After two long days at sea, doing pub quizzes, spa treatments, seeing nothing but oil rigs, oil tankers and the vast emptiness of the North and Norwegian sea, we arrived at our first stop; Ålesund. I was very excited to step on terra firma and having a good run around, so naturally, I awoke at 6.30am and headed straight to the observation deck on the 14th floor at the Bow of the ship. What I saw was quite possibly the most beautiful sunrise I have ever witnessed. I’m sure it was slightly due to the fact that I could see land again and the excitement of adventure, but it truly was magnificent.
After taking in my fill of the sunrise I picked up the wife from the room and we headed for a quick coffee and bacon roll, whilst we let the fantastic crew dock us in Ålesund in no time. We made landfall at 8am and within 10 minutes we were off the ship and going! We immediately went for the view point as it was likely to get rather busy later in the day with cruise goers, especially considering another ship had docked alongside us.
Soon we found ourselves in a park which leads to the 488 step staircase that would take us to the views. The park itself was nothing too special, save the large statue of Rollo the Viking, ancestor of William the Conqueror and father of the region of Normandy, which legend has it was born in Ålesund. Rollo lead and was part of the Viking siege of Paris and later he and his men were offered the land now known as Normandy in an attempt to stop Viking incursions into modern day France. Incidentally, Ålesund, is also the birth place of my favorite musician, though we found no statues of Sigrid, I’m sure there will be one in time.
Soon we were braving the steps up to the view point with a few stops on the way for pictures and as luck would have it we were indeed ahead of the majority and arrived at the top almost empty of people. We were greeted instead by a ships horn that echoed through the Fjord and the luxury of the view undisturbed. Walking through the view point we came across some Anti-Aircraft and bunker positions placed by the Germans during the war, which we ventured into until it became increasingly creepy and possibly dangerous. Taking in our fill of the sights we headed back to the steps which were now very crowded and headed down into the town.
Looking around the shops there was plenty to see from cheese shops, souvenirs and displays of rubber ducks! After having a good look we popped back to the ship for some food before hopping back off for our next, and somewhat foolish, endeavor. When booking the cruise we had something to do in each of our stops except Ålesund so took it upon ourselves to find something special to do. That something special was, a North Sea cold plunge experience. We arrived at the Sauna and promptly changed and enjoyed the heat before heading out and into barrels containing sea water that would re-fill after you got out. The first attempt was unsuccessful, the second much better and by the fifth we were old hands at the temperature change. I have to admit I did not really enjoy the horrific change of temperature, that being said I did feel fantastic after the fact!
It was time to keep exploring and we found a great little bar to have a beer and people watch after more wandering around the town. Then our time in Ålesund came to an end. We headed back to the ship and got some food before heading up topside to watch the Fjords disappear as we set off for our next destination; Tromsø. Soon we would be in the Arctic Circle, something I was very much looking forward to. However, not before an eventful evening; As we were winding down the wife headed back to the room whilst I admired the darkness and then it happened. A flash of green in the distance, followed by another slightly larger. An announcement was made on the ships speakers that an Aurora could be seen ahead to the Port side. I watched for more and it increased in strength. Waiting for the wife to come running upstairs I took what snaps I could with my phone, though I had not figured out the settings so failed to get any good ones this time. Soon I decided she must have missed the announcement so I hightailed it from the 14th floor at the Bow to the 4th at the Aft only to find her watching TV! Oblivious this could be our only chance.
As luck would have it we arrived back at the Bow in time to see the show, though many others had also arrived. I took the opportunity to attempt some pictures but mostly admired the show of dancing colours in the sky. Little did we know this would not be our only sighting of the lights on this trip, in fact it only got better, but for now I was contented that I had seen the lights with the naked eye, rather than through a camera lens. After the show we headed back to the room with a quick stop to watch some of the show in the Queens room, a magician/comedian/juggling act all whist the ship was on the move! Rather impressed we headed back to the room and to sleep for tomorrow we were to become Arctic Explorers.
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