Europe, with an Arctic cruise, a Balkan tour and bits of France and Malta

[FlyingFiona]

Why salamanders?

They were believed at the time to be able to withstand and even extinguish fire (when you see it pictured with fire it's because it's consuming it not breathing it as a dragon would). Francis I's motto was Nutrisco and extingo (I feed the good fire and extinguish the bad) meaning he protected his people upholding justice and fighting injustice.

Edit: oops, missed seeing that you had replied, Roo. I only had to Google the Latin motto, I knew the rest from my own visit to the Loire valley. Surprised they didn't tell you when you were there. Actually no I'm not, the French can be really bad at providing comprehesive information at historical sites.

 

[RooFlyer]

Then to boarding, abt 4pm. Times will mean less here than most places, as its 24/7 daylight. The usual mucking around on board - hand over health declaration (you could do this abt 2 months beforehand, so useless), photographs, room cards etc etc. I was annoyed at first to find my cabin had changed but later found out it was due to a tech issue and in fact I could hear workers doing something in there; I was in the same cabin type, directly across the hall.

There were only about 140 on the cruise; Le Boreal takes about 260, so an excellent result. The prior cruise was full. There were about 110 French and 30 English speakers - mostly Anglos but a couple of other main language speakers. The French were divided into 3 zodiac groups, the English into one (that's groups, not zodiacs - which take 10 pax).

The separation into French and English groups, although obviously needed and expected, caused a few issues for me. We English only got a rotation of three zodiac drivers/guides for outings; 1 was a Russian polar historian, and she was good; 1 was a Aussie and this was his first Arctic trip and the other was a Kiwi with the best Australian accent I've ever heard! The latter two were 'generalists' and to be honest except for the birds, they weren't very expert. There was a geologist amongst the expedition crew, but she was only in the French group.

As the cruise progressed it was obvious that the French group and the English group were not treated equally. More on that later.

My cruise (except for the dates)

Cruise Fjords and glaciers of Spitsbergen from Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen to Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen - June 2025 | Ponant

Somewhere in the High Arctic, between 76 and 80 degrees latitude North, Spitsbergen, meaning "pointed mountains”, awaits you for seven days of unforgettable travel looking out for wild life. You will lift the anchor in Longyearbyen, where colourful wooden

au.ponant.com

The route is always subject to conditions, but it ended up being pretty well per the diagram




My 'Prestige' cabin on deck 5. I don't remember why I chose deck 5 over 4, as it would have cost more. Maybe it was only a little bit more and being a deck up, took it. Its quite a bit smaller than the SilverSea boat I took to Antarctica 18 months ago. Included mini bar of small-bottle spirits etc. My 100 euro credit, free laundry entitlement and on-board discount were outlined in a letter on the bed reflecting my Ponant 'Admiral' status (2nd ter up, of 4).

Before that, there was the parka fitting. Notwithstanding we were required to take measurements and submit them to Ponant beforehand, we were asked to go to the main lounge where there were racks of parkas and we had to choose. I had an impatient French guy who passed me a 5XL and told me to take kit to the desk for recording. Hang on, maybe I should try ot on, and others? In the end I took a 2XL and that was too big I found later.







Happy to unpack, though - one of the great pleasures of a cruise. here's my zodiac collection ready to go (gum boots and parka not shown)



Waterproof over-trousers, scarf (alternate to the neck gaiter). Foot gloves, thick socks, waterproof gloves, neck gaiter knitted by mrs.drron , woollen beanie. As it turned out, it wasn't that cold and I shed the foot socks and neck gaiter pretty quick and often had the gloves off in the zodiac and on landings. During purely zodiac drive-bys (no landing), I and others kept to sneakers and no thick socks.

Then to the lounge to check out the booze. Booze included, but you could upgrade the spirits and also buy wine by the bottle. There is a menu for purchases there, but no list of the included wines available.

"We don't have that"
"Why not"
"They might change between cruises"
"I'm only interested in this cruise"
<she smiles ....>

Turns out there are 3 reds and 3 whites and they get 'rotated'. Unlike SilverSea, you can't ask for one that's not on the day's rota; and you never knew what was available on any given day. Quite annoying. This was there the first day and it appealed to me. But when I was allowed it going forward seemed a cough shoot.



Champagne of course# - I'm not a Champagne drinker - any good?



# Well, not necessarily of course - see later.

 

[RooFlyer]

A bit of terminology.

The Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz gave Spitsbergen its name when he discovered it in 1596. The name Spitsbergen, meaning 'pointed mountains' at first applied both to the main island and to the associated archipelago as a whole. Now its just the main island and the collection is Svalbad, meaning 'cold coast' in old Norse.

We departed down the Longyearbyen fjord and it was only a few hours later at about 9:30pm that the call came over the PA that there was a polar bear to see!! Huge excitement. Polar bears were more expected on the sea-ice to the north, so it was everyone on the rails to see.

It was about 0.5 km away. By Norwegian Law (introduced last year) we can't go closer than that. We watched as it paced back and forth, for 30-45 mins.



This where you need a proper zoom camera, not an iPhone. I had 65x optical zoom Canon; the top one is zoomed and the one below enlarged from a zoom.



The sides of the fjord were a promise of things to come

 

[RooFlyer]

The artic is different from the Antarctic in its relative paucity of wildlife. No penguins, very few seals. We were after polar bears (are), walruses (rare), Arctic Fox, seals (rare), reindeers and whales. Hopefully belugas (very rare). Oh, and then there are the birds. Lots of them. One of the expeditioners - a Swiss with a wonderful British accent was the birder. A fanatic and relentless. On the sighting of any bird, no matter if the first or 10th time that day, we would get the whole bloody story. What's the speed of that glacier - don't know. How wide is it? Don't know. Do any shellfish grow in the waters? Don't know. But wow, that's another arctic terms <give the story again...>

Cruises at this point in the season stick to the west of the archipelago, as it benefits from the Gulf stream current which melts the sea ice a bit faster. Later in the year, cruises may get to the east - where there are more polar bears (still more sea ice). So there's a tip as to what time you might go, but I don't think they will predict in advance of they'll get to the east.

We went south overnight (rather slowly) to the southernmost large fjord of the island.



It 'dawned' a bit overcast and grey. View from my balcony.





The morning's activity was a landing on a rocky show and a walk up a snowy hill. I had left my walking pole at a castle in Bosnia, so I decided not to do that, just explore along the shore. The Anglos were the last group of zodiacs (which was the case every day except 1) , which was fortunate in the case, as the weather started improving.



Bit of excitement - was this a polar bear track? Inconclusive.





The weather was cheery so I allowed our expeditioner that day, Sasha (a lovely Russian polar historian) to take my picture. Its hard to pull your stomach in under that parka (with the lifejacket squeezing across the top).



I amused myself by checking out the rocks.



Back to the ship for lunch. I was feeling the effects of the mounjaro appetite suppressant, so after a light breakfast I was usually still not very hugry for lunch, but was tempted a bit by what the chef was cooking up on the pool deck. Spicy baked halibut in this case.



A nice lunch scene. It was warm-ish in the sun and not to bad in the shade outdoors today, but most of the pax never went near the outside tables the entire voyage. Their loss.