"Summer 22 Holidays"
We originally planned, and booked, to go on a cruise that included the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland in June of '22. However, our favourite P&O ship, the Aurora, was forced to go into dry dock for repairs and we had to rebook for a couple of months later when the Aurora was back in business. This turned out to be a cruise that did not include Iceland which was a little disappointing. As per normal we travelled to Southampton the day before and met up with our friends at the Premier Inn before having a catch up, an evening meal, a good nights sleep and breakfast before making our way to the docks to board the ship. This routine has become part of our holiday and something we particularly enjoy.
After two days at sea, our first stp should have been Stavanger but for some reason we could not stop there and we carried on to Trondheim. I had already researched this stop and we decided that the best place to see was the Nidaros Cathedral and the area known as Bakklandet, a short walk from the cathedral. Nidaros Cathedral is built over the tomb of Olav the Holy, the Viking king who christianized Norway around 1070 and is where Norwegian monarchs are crowned. It is quite stunning inside with the magnificent Steinmeyer organ, designed by Henry Willis, takes pride of place under the beautiful Rose Window. We were fortunate to visit when the Gaia' by Luke Jerram was there (on tour) based on the Greek myth of Gaia, goddess of Earth, mother of all life. We left and walked to the rear of the cathedral where the Archbishop's Palace, the oldest such building in Scandinavia, is located; for some reason we didn't go inside (it may have been closed) which is a shame as there is apparently a very good museum of artefacts, statues and military weapons on display, starting with the Viking Age, going through the Middle Ages up to the German occupation of Norway during World War II.
We walked through the park to the Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge) which crosses the Nidelva River and connects Trondheim to the neighborhood of Bakklandet which was our objective. We had thought we might climb to the Kristiansen Fortress at the top of the hill but this appeared to be a bit too much for us oldies so we had lunch and walked back through Bakklandet to the shuttle bus; Bakklandet is a beautiful area of Trondheim with painted wooden houses on the banks of the Nidelven river and is a magnet for tourists and locals running and on bikes. We watched a local guy feeding sparrows by hand, in fact they were so tame that he could get them to sit on his finger whilst feeding; I must admit I've never seen this before but he must have had an audience of around 10-20 sparrows waiting to be fed - amazing!
The following day we sailed to the busy port of Alesund which is at the entrance to the Geirangerfjord. According to reviews, after an early 20th-century fire destroyed much of the town, Alesund was rebuilt in Art Nouveau style but I can't say I noticed this. An OK day spent wandering the streets but there was not much to see and I wouldn't go there again; we had a lovely lunch break with our friends on a beautiful day and were told by a local that this was the best day for months so we were lucky.
The following day we arrived in Andalsnes with the hope of going to see the Troll Wall on the Rauma train. Unfortunately, the early train had left and the later train would not have got us back in time to sail. We eventually found the only single taxi service available and agreed to split up into two groups. Together with Marion and Ed we took the first turn to go to the Troll Wall, the Trollveggen, which is the tallest vertical overhanging rock face in Europe. A narrow, winding mountain road took us up to the top where the views from the platforms were fantastic and well worth the time we took. Eventually we returned to Andalsnes to enable the other group to make the same journey. We were told that the transport problem we had experienced was simply due to too few cruises visiting Andalsnes (4 per year) which meant that there was not enough business year round to justify setting up a regular service.
Our next stop was Olden which is my idea of a typical Norwegian Fjord with the town at the end of the Nordfjorden, mountains all around, a deep blue-green sea and two glaciers within fairly easy reach by bus or car. The reason for the sea color is due to phytoplankton which are covered with unique calcite disks called coccoliths and when the sunlight is reflected from these, the water appears to be a characteristic turquoise colour. We took a tour bus to the Briksdal glacier which we could see in the distance from the bus stop and I have included a photo from the internet to show the glacier in all its glory close up. Of the six most beautiful fjords listed the Nordfjorden is the only one we visited, something to remember perhaps when planning a holiday to Norway's fjords.
Our next stop at Skjolden was when I started to think that 'when you've seen one fjord, you've seen them all'. There was absolutely nothing there to see or to photograph except a couple of old houses, a bridge and a wild river. This place should never have been on the P&O itinery; according to Tripadvisor there are 9 things to do, none of which were actually in Skjolden, and apparently somewhere there are Llamas and a Juice Factory although I've no idea where they are. I suppose, if we had been younger and fitter we could have made the 45 minute trek uphill to the waterfall, as there was no actual transport, but none of us were up to that.
Two stops left and the first was at Eidfjord, where we used the Noddy train (called here a Troll train) to take us up to the Haereid Iron Age Burial Site where according to records there are 350 graves dating back to 400-1000AD. I'm not sure what I was expecting but in reality this burial site consisted of grass mounds covered in big stones, so not much to see really; a grand name for not much. On the way back we stopped at the old church which was built out of stone in 1309; although not accessible inside now we did manage to get a couple of photos through the main door.
Our last stop was at Haugesund which is considered one of the most important in Viking history. We split up for sightseeing with the girls going to the reconstructed Viking village of Avaldsnes, the royal seat of King Harald Fairhair who united Norway in the year 872 AD; Avaldsnes remained the country’s royal seat for nearly 500 years. The rest of us took a Noddy train through Haugesund to the national monument which is thought to be King Harald's burial place and was unveiled in 1872 to mark 1,000 years since unification.
And so we arrived back at Southampton after an enjoyable holiday with our friends although I won't be going there again for reasons already given. For one all fjords are esentially the same (when you've seen one you've seen them all) and two we missed out on our hoped for visit to Iceland. The itinery is designed to get us to our mooring station in the morning which is laudible but it means you are travelling through the fjords largely at night and miss out on some of the splendour. For once we were less than impressed with the Aurora, this time from too few staff who worked very hard but were over stretched and also many of the expected events were cancelled (e.g. sail-away parties, day-time entertainment. There was less variety for the evening entertainment and less acts as well, all of which indicates probably that P&O were not able to attract the artists and staff generally and were perhaps cutting costs. It means that we will probably not be chosing a P&O cruise again in the next few years. Finally it has to be said that there is a lot going for a nice sunny warm destination, which Norway was not.
Finally I would like to thank all our wonderful friends who joined us for their great company - at least that never changes.
Video from the top of the Trollveggen
