located at the north end of Denmark and is a lovely town.  This a small town of around 3,000 full-time residents. It is a large tourist attraction in the summer because of the nice beaches and its large harbor.   It is a fishing community with a long history.  One interesting fact: during WWII the Germans placed a lot of mines out in the ocean and for many years fishing boats would run into these mines with the obvious consequences. 

Day Seven and Eight - We had a full day and night at sea and the next morning arrived in Amsterdam for a morning flight home.  We got to the airport at 8:00 and it took about 5 hours for check-in and security checks.   Unfortunately, it was a national holiday in the Netherlands.  Many airport workers went on strike.  The lines for both of these procedures were crazy.  We were lucky that our plane was having some electrical issues getting to Amsterdam so it was about 2 hours delayed.  If that flight had not been delayed we would have missed that flight.  We were then 2 hours late getting in to Houston so we almost missed the next flight to Albuquerque.  A very stressful day.

We had a great time over these 23 days and am ready to start the next one.

2022 Cruise - Part Two

 Day Seven - We arrived in Falmouth in the early morning,   This port town is on the very southwest corner of England and has been around for a very long time.  Went for a walk early in the morning to the old part of town. In the afternoon, we travelled by bus through thee Cornish countryside and charming towns before arriving at the ancient market town of Marion, set upon the picturesque shores of Mount Bay. This is the town Eisenhower and the allied troops planned and executed D-Day operations.  Nice to see the buildings and small towns where all this took place.  

Day Eight - We set sea over to Portsmouth.  This is another town in England with a lot of naval history; from the Mary Rose, which is a boat built by Henry the Eighth, to the boats captioned by Nelson in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.  We also took a drive around town and the sounding area.  We are here during Easter week so tourism is very high for the next couple days.

 

Day Nine - Set sail to Honfleur, France to explore the medieval town of Rouen or known as "The City of a Hundred Spires".  In the area of Normandy, this town has a large history of English and French ownership.  This is home to a second Notre Dame Cathedral and the burial place of Richard the Lionheart.  There are several other gothic churches which makes for quite a walking tour of this town,  Our port is at the Seine river which has it origins in the Alps and comes through Paris before getting here.  Many people took a bus over to Paris but we needed an excuse to come back some day and cruise up the Seine and then spend a couple days in Paris.

Day Ten - Belgium.  We arrived in Belgium on Easter.  We toured the town of Bruges.  This is another very-well preserved medieval town with a ton of history.  These medieval towns make different decisions about how to handle these historic parts of town.  Some prefer to keep it as historic as possible but others try to introduce some modern touches.  We walked through narrow, twisting cobblestone streets, passing by picturesque scenes of ancient buildings, tree-lined canals and gabled facades.  Since it was Easter Sunday, tourist were out in droves.  We had to keep a close watch for our tour guide or we would get swept up in the crowds of people. 

Day Eleven - Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  Our first excursion was a canal cruise and then a trip to the Dutch countryside.  This famous city is home to 165 canals that wind their way through the cityscape, spanning a total of 31 miles; 1,281 bridges cross over the canals.  We took a leisurely drive, stopping in the fishing village of Volendam to taste local delicacies (deep fried Cod fish and Herring). On the way, saw tulip farms in full bloom. These tulips are grown just for their bulbs.  The tulips we get for bouquets are grown in greenhouses. They have gone in big with wind power - there are new windmills everywhere.  You can still see the traditional windmills that used for regional water management.

Day Twelve  - Day 12 is day at sea - so a day of lectures and reading.  We had heavy fog all day so the first views of the North Sea did not pan out. We should have been able to see windmills and oil wells scattering the North Sea. 

Day Thirteen - Headed to Norway - Bergen was once the capital of Norway and is still it's second largest city. This is a beautiful city.  Out last day of the Trades Routes of the Middle Ages section of this cruise we took a panoramic tour of the city and then took a 4-mile hike into the mountainside overlooking the city.  It was quite a view and it felt nice to work out the knees a little bit.  Funny story - we went into town to walk around and stopped at ATM (they call them Mini Banks) to get some local cash.  Not knowing what amount we needed, we got 500 Norway Krone.  But after shopping for some bandages, which cost 54.95 Kroner for a box of 20 bandages,  we realized this will not go very far.  So we headed back to the ATM about 30 minutes later.  First thing I notice on the ground is my room key that has been on the ground at the ATM for those 30 minutes.  The Force was looking out for me ;). Norway is a very expensive country.   

