All Aboard The Svalbard Express

And we're off!
After a lovely morning walk around warm and sunny Bergen we arrived at the port in time for wine and canapes before boarding at 1pm and heading straight for our cabin and then lunch. I can sense already that this holiday will not reduce our waistlines.

We lunched at the buffet today, one of three dining experiences available and it was very high end food. Pickles, smoked dishes, seafood, salads, locally sourced deserts and cheeses. The freshly baked breads are amazing. All accompanied by a wide selection of red or white wines.

We got access to our cabin before lunch and set sail soon after.

More fizzy wine and an introduction to the ship, the cruise and the available excursions in the afternoon. We intend to be as independent as possible and mostly avoid organised excursions but we have booked one so far. In Svalbard on 10th June, which also happens to be our 35th wedding anniversary, we will embark on a Svalbard wilderness and history experience. More of that later.

Meanwhile back on board we have spent the afternoon on the observation deck, reading, planning and watching the wonderful islands, islets, shores and promontories of Norway slide past.

It got very cloudy and overcast in the late afternoon but later in the evening the wind picked up and has blown the cloud cover away.

There is a small gym suite and sauna on board both with spectacular views. We hope to persuade ourselves to use these facilities sometime soon...

Tomorrow morning we should wake up in our first port of call, Andalsne, where we intend to walk (or cable car if space available) up a nearby hill to take in the views.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tromsø, polar pioneers and cross-dressing in the Arctic

Image
Today we had a good long stopover in Tromsø, the gateway to the Arctic. We also unexpectedly received certificates of Arctic Circle crossing signed personally by the ship's captain. Tromsø is the largest city in Northern Norway and amongst many things is home to the Tromsø Film Festival which all fellow wittitainment followers will know (hello to Jason). Our first destination was across the Tromsø Bridge to visit the very distinctive Arctic Cathedral. We then had a good long tour of the Polar Museum and learned much about Amundsen, Nansen, Wanny Woldstad and cross-dressing in the Arctic. Roald Amundsen of course is rightly famous but he also had a ferociously competive friendship with the equally adventurous Fritjhof Nansen over many years. Wanny Woldstad was a women from Tromsø who was the first female hunter to overwinter on Svalbard. She was also Tromsø's first female taxi driver. The museum also had a temporary  ex...
Read more

Back in the twiddly bits

Image
After our fairly choppy 49 hour crossing of the Norwegian sea our first full port of call is Finnsnes, gateway to Senja.  We only have a few hours here of an evening. We did stop earleir in Tromsø but only to let a few passengers off who went on a coach excursion to Senja. We chose to stay on board and wend our way down through the lovely steep and narrow fjords towards Finnsnes We had a nice wander around the town which was mostly unremarkable but with some cracking terns around the lake. And some old cars and unusually placed tractors. And...we finally got our shot of midnight sun... And sadly we also had a medical emergency on board the ship which delayed our departure from Finnsnes. I hope whoever is onboard is ok. Tomorrow we are back in Lofoten.
Read more

Svolvær, gateway to Lofoten

Image
Back in Lofoten today and another wee excursion. A splendid day in Svolvær with a trip to Henningsvær and Ørsnes fisherman's museum. Henningsvær is a beautiful wee village at the far end of a Lotofen peninsula. Its primary industry until recently has been fishing but that has recently been overtaken by tourism. A key fish species is migratory Atlantic cod which they catch in large numbers in the winter and air-dry until June and then export all over the world. Svolvær is the major gateway to Lofoten and offers all sorts of land and sea based activities from mountain hikes to sea safaries. It also has a little sculpture park demonstrating the height and fractured nature of Norwegians...   We continue to sail south and will recross the Arctic circle in the other direction later tonight on route to Brønnøysund. We have another excursion, this time by bike, booked there.
Read more