In June we travelled to Denmark and Norway on the small Windstar ship Star Pride, embarking in Copenhagen, Denmark and disembarking in Bergen, Norway.

The first two days we were in Copenhagen and stayed in the Hotel Phoenix, centrally located in the old city near the royal palaces, so everything was very walkable.  We logged 22,000 steps on Monday and 13,000 steps on Tuesday, seeing many of the key sights including the Little Mermaid, Nyhavn, Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen University district, The Strøget and the flagship Lego Store.

We had two opportunities to taste (over-eat) authentic Danish smørrebrød open-faced sandwiches, much like a meal of tapas.  One was at the 150 year old Grøften in Tivoli Gardens and the other was at Told & Snaps in Nyhavn, recommended by Danielle, which included the traditional Danish liqueur “snaps” as the name suggests.

Day 3 was in Aalborg, Denmark, founded by the Vikings in the late 900’s.  We took an excursion “Back to the Vikings” to a Viking burial site, a Viking ring fortress and a re-created Viking farm from the time of Harald Bluetooth (father of the near-field electromagnetic wavelength communications on your phone and computer mouse😊).  Day 4 we did a self-guided walking tour in Arendal, Norway.

On Day 5 we joined the “Taste of Stavenger” historical and foodie walking tour in Stavenger, Norway, led by a local historian. Stavanger is the center of the Norwegian North Sea off-shore oil industry. The historian thought there might still be a lot of oil left out there.

And each evening we relaxed at the Star Bar, outdoors on the top deck of our yacht, which we had come to love on our last voyage on this ship class.  Of course, that voyage was near the Equator in Tahiti at 17 degrees South latitude. So instead of shorts and tee shirts we are keeping warm this time with blankets at 62 degrees North latitude nearer the Artic Circle.

The next three days were off to the mountains and fjords, further north in Norway along the Norwegian Sea.  That is the area of the major fjords, cut by glaciers between mountains millions of years ago.  Each day we sailed 50-100 miles into a fjord to a different small town at the end of the fjord.

Day 6 was in Flam, where we took The Flam Railway, considered the most dramatic train ride in Europe, rising 2844 feet over 12 miles.  One-third of that distance is inside 20 tunnels, some of which make 180 degree turns inside the mountain.  Near the top we visited the Kjosfossen Waterfall.

On Day 7 in Olden we did a self-guided 8 km hike up 1300 feet to the Huaren Overlook.  We had decided (actually maybe John did – but Paula was a good sport) that we had enough tours with a hundred tourists and would rely on Google Maps to strike out on our own.  It was a good change, and we saw almost nobody else on that hike – so nobody to take a picture of the two of us.  We had to rely on selfies. That evening we stayed up to watch the sunset for the first time.  Days are short here, with the sun setting at 11:21 PM and rising at 3:37 AM.  That works out to almost 20 hours of daylight.

On Day 8 we were in Andalsnes, another cute little town at the end of a fjord.  We took a cable car to the top of the town mountain and hiked around on the top of the mountain.  Views were spectacular.

Day 9 was our last day of the expedition, in Bergen, Norway, and we flew back home from there. Bergen (or Bryggen) is Norway’s most international city, packed with history and tradition. It became an important European city of trade in the 13th Century as the Hansas opened one of their four offices on the wharf, making Bergen a European hub of commerce, seafaring and craftmanship. Today Bryggen is a reminder of the city’s importance as a part of the Hanseatic League, and has a place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A stroll through the back streets of Bryggen brings you back to the Middle Ages, as a lot of the architecture is preserved or rebuilt as it was originally built.

Another good trip. Does it seem like we are recommending all of them?