Alesund town
NORWAY & DENMARK Diary - Day 11 to Day 13 - 10th April 2019 to 12th April 2019
The Quaint little town of Alesund, is a sea port in the western coast of Norway. It is the entry point to the world famous Geirangerfjord. Recorded as Norway's most beautiful town, it is known for its ART NOUVEAU architecture. It is surrounded by an archipelago of smaller islands. The city was completely destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. What we see today is the renovated, attractive architecture that impresses millions of visitors globally.
It was an overnight journey to get from Bodo to Alesund (Read JOURNEY SOUTHWARD). The Pent House in NO.7 NEDRE STRANDGATE was situated on the 3rd floor. We had booked it with Airbnb. It was quite comfortable with a big hall, open kitchen & dining, with its wide doors and windows showcasing the mountain views of the "SUNNMORE ALPS". One of the couples from the group was put up in FIRST HOTEL ATLANTICA , which was a 3 minute walk from this apartment. The apartment welcomed us with fresh GINGER BISCUITS , which was liberally filled in a big jar & visibly placed in the kitchen. We did justice to the entire jar of biscuits along with a mixed orange-mango juice, bought from the super market BUNNPRIS on the ground floor of the apartment building. Bunnpris was a massive super market that made it very convenient for our daily grocery purchase.
The evening of 10th April was special. Our plan of climbing the famous stretch up to the AKSLA VIEW POINT or the FJELLSTUA was about to materialize. (read FJELLSTUA) Having climbed the 1000 odd steps of the old fortress in the Bay of KOTOR in 2018 , this climb of 418 steps comparatively seemed an easier task. Climbing down the AKSLA was quicker, but fun too. Only that it got colder beyond words and we had to walk back to our shelter as quickly as possible. We captured the moon that night at the foot of the hill, in the local park from where our journey upward had begun. The scene at night was heavenly.
Out from the park, we hit the roads, walked through the silent streets that stood deserted like "no man's land", at that hour. The village looked as pretty as ever. Buildings looked like palaces lit up for a festival. The half moon shined away in all glory.
The evening of 11th April 2019: After a fun filled day in Stranda ( read STRANDA), we returned to Alesund via bus. When most of the members were tired and decided to stay home, a few of us couldn't get ourselves to rest. In a desire to find something new in the town centre, we freshened up and set out as a small team of 4. We reached the ground floor & spotted an upcoming souvenir store, next to Bunnpris. The owner invited us to pay a visit to his main store, which he claimed had more variety stuff & varied choices. We followed him. True to his words, the regular shop which was just 3 mns away, had a wide assortment on display. We picked up a few souvenirs, thanked the kind man and made our way to the streets of Alesund. We wanted to take a closer look at the much raved about "ART NOUVEAU" architecture. Though the evening was bright, it was deserted like any other European Village after 6 pm. We roamed around the village with no qualms about entering any street or lane, climbing up and down where ever it was necessary, crossing the pier, posing against boats and buildings. We even ventured to find a famous cake shop about which I had read on the internet.
Sadly, that place had now turned into a bar. It was a really good, self-educating walk. We returned quite tired. The Kids had stayed at home , engaged in pizza making from the scratch. They had shopped for the ingredients at BUNNPRIS. Delicious Pizzas were ready when we got back.We were hungry and gobbled everything we could. Finally we found sometime for ourselves. The next day's outing was scheduled only for 12 noon. This gave us the opportunity to call it a late night. It was UNO time. The whole lot of us kept awake to this game of cards till quite late. It was midnight before we called it a day.
The evening of 12th April 2019 : An exotic day around the fjord & Geiranger village flew past quickly. By 7:30 pm we were back in Alesund. The sky was still bright , a regular feature of European countries. Walking past a small bridge we reached Nedre Strandgate No.7. We were put up on the 3rd floor penthouse there. We made dinner & packed our luggages to get to our next destination - BERGEN.
As crimson caught the Horizon and darkness befell, the neighborhood was silent as dead, we tugged along our luggages at midnight, scrapping every stone on our pathway and making it as loud as possible, to reach the Skansekaia (Hurtigruten Pier). After a cold wait, our MS NORDKAPP cruise ship arrived on the shores, gleaming with lights. We were to cruise with HURTIGRUTEN, to get to BERGEN. 13th April 2019: It was 12:30 am and after we finally managed to find the right pier whilst shivering in cold, we were delighted to see the vessel finally drawing itself to anchor in.
Before long, the gates of THE HURTIGRUTEN MS NORDKAPP were thrown open. Not many were boarding from this port , as we could see, although many were getting off. A short queuing up, got us in. After a few formalities, we were allocated our cabins. It was unlike our previous cruise of 7 nights over the Mediterranean Sea. Not so impressive as the media makes it to be at least. Nevertheless we settled into our "not so big" state cabins and caught up on our Sleep. It was a 13 hour journey that would ferry us to BERGEN. We would reach destination by 2:30 pm. We were up that morning by 8 am and headed to the restaurant for breakfast.
We had a short stroll around, trying to get a feel similar to that of our previous year's experience. The salted blue aqua frizzled along, as we savored yummy breakfast at our tables. We ensured to keep ourselves as full as possible so that we last till we get to our accommodation in Bergen, for our next meal. A short stroll round the ship, in an effort to encounter the unseen didn't satisfy our senses I guess, but getting to the shopping deck of NORDKAPP, just did. We got to relive a little bit of Tromso again, where we had cast our eyes on "Designer Sweaters" in a shop just specializing in that. The designs showcased here, replicated the earlier seen, as we moved past their display just feeling and caressing them , hoping to own one someday. They were way way too expensive, but......beautiful beyond words. Just check out their intricate designs, colors, style and vibrancy. Next, a whole table of jig-saw puzzles laid out for passengers caught our fancy. It was 10 am. We got working on it right away! A picture speaks a 1000 words, but the one we chose to decipher was a puzzle of 1000 pieces. "Mowgli and Bhaloo". We incarnated the soul of "the spider" from King Robert Bruce's story and didn't give up on it, till we reached the port in Bergen. We had started at around 10 am and saw no end. We had foreign co-passengers in awe, applauding our work trying to motivate us, but we couldn't get to finish it. The other puzzle was that of "Frozen". Venky could solve it in no time though. It consisted of lesser pieces to be put together and looked great! Before long it was 2:30 pm and we hit the shores of Bergen city. For further story read BERGEN.
