Wednesday – August 16, 2017
It was a rough ride last night!! Walking around the ship was challenging and I had to hold on to the handrails. Winds were blowing and the waves were high as the ship shuddered and shook and rolled and pitched. I fell asleep although it felt like I was lying in a hammock swaying back and forth. The Rotterdam left the squall out in the Atlantic eventually and we cruised into the calm waters off Alesund, Norway.
At seven o’clock, the sun was bright and the wind was calm. The ship slowly approached the dock in the center of the picturesque city of Alesund. After an early breakfast, we walked down the gangway and into Alesund. The city is famous for a fire which broke out in 1904. It ravaged the city, a number people tragically died, and thousands lost everything and were homeless. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany helped rebuild Alesund and he is honored here.
Alesund recovered and the people rebuilt their city in an Art Nouveau style which can be seen today. Because most of the buildings were rebuilt between 1905 and 1919, the architecture of the town is similar. We were up and out walking around Alesund very early in the morning before the shops opened and the streets were empty.
Later in the early afternoon, we decided to take a tourist bus up to the observation deck. It was too far for us to walk so we rode a little tourist bus up to the top of the mountain overlooking Alesund. The city is built on two connected islands which formed a peninsula.
That’s the observation deck on the mountain in the photo below. It was fun to take the tiny bus. Otherwise, it’s a long walk up to the top including 419 steps.
The coast of Norway is dotted with thousands of islands. Some of the islands have small houses carved into the mountainous rocks and other islands seem to be uninhabited. Nonetheless, Norway is a very beautiful country.
