Well the view coming into the Harbour of Alesund should have been the indication of all the natural beauty we would see today. The snow capped mountains were so majestic against the water. We arrived at 8 AM and stayed until 7 PM (Note to self – make sure you’re back to the cruise ship well before 7 and don’t get lost!). There was another large cruise ship docked next to us which made for lots of hustle and bustle at the pier.
Our excursion left at 10:30 so we had a quick breakfast and we were off. The excursion was 4.5 hours long and covered every aspect of Alesund. We first went to this cool open air museum called Sunnmore. It had lots of houses and out buildings from years ago. An interesting story explained how the Norwegians were very religious but had to hike or boat for miles to get to church. So they would build what they called “church houses” near the church where they would get cleaned up after hiking/rowing for sometimes hours before church so they could look their best. We got a cute pic of Kathy sticking her head out of one of them.
Next stop was this cool lighthouse where we walked to the top of. The views were amazing! Also, I forgot to mention a “small world” story. It was a little chilly in the morning so I had on my Carolina Hurricanes knit cap. A guy in the first row of the bus says, “ hey are you from the Carolina’s?” I said yes and found out he was from Mooresville!
We then went to the island of Giske which had a quaint church on it. They said it was the largest church in Norway made of all marble. By the pic you can’t tell it’s marble since it’s been plastered over.
We then drove up to Mount Aksla which looked over the city with some killer views of the surrounding mountains.
Our final stop was in the city center of Alesund where we walked around and did a little shopping. Don’t you all think my grandkids need shirts that say “With Love from Norway” and has a moose on it?? I think so! Lol
We then came back to the ship, had a great dinner and listened to lots of live music. Before leaving for dinner we caught a pic of a cool rainbow over the fjord.
PS: I hate it but our internet connection is so bad it wouldn’t let me upload any pics today! I’ll try later in the week. On to Olden!
The Wandering Italian 