From Fjords to Pharaohs

[ellen10]

Spectacular!!

 

[jase05]

Amazing photos. We didn’t see the lights at all on our cruise

 

[OATEK]

Some of the best Northern Lights photos I have ever seen posted.

 

[Wello]

Some of the best Northern Lights photos I have ever seen posted.

Thanks, we were so lucky to see them over a number of nights but they were definitely at their best when these photos were taken.

 

[Wello]

At Stokmarknes we visited the Coastal Express Museum. The main attraction is a Hurtigruten ship, MS Finnmarken which was built in 1956 and was used until 1994. You are able to explore all over the ship to see all the different areas. I certainly appreciate how much nicer the Havila Castor is now. If you are travelling on Havila or Hurtigruten you get a discount entrance fee of 100krone ($15AUD) instead of the usual price of 190krone. It is definitely worth hoping off your ship for a visit.

 

[Wello]

The coast of Norway is absolutely beautiful and it is such a nice relaxing trip watching it pass by.



During winter the ship is unable to pass through Trollfjord as it is really narrow and can have avalanches that would be unavoidable. The captain did however sail close by the entrance so we could see some of its beauty.

 

[Wello]

We had a short stop in the evening at Storoya where we hopped off the ship for a quick walk around. There was not much open other than souvenir shops that looked the same in each town. It did however surprise us with its beauty of water, mountains and snow. As an Australian tourist who rarely sees snow it doesn’t get any better when it starts to snow while you are walking around. After checking out most of the town the snow started falling and we enjoyed our walk back to the ship with large smiles on our face.



Later that night we passed another Havila ship and they encouraged as many people on deck to wave Norwegian flags.

 

[Trekky1]

Fantastic Photos!

 

[jukebox333]

Awesome reporting @Wello - thank you.

I'm planning an Arctic trip for 12 months time - if anyone is interstered in the coastal ferry in detail, there's an expat who has been uploading videos over the last month that have more detail than I have seen anywhere else:

She did go into Trollfjord on one of her four (!) trips, and it is scarily spectacular.

Looking forward to the rest of your updates.

 

[Wello]

The next morning we returned to below the Arctic Circle which is marked with a sculpture.



One of the spots we passed is called the seven sisters. Legend has it, the seven beautiful daughters of trolls were out enjoying themselves one night and were distracted and didn’t realise the sun was rising. Trolls when hit by the sun are turned into rocks and this is how many of the mountains in Norway were formed. The seven daughters became seven beautiful mountains for eternity. You can see their faces looking up into the sky.



We also had a stop in Brønnøysund where we had an opportunity to walk the town. Brønnøysund is regarded as being in the middle point of Norway between north and south.



The next morning we had a three hour stop in Trondheim and we again did a walk of the town. This really looks like an interesting place and I would have liked more time to explore.

 

[VPS]

The next morning we returned to below the Arctic Circle which is marked with a sculpture.

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One of the spots we passed is called the seven sisters. Legend has it, the seven beautiful daughters of trolls were out enjoying themselves one night and were distracted and didn’t realise the sun was rising. Trolls when hit by the sun are turned into rocks and this is how many of the mountains in Norway were formed. The seven daughters became seven beautiful mountains for eternity. You can see their faces looking up into the sky.

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We also had a stop in Brønnøysund where we had an opportunity to walk the town. Brønnøysund is regarded as being in the middle point of Norway between north and south.

View attachment 499154

The next morning we had a three hour stop in Trondheim and we again did a walk of the town. This really looks like an interesting place and I would have liked more time to explore.

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Beautiful photos. I think they are even more enjoyable because I can't wait until I feel cold again

 

[Wello]

The last part of our journey on the Havila Castor takes us to Bergen. The snow starts to disappear on the coast and I reflect that I am so glad I did this trip in winter. For me the snow just makes everything more beautiful and just that more special.

We only hop off the ship one more time at Kristiansund for a short walk with not much to see.

We also pass an oil rig heading out to see and I don’t know why but I had no idea that these existed with their own engines to move about the ocean.

Now to spend a couple of days in one of the wettest cities in Europe. Spoiler, Bergen lived up to its reputation.

 

[Wello]

I have included some random photos from the Havila Castor including some other staterooms that were open, some common areas and some menus.

I would definitely recommend doing this trip or the Bergen to Kirkenes trip. I am not sure I would want to do the full return trip over 12 days and prefer to do what we did and stay longer in a couple of cities.

I would also recommend Havila and have no complaints on any aspects of the cruise. Also I am not sure there would be anyone as hard working as the gentleman in charge of excursions on the ship. As well as looking after excursions, he gives a daily update on the following days weather and ports, he hosts the daily food stories, he scans you off the ship and makes announcements about the northern lights at night.

Food on ships is always a personal preference as what some love others can find uneatable. Havila uses a concept of small plates as they have goals to have very little waste of foods so other than a small buffet at breakfast, you select items from the menu and the serving size is not that large. I never felt I went hungry but I still felt the range of choices was limited with the menus only changing once on our trip.

As a bonus on the ship, for someone who is away from home for some time, they have free washing machines and dryers including washing powder to use. It was nice to leave the ship with all our clothes clean ready for our continued journey.

Alcohol is extremely expensive in Norway and on the ship was no different with the cheaper beer costing $20AUD a glass.

One thing I will miss when we leave the Scandinavian is the concept of providing separate doona’s for each person in the bed. This should be a thing everywhere so there is no fighting over the doona.

 

[Wello]

Our first full day in Bergen and we did a walking tour for nearly three hours to see the highlights of the town. I am a big fan of walking tours as you see much more than when you walk around on your own and you hear the local stories and myths of each location. It also gives you an opportunity to know which places to return for a more detailed visit.

This was one of the free walking tours where you tip what you want, so after two weeks I used my first cash in Norway. Before the tour we went to a local supermarket for some snacks and could also withdraw the cash for the tour.

On this trip the Amex has remained in my wallet and I have been using a mixture of debit (Macquarie) and credit (Bendigo) cards that don’t charge any international fees. They have both worked perfectly with no issues.

Bergen certainly has some interesting architecture beyond the historic Bryggen buildings. A number of the older buildings have been converted to student accommodation with shared facilities due to the cost of rentals in the area. One interesting thing they have done is convert all their old telephone boxes into book swaps and have left the telephones but they do not work.

The rain fortunately held off while we were walking but continued for the rest of the day so we retreated to our hotel room.

 

[alect]

excellent TR. Am fascinated in reading it as we're planning a Norwegian fjords cruise. Can you explain whether you evaluated both Havila and Hurtigruten and why you decided to go with Havila?

 

[Wello]

excellent TR. Am fascinated in reading it as we're planning a Norwegian fjords cruise. Can you explain whether you evaluated both Havila and Hurtigruten and why you decided to go with Havila?

Hi, yes I did look at both companies as they do the exact same trip just on different days so the itinerary is the same. I chose Havila because the ships are much newer and the cabins looked nicer. Also even when Hurtigruten had sales for the south bound trip, Havila was always cheaper. However no matter which company you choose you are going to have a good time.

 

[MurilloR]

Comparing Havila and Hurtigruten really comes down to what you value more. Havila definitely has the edge when it comes to the fleet - their ships are brand new and the cabins feel way more modern. That said, Hurtigruten has been around forever and has more ships on the route, which gives you a bit more flexibility with dates. It mostly depends on your budget and how much you prioritize onboard comfort.