The end of a wonderful journey
Ålesund to Bergen
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| Evening menu |
Today was the last day of our 'A Flavour of Norway' holiday. Once again the breakfast was superb, as was all the food during our travels on the Hurtigruten MS Vesterålen. Both the breakfasts and the lunches were buffet style, with hot and cold dishes and plenty of choice. The evening meals consisted of a three course dinner served at the table and showcased fresh local produce.
We tried plenty of fish - cod, salmon, herring and arctic char for example, we also had various cheeses such as a delicious goats cheese from the Lofoten islands and Brunost, a caramel tasting brown cheese. Many of the ingredients were new to us, one of these was brown cheese ice cream! Some of the puddings had great names too, I particularly liked 'Success Tarte'.
After breakfast we had to pack our bags for collection once we arrived in Bergen. The ship's crew deftly moved bags and cases down to the cargo area during the morning, no sooner had you left the bag outside your cabin than it was gone..
We stopped for a short while in Florø, Norway's most western town. It has a fishing heritage and was occupied by Germany in World War II. It has lots of old wooden houses close to the harbour and is quite a pretty little place.
We were on the front deck as the ship set sail and watched as one of the crew got the ship ready to depart. After lugging on some heavy looking chains and ropes she took a few minutes to have a rest and enjoy the view.
It wasn't a bad view either, we had islands and mountains surrounding us and there was the lovely old Stabben lighthouse to navigate around. It was a beautiful, peaceful scene.
Back on board we went to the cafe to get a coffee and heard the terrible news about the terrorist attack after a concert in Manchester the previous night. Manchester is our closest major city and where we were flying home to later in the day. We have many friends who live in and around Manchester and this was a great shock. Tom spent the next hour or so glued to his phone and the TV watching developments and checking on his friends. It is simply dreadful that something like this can happen and our thoughts were and are with the people and their families who have suffered.
After breakfast we had to pack our bags for collection once we arrived in Bergen. The ship's crew deftly moved bags and cases down to the cargo area during the morning, no sooner had you left the bag outside your cabin than it was gone..
We stopped for a short while in Florø, Norway's most western town. It has a fishing heritage and was occupied by Germany in World War II. It has lots of old wooden houses close to the harbour and is quite a pretty little place.
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| Old tree in Florø harbour |
We were on the front deck as the ship set sail and watched as one of the crew got the ship ready to depart. After lugging on some heavy looking chains and ropes she took a few minutes to have a rest and enjoy the view.
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| Hurtigruten crew member |
It wasn't a bad view either, we had islands and mountains surrounding us and there was the lovely old Stabben lighthouse to navigate around. It was a beautiful, peaceful scene.
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| Florø lighthouse |
Back on board we went to the cafe to get a coffee and heard the terrible news about the terrorist attack after a concert in Manchester the previous night. Manchester is our closest major city and where we were flying home to later in the day. We have many friends who live in and around Manchester and this was a great shock. Tom spent the next hour or so glued to his phone and the TV watching developments and checking on his friends. It is simply dreadful that something like this can happen and our thoughts were and are with the people and their families who have suffered.
The rest of our journey through the fjords went in a bit of a blur after that. I noticed that the colour eventually became much greener and there were lots of little islands, including some strange, lumpy ones.
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| Lumpy islands |
Our arrival in Bergen was different to other disembarkments because we left the ship from the middle of one of the higher decks and we had to wait for a covered walkway to line up with the deck, similar to getting off a plane.
Unfortunately we didn't have any time to take a look around Bergen, this will have to wait for another visit. The bus whisked us away to the airport and we were soon waiting for our flight home, a little tired, a little shocked and a little sad to be leaving such a beautiful country.
Our holiday was booked through Hurtigruten and is called 'A Flavour of Norway'. We have been very impressed with Hurtigruten's efficiency, their excellent service and absolutely fabulous food. I'll be saving up for another visit to Norway at a later date and would definitely love to return to the Lofoten Islands for a longer stay.
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