A Taste of Norway – part 1

What.! The media portrayal of vikings is incorrect, dramatised, and sensationalised. I’m shocked!

With shows like Vikings, the interest in Vikings and that time period has really taken off recently. I’m fairly ignorant about the subject, and the only exposure I’ve had is from television showing them as ruthless sea-going warriors rading and pillaging other villages and countries for their own gain. So this trip to Norway 🇳🇴 is a great opportunity to gain some insight into not only Norway but also of Viking culture.

The cruise has us briefly visiting four ports in Norway. With such a short visit, we’ll only be touching Norwegian and Viking history and culture.

Haugesund

Our first port is Haugesund and a tour of the historical museum and a recreation of a Viking farm.

Fascinating.

Old ruins found next to the church of more stone structures including a cellar complete with running water (stream) running through it.

Traditional Viking community house where everyone lives. The size is generally based on their wealth.

From the farm, we headed back into town to enjoy a traditional meat sod (soup) and fish sod in a local award winning restaurant, which was sensational.

Then it was time to get back on the ship.

Geiranger

For the past few days I’ve had a sore throat and a really husky voice – I suspected all the dry air when travelling and I may have been doing a lot of talking … including talking (really loud) at the welcome event with loud music. A sore throat is also synonymous with covid, so I took a RAT test on Monday night (which was negative), just to be sure.

With persisting symptoms I’d hate for it to be covid and sharing it around … and be ‘that’ person. So I paid the medical centre a visit. The PCR test confirmed that I am still covid, flu, and RSV negative, and what I have is nothing more sinister than a throat infection.

Now I can rest easy that I’m not infectious.

Unfortunately while I was sitting in the medical centre we sailed through the fjord, and I missed the whole thing. I’m told it was stunning. Luckily, I’ll get a second chance tonight as we sail back out.

The Geiranger Fjord is world heritage listed with water up 200m deep, so a ship this size shouldn’t have a problem.

Unfortunately the conditions conspired against us today with strong winds and currents for our visit Gairanger. The crew tried the seawalk – but the motors failed, then they tried the ship’s tenders, but with such a big ship they were having trouble keeping it in place… It does make you wonder what they’d do if they needed the tenders in an emergency situation… Then when the ship’s moorings broke away they called it quites after 2.5 hours of trying. So we up stumps and headed out early.

On the upside … they exited the fjord slowly giving me a second chance to witness what I missed earlier today.

A few photos from the ship as we sailed back out the Geiranger Fjord.

No one in the outside pools today as ot was only 4 degrees C.

waterfalls everywhere. These were the biggest ones.

At one point, the ship did a 360. It’s amazing that such a big ship can effectively spin on the spot.

And for those wanting a bit more privacy to get away from it all … or a place away from the mother-in-law. Check out this house (centre) it looks like the only access is via the jetty at the bottom left.

I’ve no idea how they go sbout choosing such a location. Or how they get from the jetty to the house. So many questions.

Then, sitting drinking my cuppa, I glaced at the time and it’s 10:30 at night and there is still so much light out there. We don’t even need lights on in our cabin with the curtains open!