Baltic , Norway , Iceland and the U.K. on the Zuiderdam 2019 with photos

[scubacruiserx2]

8 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

I appreciate you spending so much time on your reports, videos and pictures.

 

Everything is wonderful.

 

Well thank you very much. We were about to move into the more scenic places that we had not seen before .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We had forgotten a few things . Before we left Bergen our harbor pilot became ill on ship and had to be transferred to the hospital

 

 

This sailboat went out ahead of us

 

 

Dinner on the balcony

 

 

 

 

with some scenic cruising

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

This wasn't our first trip to Bergen so we thought that we would show that one first

 

 

Our first port was Alesund. We met Diane and Larry on our Roll call on Cruise Critic. They wanted someone to share the cost of a car rental to Trollstigen. It was about 1/2 the price of the ship's excursion. We were some of the first off the ship and had a nice walk to the car rental.

 

 

 

 

We drove East on 136 out of town. The sky looked like it may cloud over so we stopped at the view point at Aksla before the tour buses. The view was amazing !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so nice for Diane to drive and being an avid photographer, we could stop when the view moved us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were moved a lot to stop and breathe the clean air and the views.

 

 

 

 

 

One after the other on the way to Trollstigen

 

 

 

 

 

Further along highway 63 we stopped at a waterfall with a viewing platform

 

 

 

Here is an article about our destination

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollstigen

 

 

 

As we drew closer to our goal the road became more crowded

 

 

 

 

 

Another small waterfall that we couldn't resist

 

 

 

 

 

We could sense an increase in elevation and a decrease in traffic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alnesreset is the highest elevation in our journey

 

 

As we approached the viewing area we saw this small house

 

 

 

 

 

The viewing area next to the waterfall

 

 

 

The waterfall cascades 300 meters. At the top of the picture you can see 4 houses. The viewing platform is a small brown spot at the base of the grey house on the left.

 

 

 

 

A little further past the waterfall is another viewing platform

 

 

 

How many of the 11 hairpin turns can you count ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the four houses that we saw in the waterfall picture

 

 

 

 

 

The clouds seemed to be lifting as we were leaving

 

 

 

 

Here is a video clip of driving the turns and the waterfall

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[cat shepard]

Wow!

[scubacruiserx2]

2 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

Wow!

 

Yes indeed !

[scubacruiserx2]

Overcast coming into Bergen

 

 

Magical mistical tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backing in

 

 

our new neighbor

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

We tried to share several tours on our roll call including this one but we had no takers . Breakfast was early room service

 

 

We were going to Geiranger and it's a long way

 

 

It was raining when we met our guide Radmyla and set out . The trip included several tunnels and ferries

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open sesame !

 

 

 

 

 

It was still raining when I got under a roof for this photo 

 

 

Radmyla was full of surprises and she asked us to take our photos here

 

 

Green acres is the place to be ....

 

 

the rain had stopped .

[scubacruiserx2]

We stopped at this overlook

 

 

There's a waterfall here

 

 

We followed Radmyla up a hill

 

 

Wow

 

 

 

 

We began our descent on Eagle's Road

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

We got a glimpse of these falls that Radmyla said we would see later

 

 

 

 

Eagle's eye view

 

 

You can see the road's switchbacks to the right

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the guy on the right

 

 

The Queen's Chair

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We walked thru the town for a little

 

 

 

Radmyla suggested that we take the ferry one way instead of this smaller boat . It was a great idea .

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 7 Sisters

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the boat is The Suitor

 

 

 

 

 

And with another surprise ,  Radmyla had packed a delicious lunch that she had made

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[TravelinTexasGal]

43 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

The 7 Sisters

 

 

Much different than in March when I was there last. Beautiful both ways... snow covered or sunny. Enjoying seeing the places through your eyes! 

[TravelinTexasGal]

48 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

And with another surprise ,  Radmyla had packed a delicious lunch that she had made

 

What a lovely guide to have made a picnic! So sweet! What Norwegian delicacies did she bring?  

[oakridger]

4 hours ago, TravelinTexasGal said:

 

What a lovely guide to have made a picnic! So sweet! What Norwegian delicacies did she bring?  

I spied lefse!  Grandma used to make it for Christmas. I love lefse with turkey in it, not with sugar like the traditional way.

[scubacruiserx2]

10 hours ago, TravelinTexasGal said:

 

 

Much different than in March when I was there last. Beautiful both ways... snow covered or sunny. Enjoying seeing the places through your eyes! 

 

We would love to see it snow covered but a few peaks had some .

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

I spied lefse!  Grandma used to make it for Christmas. I love lefse with turkey in it, not with sugar like the traditional way.

 

Well spotted since that was our only photo of the food . We were absorbed by the scenery and taking photos .

[scubacruiserx2]

10 hours ago, TravelinTexasGal said:

 

What a lovely guide to have made a picnic! So sweet! What Norwegian delicacies did she bring?  

 

We Emailed Radmyla and this was her reply :

 

Hello Pat and Joe!

