Norway in June on the Jade

[old nutter]

I have finally sorted my photos out from our Norwegian Fjords trip on the Jade in June. It was pretty cold for the whole week and it rained most days. Hence getting good photos was a real challeng. It meant having to wait ages for breaks in the cloud or searching back and forth when under way in the Fjords. I have concentrated these photos on the port stops rather than the Jade herself as she has been we;ll covered recently.

 

First stop was Hamburg. Quite pretty for a city and the run in and out along the River Elbe is very scenic. This is the view from the dock towards the city.

 

 

 

We then had a sea day before a day a the beautiful Alesund. The city had been destroyed in a fire in 1904 and it has been completely re-built in a very consistent style. This view was taken from the Aksla Viewpoint.

 

 

 

I am having a few computing issues so I will continue later with the stops in Hellsylt and Geigranger

[old nutter]

Alesund was very beautiful and views were stunning. This is a view across the estuary out into the North Sea.

 

 

The next stop was the early morning short docking at Hellsylt where we dropped some passengers off to go to Geiranger over the mountains while we headed there along the Storfjorden Fjord round to Geiranger. This was the absolute highlight of the trip for us. Past the Seven Sisters and then docking for the day in Geiranger.

 

 

 

 

We took the ship's trip up Dalsniba where we looked out and down the four miles to our ship and then stopped part-way down to take the shot above and then down the docks and along to drive up Eagle Road to a viewpoint about half way between Geiranger and Seven Sisters and were able to look right down that huge set of falls -

 

 

More to come tomorow showing Flam.

[old nutter]

The midnight sun has been mentioned by others and we had a twilight that seemed to go on for at least three or four hours. This picture was taken at around 11:30pm while we were still in the fjords.

 

 

The next stop was Flam. We had been on the train before so opted for a trip to some of the countryside and waterfalls. Flam has some pretty views away from the town.

 

 

 

The trip out of Flam was very picturesque albeit we ended up going through some narrow steep roads and very long tunnels (one was 11 Km and the other 7Km!). The main sight we went to see was the waterfall at Tvinde. It is possible to get right to the bottom of the falls and look up the full 150 metres plus.

 

 

Although it rained for quite a lot of that day, the scenery was amazing. Traveling between mile plus high shear cliffs on either side was awe inspiring to say the least. But then, that is Norway. The locals were insistent that Norway doesn't have bad weather, it just has good clothing and we certainly tested that theory out on his trip.

[Travel R]

Beautiful pictures/scenery.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[EllieinNJ]

Very beautiful. We are thinking of booking this cruise next June in conjunction with our Baltic cruise, already booked. It leaves from Southhampton the day after we return to Copenhagen. Have to go through all the logistics with flights and times. We are also considering flying to Oslo after our cruise and doing "Norway in a Nutshell" to Bergen and back. Also have to consider the price of the cruise. We usually do balcony, but the price is really expensive on this one. May just consider inside. May be too cold to use balcony. Do we need winter coats, or just layers?

[old nutter]

Ellie, always layers. We have traveled to the north several times, including long days our at sea whale watching in a variety of small boats of Iceland as well as having been to Norway twice before. What the Norwegians say about not having bad weather just good clothing is absolutely spot on. Anywhere you are that can go from freezing cold to beach warm in one day is layer weather. Probably better to start thinking from the outside to inside when you pick the layers. Start with a reasonably lightweight waterproof, preferably with an integral hat. An umbrella is of little use because the wind will have alternative ways of changing it's shape. This clothing will work with warm rain on it's own right through to snowy cold in conjunction with other layers. The inner layers can start with a fleece nearest to the waterproof, a body warmer for under the fleece and a cotton tee shirt nearest your body for comfort and absorbing your moisture. The real issue is to gauge the amount and degree of exercise you will be taking, because a lot of high intensity exercise will make you hot and once you stop you can go cold very quickly if you are not careful. Hope that helps and encourages you to try the place out. Norway in particular is difficult to explain to anyone who has not seen it. I have been to the Rockies and seen the really high mountains there, but to see 2 and 3 mile high vertical cliffs a few yards from your ship is so impressive.

 

To give some scale to the Geiranger trip, this was how it was about two-thirds of the way up to the Dalsniba Viewpoint

 

 

This was the view from the ship looking up to a cloudy Dalsniba summit.

 

 

And this one shows the view down from the top of the mountain. It is from around four miles high and if you look down to the little blue pond in the middle of the picture with a little blob at the near end of it - that blob is the Jade anchored in the fjord!

 

 

That sums up the the layers idea, mid to high teens C at the water (about 55F) and around minus 5 or 6C (20F) at the top. Light jumper on the ship and at least one fleece and body warmer plus waterproof at the viewpoint because of added wind chill. And because the trip went up the Eagle Road to that viewpoint afterwards in the pouring rain we needed the full waterproof as well.

[BlueJai]

WOW! Your pictures are absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing.

[go fish 44]

Thank you for sharing your pictures it brought back wonderful memories of our trip on the Jade in June of this year. We really loved all the ports of call we did including North Cape.

 

I would do this cruise again never get tired of the wonderful views.

 

Sue

[old nutter]

The ship's excursion to the waterfalls from Flam to the Tvinde waterfalls took us to Gudvangen where there is a Viking Museum and some of the most glorious sights out to the fjord and back up the river that feeds the Naeroyfjord. Some of the smaller cruise ships can get right to Gudvangen along the fjord, but is is a bit small to accommodate the masses that would get off one of the mainstream ships. It rained , of course, while we were there, but that didn't actually cause us too much trouble and as you can see here, it made for some moody atmosphere. You will note that this is the river looking away from the Fjord

 

 

Our final stop was in what we were told is the wettest city in Europe, Bergen. It rained, of course, and the Floyen mountain viewpoint went in and out of sight at various times. We had bought our tickets for the funicular at home, so we went past the first queue and headed into the station and up.; It was pretty chilly and the views varied as the clouds moved round and about. Obviously, we had to walk along the Bryggen and the most interesting shot other than the usual one was this building at the bottom of the street leading up to the funicular station. This picture was taken during the only break in the cloud we had all day. Note the inevitable little "M" at the bottom right hand corner - they get everywhere now, don't they?