Day 8 - Wednesday June 18th

This morning we sailed into our next port of call, docking about 8am in Alesund, the fishing capital of Norway.  The weather does not look promising today with forecast of rain and it is already overcast.  Even so the fjords are beautiful.

 

As we left the pier, we got on our shore excursion bus for city tour.  It is 48 F so good to be out of the cold and slight mist in the air and overcast.  

 

Our first stop was an old stone church with neat very old headstones. It was originally from the Middle Ages

probably built around 1250. In 1904 the church was set on fire by an assailant who police report is referred to as "deranged".  

The new church was built within the medieval walls and in the old style, with rich wooden carvings.

Adjacent to the church we then walked through a museum of old houses dating from 1550 to 1850 some of which were relocated from other parts of Norway.  The 19th century houses looked like the ones you see in pioneer villages in the States.  Notice the sod growing on the roof's; this is the way the houses were back then also.

One of the most interesting small buildings was a changing room for farmers who rowed along the fjords from their farms to church.  When they got to church, anchored at shore next to the one room changing  houses, they could then don fresh day clothes before entering the church.

The next stop was a viewpoint, Mount Aksia, for a view of the city and our cruise ship in the port.  The rain started to get heavy so we high tailed it back to the bus.  There were some bunkers at the viewpoint built by the Germans in World War II when they invaded Norway.

 

On our return drive back to the ship, we traveled through the center
 of town along the water's edge.  The town was re-built after a fire in 1904.  The buildings were Art Nouveau style with a variety of interesting facades.  The bus tour guide stated that the buildings in the area were one of the very few Art Nouveau towns left in the world.   

After returning to the ship, we had lunch and naps.  We wanted to catch up on email so we went ashore again to the library just across the street from the pier to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi and internet service.  The ship internet is not very reliable and you have to pay for it, therefore, we try to find the free spots when we are in port.  We also saw a multi-level mall next door to the library so we strolled in and Robert bought a small collapsible suitcase for all of our new clothes. 

View from cruise ship deck of Alesund Harbor

After drinks in the Crow’s Nest, we went to dinner.  Chuck and Michael went to hear David Scofield, a young English pianist.  They left after the second number because he played with a recorded background of a full orchestra. The entertainment on the ship is usually good but there is that occasional poor one.

Sunrise was at 3:36 and sunset at 11:30 so we are still getting about 4 hours of “night”.   Overall, it was a good day.  Yesterday was our halfway point on our cruise.  We have "boat bloat" or big bellies from all the good food.  We will definitely gain a few pounds before this is all over.