Next Cruise: Eight days - Viking Shores and Fjords Cruise on the Viking Jupiter.  This was the same ship we just cruised on, but we did have to change rooms.  

2022 Trade Routes of the Middle Ages Cruise - Part One

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 Day One - We flew from Albuquerque to Barcelona through Chicago and Frankfurt with no issues.  We arrived to our final destination right on time.   Traveling out of the country was different this year due to all the COVID-19 requirements.  Embarking the ship took a lot of patience as we had to wait in long lines to ensure that the requirements were in order.  We had to take a COVID test before we left the country and another Covid test at the terminal and lots of paperwork required by Spain.  We are required to take a daily saliva test.  The mask requirements had been lifted on the ship and at most locations so far. Wanting to increase our chances of getting through all 23 days without a positive test, we wore our masks more often than most people on these two cruises.  This is a view from our ship in Barcelona.

Day Two - we took an excursion to La Sagrada Famila and other works by Antonio Gaudi.  Construction started on the church in 1882 and is scheduled for completion in 2026, the centenary of Gaudy's death.  They still have a lot to get done and with a couple years lost to COVID-19, this finish date does not look optimistic.  While they are sticking to his design on the outside the inside has been designed by many different architects but still following his grand idea,  With this weekend being Palm Sunday there were large crowds, but sill quite a sight.

Day Three -We sailed to our next port by night and arrived the next morning Murcia (Cartagena), Spain.  Cartagena is has a very quaint marina and is one of the big ancient Roman cities in this area.  It is home to a 6,000 seat Roman Theater which was sitting under the town for more than 2,000 years and only just discovered and excavated in 1990.  Much of the original roman walls and other buildings still remain.  The old town still has the narrow cobblestone streets and is a pleasure to stroll around.  Again this is the Saturday before Palm Sunday but is still great to walk around town with other Spanish tourist and feel like a part of the celebrations. 

Day Four - Next port stop: Granada (Malaga), Spain.  We sailed to Malaga by night and arrived the next morning. Malaga is noted to be one of the oldest cities in the world.  This town has a history of the Romans and then the Moors and also the birth place of Pablo Picasso.  We first headed out to the  mountain town of Mijas at 1,400 feet above sea level. This town known for the small cobblestone streets and great views over the ocean.  After visiting, Mijas, we got back and take bus to explore the city of Malaga.  This town has many ruins of the Roman and Moors time here.  

Day Five - Day at sea: Cruise the Atlantic Ocean  from Malaga to Porto Portugal. 

                                Sunrise over the North Atlantic Ocean as seen from Deck 2

                                of the Viking Jupiter ship.

                                   

                                    Star Theater: The theater is the meeting place for excursions,

                                port talks, lectures, celebrations, and various entertainers. 

Day Six - We arrived in Porto, Portugal at 8:00 in the morning. We had a morning excursion planned.  Weather forecast called for rain most of the morning but we headed out to "The Best of Porto" excursion.  This is a beautiful city at the mouth of the Douro River that comes out of Spain and enters the Atlantic Ocean.  We walked through some old parts of town before getting to the Douro River for a boat ride up and down this river.  We embarked a traditional "rabelo", a specially built boat once used to transport barrels of port wine.  Unfortunately the rain started as we got on the boat and rained on and off for the duration of the journey.  I stubbornly sat outside and got soaked but it was a great way to see the city.  We then headed by bus to the Porto Cathedral which was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style.  When the Portuguese explorers were taking a lot of gold and silver out of South America they used a lot of gold leaf to adorn many of the rooms in this church. We then visited an ancient wine cellar for a tasting of the city's world-famous port wine, served with typical tapas from northern Portugal and accompanied by the sounds of fado music.

Day Six - Day at sea, travel from Porto, Portugal to Falmouth, England.

                                Steve's breakfast stop, most mornings: the Explorer's Lounge.