Review of Visits to Norway/Iceland/Greenland on Fall 2018 Cruise.

[GeorgeCharlie]

The cathedral had many other impressive sights.

 

The most prominent is likely the main three-piece gold altar, which shows various scenes from Christ's life.

 

The choir seat which line the walls beside the main altar have a curious story to them. Apparently the choir members had to remain standing during the service - which could go on for hours. Therefore their seats had some unique features to them.

 

The first was a second higher set of armrests, which allowed them some elbow support.

 

I grabbed this picture from the internet, as we didn't take a picture showing a row of the seats.

 

 

Now, what's really neat is when the seat was raised, there was a second small seat attached to the bottom of the seat.

 

Seat in down position.

 

Showing the little cheat-seat when the seat is raised.

 

Should have made the ordeal a little more bearable.

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by GeorgeCharlie

[GeorgeCharlie]

Roskilde also has the Viking Ship Museum, which houses the remains of five original Viking ships.

 

 

They are in the process of building a Viking ship using only the tools and methods available in medieval times.

 

They also have the Boatyard where they are creating reconstructions of Viking boats in full scale, but apparently using more modern construction methods. They presently have some 40 vessels of various types.

 

If you wish, you can also go for a ride in one of them.

 

This is the information plaque on the five ships and for museum itself.

 

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

The next place we visited was the Frederiksborg Castle.

 

 

The castle was built in the early 17th century and has housed Denmark's Museum of National History since 1878. The beautiful decorated rooms with portraits, historical paintings, furniture, and decorative art provides a journey through Danish history and culture from the late Middle-Ages to the present.

 

 

The museum contains the largest collection of portrait painting in Denmark.

 

Some other pictures from around the museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Another wonderful report -- great pictures.

[GeorgeCharlie]

The chapel, consecrated in 1617, is also part of the museum. It is the best preserved part of the complex, having largely escaped damage in the 1859 fire, which destroyed a large portion of the rest of the castle.

 

 

The Chapel's most significant artifact is the organ, built in 1610.

 

It is the oldest pipe organ in Demark and has 1001 wooden pipes. The original manually driven bellows have been preserved. It is richly decorated with ebony, ivory and silver.

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

We were fortunate to hear the pipe organ being played. It is only played once a week for a half an hour on Thursdays between 13:30 to 14:00.

 

Before the invention of motors a pipe organ required at least one person to operate the bellows.

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2018 by GeorgeCharlie

[GeorgeCharlie]

The last place on our tour was the Kronborg Castle, which was immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

 

The castle is situated on the extreme northeastern tip of the Island of Zealand at the narrowest point between Denmark and Sweden. At the time the castle was built that part of Sweden was part of Denmark, hence the Strategic importance of maintaining a costal fortification at this location commanding one of the few outlets of the Baltic sea. The sound is only 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) wide at this point.

 

The medieval fortress dating from the 1420's was radically transformed into a magnificent Renaissance castle by King Frederick II in the late 1500's. 

 

In case it is of interest to anyone - in Danish Kron means crown and Borg means castle.

 

An old drawing showing the location of the castle.

 

Side view of the castle.

 

Interior courtyard.

 

They enact parts of the Hamlet play for tourists, but unfortunately by the time we got there, they were just finishing up for the day.

 

We also toured the dungeons. At the entrance is the sleeping Holger the Dane statue. According to legend he will sleep there until he needed to save his homeland.

 

 

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

The hotel had a direct shuttle bus to the pier and the cost was reasonable at 150 DKK per person, or just over $20USD. It was a 40 passenger bus and was pretty well full with people going to the Zuiderdam.

 

We were like most of the passengers and had our luggage, including the bags we were planning on carrying onto the ship, stowed in the bus luggage storage area for the trip. We got a bit of a scare when we got to the port and found out that the pier had a baggage conveyor belt which sent the luggage directly to the ship. When the bus pulled up to the terminal building, and before anyone could get off the bus, workers immediately started to unload baggage from the bus and put it on the conveyor belt. Once people noticed what was happening, there was a mad rush to rescue the untagged carryon bags. We managed to get ours, but some people didn't and I understand they had to wait until untagged bags were sent into the terminal to be claimed. 

[GeorgeCharlie]

Well we finally departed on the cruise and I can now get to the meat of my review.

 

After a sea day, we arrived in Alesund, Norway the morning of August 26th.

 

It was overcast and cool compared to temperatures we enjoyed in Copenhagen.

 

We had previously booked a full day "Fjords to Trolls" tour with Norway Excursions. We had two 16 seat busses, along with two absolutely fantastic guides - Monica and Anita. I don't think you could find two more bubbly and knowledgeable people to introduce you to Norway. 