Oh, it is so pleasant to get such a nice email 😍

I am so happy to feel that my tour gave to somebody unforgettable experience 🤗

I call it - Uniktur Miracle Basket. I put inside some Norwegian treats that are typical for locals:

*Lefse - a flat bread with cinnamon and brown cream cheese; 

*Knekkebrø - crispbread with the Norwegian brown caramel cheese;

*Lompe - potato’s pancake with smoked salmon and black Norwegian caviar of Atlantic fish;

*Rådyr pølser - reindeer and elk sausages with addition of cranberries and blueberries;

*Polarbrø - the pure Norwegian bread for picnics/hiking/camping, healthy multigrain bread with fiber. I served it with my homemade blueberry jam;

*Skarbø ost - it was cheese from one local farm of Stranda village, bronze winner 2018 on the international exhibition in Bergen. I served it with a honey from one high mountain farm in Liabygda.

 

Oh, when I wrote this text, I got hungry again 😀

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We Emailed Radmyla and this was her reply :

 

Hello Pat and Joe!

Oh, it is so pleasant to get such a nice email 😍

I am so happy to feel that my tour gave to somebody unforgettable experience 🤗

I call it - Uniktur Miracle Basket. I put inside some Norwegian treats that are typical for locals:

*Lefse - a flat bread with cinnamon and brown cream cheese; 

*Knekkebrø - crispbread with the Norwegian brown caramel cheese;

*Lompe - potato’s pancake with smoked salmon and black Norwegian caviar of Atlantic fish;

*Rådyr pølser - reindeer and elk sausages with addition of cranberries and blueberries;

*Polarbrø - the pure Norwegian bread for picnics/hiking/camping, healthy multigrain bread with fiber. I served it with my homemade blueberry jam;

*Skarbø ost - it was cheese from one local farm of Stranda village, bronze winner 2018 on the international exhibition in Bergen. I served it with a honey from one high mountain farm in Liabygda.

 

Oh, when I wrote this text, I got hungry again 😀

Now I must visit Norway! All this and spectacular scenery, too!

[scubacruiserx2]

37 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

Now I must visit Norway! All this and spectacular scenery, too!

 

It's a very beautiful and expensive country . On a previous cruise we went to Oslo and a fjord cruise in Stavanger which we'll show you if you like . We liked this fjord the best and we had good weather and a great guide . So by all means GO to Norway .

[scubacruiserx2]

Since we were still in the fjord  I kept snapping away

 

 

 

I really wished that I would have brought my wide - angle lens

 

 

We got off of the ferry in Hellesylt

 

 

This roof had trees growing from it !

 

 

 

 

 

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

It's a very beautiful and expensive country . On a previous cruise we went to Oslo and a fjord cruise in Stavanger which we'll show you if you like . We liked this fjord the best and we had good weather and a great guide . So by all means GO to Norway .

I would love to see anything you are willing to share! Thank you.

[scubacruiserx2]

On the way back

 

 

 

 

I don't know why by I found myself thinking of the old Beatles song Norwegian Wood

 

 

 

 

A parting shot

 

 

While we were waiting for the last ferry Radmyla disappeared for a few minutes . When we saw her she was running towards us with 3 ice cream cones that we beginning to melt . Well we knew the solution and it was the best ice cream that we have had in a long time ! We were cutting it close but we made a quick stop at the Askla viewpoint .

 

 

 

 

I felt blessed to be able to spend the day with these 2 beautiful ladies

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

29 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

I would love to see anything you are willing to share! Thank you.

 

Thank you Cat and you're welcome

[scubacruiserx2]

Away we go 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Alesund

 

 

In hindsight we probably enjoyed this day and guide the most of our 12 guides 

Edited July 15, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 We looked forward to Stavanger a smaller town before the city of Oslo , our next port. We had a quite day planned of relaxing , strolling and a Fjord cruise. We booked with Ronde online and saved about 1/2 price.

 

 

 

 

 

We looked at the cute little houses above the port and thought that it would be fun to walk up and visit while we waited for our cruise to Pulpit Rock. We took one more look at the cute little harbor before we went down to leave the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suddenly (Cue theme music from Jaws), we felt a massive presence on our left side. The port got much louder. We jumped ship as soon as we could before it got crowded on shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice quite little street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the fish market area Norwegian woolen sweaters and hats are sold at a discount price (made in China).

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile at the fjord tour boat , the crowd had swelled and was getting restless.

 

 

 

 

We were going to Pulpit Rock and this map was posted on the ship.

 

 

 

 

There is a commentary in Norwegian and English

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't see too many seals because the boat moves fast and the seal teams are masters of camouflage. There are 4 hidden in this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we got closer to the main attraction , Pulpit Rock - we realized that we were not the only cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

And here it is towering at 1982 feet above - Pulpit Rock !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must say that we preferred some of the other scenery like Hengjanefossen with a 400 meter fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[puppycanducruise]

Just got caught up again.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures and commentary.

I have similar pictures of some places from our cruise to Norway  a few years ago.

I want to go back!