Cruising the Norwegian Coast to the Arctic

Me in 1970 standing outside the train at a
Norwegian train station

            I first visited Norway in the fall of 1970 when, like many young people of the time, my friend Cecelia and I went to Europe on a three-month post-college-graduation adventure.  We visited fourteen countries, sleeping in youth hostels, eating lots of bread and cheese, drinking wine, riding trains or hitchhiking, and marveling at the scenery, the people, and the cultures we experienced.  When asked what my favorite part of that trip was, Norway tops the list.  Cecelia and I enjoyed Oslo, but the real highlight of our time in Norway was riding the train from Oslo to Bergen and back to Oslo—a sixteen-hour roundtrip.  We spent nearly all of those hours (at least as long as daylight lasted) glued to the windows of the train, awed by the magnificent mountains, interlaced with fjords (fingers of water), and by the small villages scattered on mountainsides.

When I retired and started traveling again, I knew that I had to return to Norway.  I especially wanted to go back to Bergen because, given the train schedule fifty years prior, we had only had time for a quick fish dinner in this charming town.  So, when a friend who lectures on cruise ships invited me to join her on a Viking Ocean cruise beginning in Bergen and traveling up the western coast of Norway above the Arctic Circle, I jumped at the opportunity.

This marker indicates we are crossing the
Arctic Circle.  The sky was very overcast.

That Viking cruise was called “Into the Land of the Midnight Sun” because from late May to mid-July the sun does not set above the Arctic Circle.  As we sailed in July that year nearly the entire cruise took place during daylight hours.  My husband Scott accompanied me on a second cruise up the coast of Norway last month; this one billed as a “Northern Lights” cruise: another phenomenon occurs in the most northern parts of the earth each fall and winter as the days are shorter and shorter.  Storms on the surface of the sun send out electrical impulses which can be seen as light shows in the Arctic north during the dark winter nights when the sun never rises.  Unfortunately, those skies were covered with clouds so that we were only able to view the Northern Lights in a video shown in one of our shore excursions.  The photos below are snippets of that video.

In addition to observing these natural phenomena, cruising up the coast of Norway provides the opportunity to observe some of the world’s most breathtaking and beautiful scenery—as rugged mountain peaks meet the ocean. Norway covers about 150,000 square miles and boasts more than 15,000 miles of coastland.  Norway is roughly the same size (and shape) as California, but California has only about one-tenth of the coastline that Norway does.  The difference is due to Norway’s many islands and the fjords.  Fjords are semi-salty bodies of water formed as the ocean flows in around mountain peaks and is supplemented by fresh water flowing down the mountainsides in waterfalls.  The longest fjords are over 100 miles long.  The vast majority of power in Norway comes from hydroelectric power, thanks to the nation’s plentiful rivers and waterfalls.  

Both of my cruises visited Bergen, Norway’s original capital and the second largest city in the country.  Bergen is on the Atlantic Ocean on the Western side of the country.  It was founded around 1070 as the original capital of a united Norway, thanks to the victories of King Olav.  At the time Bergen was and remained a major European trading port for many centuries.  The most iconic symbol of Bergen is a row of colorful houses facing the ocean port.  Eleven of these houses are protected as a UNESCO Heritage site (lower right photo).  These are not the original houses, as those were destroyed by fire.  In fact, there were several fires that burned the wooden town of Bergen, but these eleven houses were rebuilt in 1702.  Six other houses are newer because of yet another fire. 

Houses were built from wood because it was the most available natural resource in the area.  In the 15^th century, this particular area of Bergen housed a very strong German community.  For four centuries, the Germans were the predominate trading partners of Norway.  Because of the danger and fear of fire, the Germans outlawed having fires inside homes.  A separate building was constructed behind the other houses/shops; it served as a community building for meetings, school, heat, food preparation, etc. (Bottom left photo in collage below.)

Three interesting buildings that are still standing in Bergen are the castle/fortress (remnants of which are shown in the top right photo below), the oldest still-standing elementary school in Scandinavia, built to educate poor children (bottom right photo), and the Church of St. Mary which was built in 1170 (bottom center photo).  Christianity had come to Norway, and the early kings challenged the Roman Pope for supremacy as head of the Catholic Church.  After the Reformation, however, Norway’s official religion became Lutheran.  One of the hallmarks of Luther’s revolution was to challenge the wealth of the Catholic Church.  So, in most churches which had been richly decorated, items were removed.

The Vikings originally came from Norway and Denmark but sailed far and settled in Iceland, parts of England and France, and the Faroe, Orkney, and Shetland Islands.  Their history was preserved in the Icelandic sagas, which were passed down orally until Snorr Sturluson wrote them down. A statue of the author stands in Bergen (top center photo in the above photo collage).

Norwegians are among the most physically active and fit people in the world.  They love the outdoors and engage is active sports all year long, and hiking poles are part of their usual gear.  I went on several shore excursions that involved walking or hiking while on the Viking cruise.  The first hike (top three photos below) was above the city of Geiranger.  I also hiked up to the top of the Mardalsfossen Waterfall (two photos on bottom left below) and above the town of Tjorndalen (two bottom right photos).  

 

 Scott and I hiked above the city of Alesund.  On this hike, which I rated as strenuous (Scott did not), we were passed repeatedly by Norwegians running either up or down the mountain.  The bottom left photo shows the view of Alesund from above.  When we returned to town, Scott climbed over 400 steps to reach an overlook (bottom middle photo).   We took a beach walk on one of the Lofoten Islands (top three photos).  One of our guides (bottom middle) entertained us with a local type of mouth organ.  Even though not guided shore excursions, Scott climbed mountains on his own in several ports.  He took the bottom right photo of the town of Alta from the highest point in that town.