 

Fortunately, once we drove inland a ways the sky cleared up and we had just scattered clouds. It also warmed up.

 

There was various stops for viewing of the fjords and other sights.

 

Fish farm in one of the fjords.

 

An old sod roofed farm building.

 

 

A cabin that people can rent for summer vacations.

 

Typical scenery on the drive inland from the fjords.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

 

One of the many waterfalls we saw along the way.

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

The highlight of the tour was driving the Troll Path, which has 11 hairpin turns on the way down the mountain.

 

There was a tourist stop at top of the road, where we had lunch and time to go out to the viewing point. There was also a large souvenir shop. 

 

Lunch was included with our tour and our guide had phoned ahead so it was ready by time we arrived.

 

View of Troll Path.

 

The back side of the souvenir shop.

 

Monica laughing at me.

 

 

Edited November 3, 2018 by GeorgeCharlie

[GeorgeCharlie]

A video of where Monica is explaining what happens if you get caught driving an oversize vehicle on the Troll Path.

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

My apologies on the quality of my videos. They are just raw clips, as I haven't got into editing videos yet.

[GeorgeCharlie]

 

A video with Monica narrating the successful completion of driving the Troll Path.

 

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful reports.  Very detailed.  Great pictures as well.

 

I don't see anything wrong with your videos.  Love the Troll Path.

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

View out of the bus window showing the lower part of the Troll Path as we drive along the edge of the cliff, prior to descending into the valley.

 

 

[nutensteve]

Excellent review and your videos are great. we just added this cruise to our "must do" list.

[GeorgeCharlie]

At the bottom there was a couple of other tourist stops.

 

The first one was called the Trollshop, which had a souvenir/café, plus cabins and campground facilities.

 

The campground showers/laundry/bathroom facility.

 

Troll sign at the entry, with playground and cabins in the background.

 

 

The famous Motorcycle Mama troll statue.

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

The second stop was at the main visitor centre, which had a large information section, along with theater showing videos of the area. Plus, of course, another souvenir shop.

 

 

Also a sign displaying the temperature.

 

15 degrees Celsius is about 60 Fahrenheit. 

 

[LilaC123]

Fantastic review, photos and videos!  I anxiously await the next installments.  I was to Norway in 2017 and it is nice to see the familiar spots.

 

[puppycanducruise]

I'm enjoying reading about your cruise.  Your pictures and comments are great.

It brings back memories of our visits to these spots. 

Keep up the good work.

[GeorgeCharlie]

Our return route took us through the Innfjord Tunnel, which is 6.6 km (4.1 miles) long. Then we travelled along a fjord to the Norwegian Sea; then drove along the coast for a ways; before cutting back overland to the fjord we had followed on our way out from Alesund.

 

Once we reached the coast we found the weather to be overcast.

And when we returned to Alesund, we found the weather remained overcast.

 

Had chatted to some people who had remained in Alesund and they said they had gone ashore a couple of times during the day, but seeing it was Sunday, there was not much open.

 

For us, it was a day well spent seeing sights we will likely never see again - overall a fantastic shore excursion.

 

Norway Excursions (https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en) were waiting on the pier when we arrived and we were under way well before the big ship busses. They got us back in plenty of time - enough that we could still walk around and see a bit of the downtown.

Edited November 4, 2018 by GeorgeCharlie

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got caught up with your wonderful reports and great pictures.

[GeorgeCharlie]

After a sea day, we arrived in Djupivogur, Iceland the morning of August 28th.

 

This is the stop which was added a week before the cruise was scheduled to depart. With the massive tourism growth in Iceland, it is nice to see cruise companies trying to find new areas to explore.

 

I heard a number of passengers on the ship saying they were not planning on going ashore, mainly because they felt it had no nicely developed tourism infrastructure. They were looking for a well choregraphed production, which they could experience with little discomfort - so for them there was nothing really to see. 

 

For us the chance to experience the local culture and nature before they are molded into something someone thinks tourists want see - is what makes these stops so interesting.

 

With Djupivogur, along with several other stops on this cruise, we had the opportunity to have casual conversations with the local people before they become disillusioned with tourists, plus we got to walk through nature before the paths got paved over.

 

As you can see from this picture of their information sign, Djupivogur isn't very big - it has a population of less then 500.

 

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

 

Djupivogur is, of course, a tender port.

 

 

The above picture was taken from on top a small hill, which a lot of the people climbed to get an overview of the town.

 

 

The restaurant shown in the picture was a popular place from people looking for Wi-Fi.  

 

Normally their main tourist traffic is people driving the coastal ring road, so their information centre consists of a small one room building beside the campground - which was quickly overrun by the passengers from our ship.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by GeorgeCharlie