Sunday, August 2, 2015

Wednesday July 8, 2015 - Alesund, Norway and The Saga Islands, Giske & Godoy


We woke up at 8, had a quick breakfast at the buffet and met our tour group at 9:15 for a trip to the Saga Islands.  Florian was our guide, a young German boy who married a Norwegian girl and settled with her in her homeland.

We first went to a lookout point with beautiful views of the city and the mountains.  Some of the peaks still have snow on them from the winter.  There was an old bunker up there that was cool.

Our large aft balcony for stateroom 678 on Regent Silver Seas Voyager

Sailing into Alesund - beautiful mountains line the fjord

Alesund, Norway from the lookout point

The "smallest hotel room in the world" on this dock in Alesund

Selfie at the lookout in Alesund - it is getting colder and colder as we go north

Voyager docked in Alesund with the mountains in the background



Beautiful vistas in every direction

Panorama from the lookout at Alesund, Norway

Statue of one of the early founders at Alesund

An old bunker at the lookout point

View of Alesund from the bunker

Little Timmy playing inside the bunker!
 
We started to drive through the city but the police had blocked off many of the streets for a tall ship race next weekend.  It was gridlock in the center city.  We had to detour to get out of the city and then began our journey to the Saga Islands.  We went through 3 long tunnels, the longest was 4 km.  The last tunnel had only 1 lane but it had pull off places so oncoming traffic could wait.

We went to Godoy first and to the very end to the light house.  We walked up to the top on very steep stairs.  It was really, really windy up there.

Windy and cold in Godoy, Norway

The Godoy Lighthouse

Beautiful lighthouse - we walked to the top on very narrow stairs - very windy at the top

Selfie from the top of the Godoy Lighthouse



Another selfie with the lighthouse in the distance

Colorful houses line the waterfront

Beautiful purple flowers all over the fields
 
We then went to Giske Island and to an old church.  A woman told us about the beautiful carvings on the altar and pulpit.  The church was made of marble blocks and they are puzzled as to where the blocks came from.  There is a grave outside that has a marble top and it is believed that this is the grave of the man who built the marble church.

The old church on Giske Island

The hand-carved pulpit in the church on Giske Island, Norway

The sanctuary

A guide gave us the history of the church

Marble blocks showing on the outside of the church - they have no idea where this came from

The large cemetery at the Giske Island Church

A house with a grass roof for insulation

"Marshmallows" - large rolls of hay in white wrappers - these were all over the fields

The cemetery and church on Giske Island, Norway
 
We then headed back to Alesund.  We had a quick light lunch at the buffet and then walked around downtown Alesund.  They call it an “art deco” city with interesting architecture.  I bought a wool cap as we are headed further north to the Arctic Circle where there is much, much colder weather and my caps won’t be enough.  They told me that they had “summer stock” in and weren’t sure they even had any but finally found one in the back.  When I got confirmation of the charge from Chase it was $50 for a hat made in China!

The movie theatre in Alesund, Norway

Statue of a woman looking out to sea in Alesund

Our ship, the Voyager, docked in Alesund, Norway

View of the harbor from our balcony

View of the city to the west from our balcony

View of the city to the north from our balcony
 
Tim went to the gym and I went to the sauna.  The heat wiped me out so I returned to the cabin and napped.

We dressed for dinner and went to Observations for a drink.  We set sail about 7 headed north to Trondheim which is only about 84 nautical miles away.  We had dinner in Compass Rose and our usual after-dinner drink in Observation before going to bed.

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