From Fjords to Fiats

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General look at the Pollux-obviously plenty of other sitting or viewing areas

Couple of spas available

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Our schedule-kept pretty accurate time

First lunch
Tomato soup

Salmon

Vardo

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Batsfjord

Dinner Menu

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Vardo-Vardø (town) - Wikipedia

Batsfjord-Båtsfjord - The Hidden North

So a good nights sleep in a very comfortable cabin and a breakfast window of 7am to 9.30am meant we had a very relaxed start to the day.

First view was Havoysund-Havøysund - The Hidden North

Salmon & scrambled eggs for breakfast off the menu & then free to graze the buffet with plenty of hot & cold choice. Coffee was generally very ordinary but that applied to wherever we tried in Norway

Then laze around as we approach Hammerfest- got off here. In the general waiting area some people seemed to be jostling to be first down the gangway. As a general comment, the lifts & stairs were never crowded & we always had a spot to sit in the general area we wanted to be

Hammerfest - The Hidden North

Hammerfest Gas Snøhvit and Hammerfest LNG - Equinor

We had around 90 minutes to wander Hammerfest & basically did a rough anticlockwise wobble around with the dock area visible most of the time

The tent hosts various festival events

The Protestant Church of Hammerfest was built by architect Hans Magnus from Oslo, who among other things also designed the northernmost church in the world on Spitsbergen. It was consecrated in 1961. The triangle served as a leitmotif for the Church, both as a symbol of the Holy Trinity and also as a reference to the traditional fish drying racks, which are still used to produce the stockfish.

The wall behind the altar is a mosaic image, which was completely composed of Norwegian stones and completed in 1972. The small windows on the sides show symbols of the Christian faith. The glass mosaic on the back wall was created by Jardar Lunde. The ceiling’s wood paneling is reminiscent of an upturned boat.

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More Hammerfest

Autumn colour not so pronounced. Plenty of fence protection to be seen if you zoom

Ole Olsen (composer) - Wikipedia

Blue Music Pavillion-white pipe is for a spotlight

The view to Haja -Håja - Wikipedia

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We were back onboard for our 1.30pm lunch setting

Time for a drink but outside wasn't very inviting

Pricey but Mrs RB thought approaching 200ml

Tap beer was cold & fresh

Nikkeby- apparently home for 11 people

Skjervoy

Dinner 8pm-shared a table with a couple from near Rome
Duck

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Risoyhamn was a very quiet stop but another impressive Norwegian bridge.

Havila have some excursions that rejoin the ship at a later stop. As we approached Sortland and went under the bridge there was a coordinated celebration as the returning bus drove over the bridge - a successful promotion with quite a few joining in.

Sortland - The Hidden North

Then time for our lunch

Next was Stokmarknes
Stokmarknes - The Hidden North

This was to be the start of the highlights of our time on the ship

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A rough visual of the area between Stokmarknes and Svolvaer

The afternoon was the visual highlight of our time on the ship and the weather was excellent. From Stokmarknes/Hanoy/Gunnarbaten/Tengelfjorden/Austvagoy Island and on to Svolvaer was an excellent passage with way too many photos taken ( a few hassles with the sun and unable to capture the waterfalls and the vast heights).
The Trollfjord sometimes cannot be accessed but our magical afternoon meant we didn’t need to buy an excursion back there during our time in Svolvaer.

We retrieved our bags from storage & walked off roughly on time. About another 6 disembarked here too & then those on shore excursions walked off after us.