Though our port call in Finnsnes was only about 30 minutes (meaning I had 15 minutes to walk the waterfront since we had to be back on board 15 minutes before departure), I was determined to see this statue below, of a seafaring Viking known to Norwegians as Ottar who traveled the world. We’d attended the lecture on Vikings earlier that day and were told one of his legacies is this statue in our next port call :-). Pretty sure this is the same guy known elsewhere as Othere, whose exploits you can explore here, should you wish.
…and the following day our main port stop was at Trondheim, one of whose cafes claims to have probably the best espresso in the world. And since I can, I’ll share below the first time in my life that I’ve photographed a drink, which was the first (and so far only) cup of chili hot chocolate that I’ve drunk. Which I did the day before, in Ålesund. And yes, it was definitely the best chili hot chocolate I’ve ever had and I drank it all with gusto. Contrary to my hopes, however, this is not a common offering in any of the other many cafes we visited along the coast of Norway, in our quest for a second cup.
Next month I expect to get up to the Frisian islands with my cousin Sam, which should mean some good Dutch coastal pics for this series, so I’ll share all the remaining “coastal” appropriate shots from the first full day on the boat, 21 January. We spent much of that day docked at Ålesund, because (as I understood) daylight in winter is too short for the boat to make it up and back in the narrow fiord nearby, as it would do in the summer. One thing I loved about the cruise was our view of both the wild mountainous coastlines but also of the small villages tucked in all along the coast. The boat make short stops at many of them, but many more we glided past without stopping, including a few in the gallery below.
With April comes a new tennis team competition season, and with the away games occasionally the chance to see village and country life (and canals) in places I’d be unlikely to visit otherwise, such as this lovely little North Holland town last Saturday…
(so much world, so little time....) 