Paul and Jean visit Norway: Day 6 - North to Kristiansund

Morning activities

It took both of us a long time to get to sleep last night, Paul because the bed was a bit too narrow for his liking and me because of the ships movement. Must have gone into a deep sleep as neither of us heard the ship dock at the port of Floro at 4:30!

However we did manage to get on deck for the docking at Maloy and Torvik, both for 15 mins and take some photos. At Maloy the sun was coming up over the mountains. It was only about 4C here even at 7:00 in the morning and there was no snow in the town.

There was a Northern Lights lecture at 10:00 which was very interesting

Afternoon activities

We had an early lunch (11:30) and reached Alesund at 12:00 for a 3 hour stop. Alesund was almost completely burnt down in 1904 but was quickly rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style which was fashionable at that time. It is a very pleasant, quiet town and we liked it. We climbed almost 500 steps in total, some of them very icy from overnight snow to the top of Mount Aksla from where there were great views of the city. We only needed thin coats as it was very warm in the sunshine. We then walked around the town before getting back on the ship.

After the daily review meeting with the Expedition Team at 17:00 where they summarised the area we had visited today, we went back on deck for the arrival at the port of Molde. The ship was scheduled to stop for 30 minutes but arrived early so we had some time to walk into town.

After dinner, at 10:15 we docked at Kristiansund, a town built over 4 islands and had a walk around. Again it was very mild considering how far north we are.

We have seen some stunning scenery today and it is only the first full day. All of the places we have seen have been very quiet with very little traffic. In fact in some places there were more buses than cars.

Tomorrow we dock in Trondheim at 6.00 in the morning. There is quite a lot to see and do here so need a good nights sleep