Both cruises had ports in the town of Tromso.  According to one of our excursion guides, Tromso was a small fishing village until about 50 years ago.  A university to serve the northlands was established there in 1972.  It now enrolls 10,000 students and offers the unique (for Norway) majors of peace studies and fish studies.  Because of its location on the ocean, which is warmed by the Gulf Stream, winter lows rarely go below minus 15 degrees Celsius (or 5 degrees Fahrenheit).  Summer highs range from 15 to 20 Celsius (or 59 to 68 Fahrenheit).  During my first visit to Tormso I took a bus tour that included a stop above town where I was able to take a number of photos (top right photo below).  On the second visit, Scott and I went on an excursion out of town to “hike with huskies.”  It wasn’t much of a hike, as the terrain was very flat, but did allow a different perspective of the area.   The photos below show Tromso in the summer and in the fall.  (I had to buy a down jacket here on my trip in July because I was so cold.) 

Alaskan huskies are bred at the nature center we visited.  The dogs love to run, so walking them is strenuous physical exercise that requires the handler to wear a waist-harness with a leash attached to it.  We were told to control the animals from our waists rather than by trying to hold the leash.  Our walk was mostly through a thick, spongy undergrowth interspersed with flowing streams.  The variety of colors on that ground carpet was stunning (bottom center photo above).  

On our second cruise, we docked at the Norwegian port of Narvik.   Although it sits above the Arctic Circle, it is the only year-round, ice-free Norwegian port.  Narvik sits at the narrowest point of Norway--just 26 miles from its border with Sweden.  In the late 1890s, the Swedes joined with the Norwegians to create a railroad that would give Swedish iron ore a direct export outlet to the rest of the world. 

Scott and I visited the Narvik War Museum (Narvik Krigsmuseum) where we learned about World War II in Northern Norway.  Since iron ore is the critical raw material for producing the steel needed for ships, planes, tanks, and weapons, both Britain and Germany recognized Narvik’s strategic importance at the beginning of the war.  Even though Norway declared itself to be a neutral nation, early in April, 1940, the British laid mines in the harbor, and German warships attacked Narvik.  The battle for Narvik raged for two months, destroying the town.  During the extended battle 64 ships and 86 airplanes were lost and 8,500 people died. 

Along with exhibits about the war in northern Norway, the museum had a powerful exhibit about the causes of war: propaganda, nationalism, and natural resource limitations.  The panel to the right spoke to me.

The northernmost part of Norway is known as Finnmark.  Norway borders Finland here, above Sweden.  Arrowhead evidence suggests that people have lived in this area for 10,000 years.  On my first cruise we went as far as Honningsvag (see circle on the map).  On the second cruise we stopped in a bit further south in Alta, the largest population center in Finnmark.  The total population of the county is only 20,000, or 1.5 people per square kilometer.  

Our local guide told us that the nearest hospital is two hours away from Alta and requires driving over a mountain pass.  Alta is home to the first research station for northern lights.  In 2011 construction began on a cathedral that could also serve as a community center and concert hall.  The Cathedral of Northern Lights was constructed of poured concrete and was wrapped in titanium, the shiny surface of which reflects the weather outside.  Installation of a 150-pipe organ was completed in 2014.  We visited the cathedral and enjoyed an organ concert on one of our shore excursions.  The statue of Jesus at front of the church looks up in attitude of joy and celebration.  Inside the tower, Jacobs’s ladder represents a stairway to heaven.  

The native populations, who have lived in the Finnmark region for hundreds of years, are known as the Sami.  (They were previously called Laplanders, but the Sami people find this to be a derogatory term.)  The Sami people migrated from Siberia, following reindeer herds.  There are Sami communities in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia with the largest proportion of them living in Norway.  The Sami continue to be reindeer herders; in fact, they are the only ones allowed to own reindeer in Norway.  We had a very interesting visit on our Silversea cruise with a Sami woman outside the port city of Sortland.  (The family is shown in the top right photo below, dressed in native clothing.)  She told us about the Sami culture and traditions and allowed us to feed and pet some of her 150 reindeer, the oldest of which is Rudolph, shown in the photos below.

We learned that, as was the case in the US and Canada, laws were passed in Norway requiring the “Norwegianization” of the Sami.  The children were forced to attend government boarding schools, and their language and colorful clothing were outlawed. After protests and a hunger strike in the 1980s the laws were changed.  Now all Sami children must receive Sami language instruction as part of their education.  The Sami make a living by selling reindeer meat as well as items made from reindeer hide, such as boots.  Traditional Sami houses were round (like teepees) and were covered with reindeer hides.  A more modern version is shown in the bottom left photo below.

In the village of Honningsvag (below), as in many other Norwegian coastal towns, fishing is the main source of income.  The fish is hung on racks to dry in preparation for the long winter.

The most memorable scenery in Norway are the fjords and the waterfalls.  On my Viking cruise, we sailed in the fjords around Geiranger, and on the Silversea cruise we cruised through the Flam fjords.  We enjoyed a train ride into the mountains outside of Flam and were awed by the spectacular scenery along the way.  The photos below are from the Flam train ride.

A few final notes about our trips.  I have enjoyed many different types of art in the hallways, stairwells, and various venues around the ships.  Here are a few of my favorites from the Silver Dawn.

And, of course, there is the food!  It is ever-present, all included, and usually delicious.  On the Viking Sea I enjoyed the scones, sandwiches and cakes served at afternoon tea (left photo below).  The Silver Dawn had a restaurant (SALT) that served local foods in traditional and new inventive ways.  (The top right photo shows vegetable fritters with a berry dipping sauce served with a squash soup.)  The Silver Dawn's seafood buffet was spectacular (bottom photo).

I would gladly visit Norway again.  It remains a favorite destination.  I will end this post with a few more photos of its spectacular beauty.