Day 16 - Arrival at Bergen and end of Hurtigruten cruise

Our last day on board MS Finnmarken
We again did not sleep well due to the ship rolling in the strong winds and high waves.  Our cabin was on the 7^th deck and we watched waves hit against our window .  The rise and fall of the ship felt enormous and it was around 2.00 am before it got to the port and stopped for a few hours so we were able to get some proper sleep.  We did dock at Floro as scheduled which is the first/last port from Bergen.

Floro

We had to vacate the cabin by 10.00 so sat in the lounge area until lunchtime and managed to get a good seat looking out of the front windows of the panoramic lounge.  Again as we entered open sea it became very rough and it was very difficult to walk around so most people were just sitting down.    There were also frequent hail storms.  

The expedition team played 40 minutes of Norwegian music at 10:30 and asked that everyone listened in silence.  It was really nice and very relaxing and gave a chance to reflect on everything we had done over the past 12 days.

The very rough weather went on until about an hour before we arrived in Bergen and then as we sailed between the islands along the Norwegian coast things became a lot calmer and the sun came out and we arrived virtually on time.  The scenery north of Bergen is also very nice with lots of small communities on small islands and on the mainland.  We didn't see this on the northbound voyage as we left in the dark.

Sailing towards Bergen

Sailing towards Bergen

Sailing towards Bergen

The Hurtigruten Terminal at Bergen

We have travelled 4650 kms (2900 miles) on our cruise and seen some fantastic scenery and met some really nice people from all parts of coastal Norway.  It is an experience we will never forget.

Bergen again
We checked back into our Bergen hotel and went for a walk around the town.  It was quite windy but sunny and we walked around some of the back streets that we missed last week.  I wished we had been travelling home today as many of the others were but we have another 24 hours in Bergen so we will make the most of it.  We found a local Norwegian pub and had a drink then bought a take away pizza for our evening meal and had an early night.  At least we wont be kept awake by a rocking boat tonight.

Houses in high ground above Bergen

Monument to the homeless