Day 21 – 30 July 2023 – Alesund, Norway

Alesund is just after the start of the fjord & it is not very long before the ship turns 180 degrees & noses into the port & squeezes past a giant Disney cruise ship, the “Disney Dream”. I thought our ship was big, the Disney ship is even bigger. Moored on the other side of the Disney ship is the same Ponant ship that was anchored in the Geirangerfjord yesterday. Alesund’s population is about 280,000. There will be a mass of tourists in Alesund today. We are amazed that being Sunday all the shops are closed, the only things open are some restaurants, cafes & church.

We are up early for breakfast & depart the ship at 8am for a bus tour to the nearby islands of Giske & Godoy. It is a short drive to the tunnel entrance near the old port then the tunnel takes us under the sea for a number of kilometres onto the island of Valderoya for a short drive then we exit the tunnel & cross over firstly an arched bridge, then a flat bridge & causeway to the flat island of Giske. The roads are narrow & the farms are small. We stop at the old Giske church, the graveyard around the church is very tidy & orderly with lots of old graves. This island was apparently the home island of a former Viking King & there are lots of old Iron Age & Viking Age relics & graves. Most people that live on the island have the surname Giske, or some derivative of that. The headstones in the cemetery attest to that.  The church dates from around 1130 A.D.

There is a small boat harbour next to the church lined with old boat sheds. In front of, inside & between the two boat houses closest to the eastern edge of the parking lot lies the excavated ruin of a large stone building, built somewhere between 1160-1290 then destroyed by fire in 1611. It was almost certainly the main residence of the rich & powerful Giske family that owned more than 100 farms on this island.

Back in the bus & in through another undersea tunnel to the next island of Godoya. This island has a very high mountain splitting the island into two. There is a farming village on the inland side nearer to Alesund & a tunnel under the mountain takes us to the small fishing village of Alnes on the Atlantic Ocean. This is virtually untouched & the small fishing houses typically have an old boatshed nearby. The bus squeezes along the narrow road between the houses, I don’t know how we didn’t take out a picket fence nor the roof of a house near the road.

The wooden lighthouse at Alnes was established in 1853, with this one constructed in 1937 & is still in operation today. The French glass lens dates from 1905 & is still in use. Most of our busload take the narrow steep stairs up to the top of the lighthouse. It is steep & a lot of the people take it very slowly going up & even slower coming down, it is very crowded as there is about six busloads stopped here. The view from the top of the lighthouse over the small town is great. The nearby Visitor centre is blended into the slight hill, with a great job by the architect & builders to minimise the building on the landscape. The floor to ceiling windows all round gives great views out to the Atlantic Ocean. The café inside is busy.   The tourists are allowed to use the toilets, six busloads is a lot of people. The mountain has a large lake in the top, it must be a volcanic crater lake, it supplies water to the houses on the island. 

The drive back through the tunnels & over the bridges to Alesund takes no time.  We start up the mountain that overlooks Alesund, passing some old World War Two artillery concrete bunkers as we near the top, another tight turn for the bus. This place is busy, there are so many buses & cars up here that we have to wait in a holding area for enough space to free up at the top so that we can drive there. As well as the ship tour buses there are a number of red hop-on hop-off buses waiting as well. We wait around half an hour before we are allowed through on the road to the lookout, only four buses at a time are allowed in.  The lookout area is very crowded but we manage to get some great views over the city & the three cruise ships in the harbour, the Disney ship is huge. The clouds move in & our views are obscured so we go back to the bus & we head back down the mountain through the old port area to the ship. Our guide points out lots of interesting buildings & some of the history around them, included the great fire that destroyed 8,000 houses in 1906. Some of her family were involved with some of the buildings that she pointed out & it was interesting hearing the stories.

Back onto the ship for a quick lunch before we ventured out for a walk along the canal & around the very close old port town. The old buildings are well restored & look beautiful lining the waters of the old port. We walk around to the old light house on the end of the breakwater, the building has been re-purposed & is now a quirky honeymoon suite that belongs to the hotel on the shores of the harbour.  There is a polished brass sign on the door explaining that you can make reservations at the nearby Hotel Brosundet, regardless of your wedding date. It also says “Please do not attempt to open the door, it rattles & scares the newlyweds.”

The old warehouses on the old harbour waterfront have mostly been converted to apartments & hotels, we walk all the way round, admiring some of the historical ships, as well as a Viking ship reconstruction moored along the pier.  The walk is very pleasant, there are gardens & flowerpots in bloom & we are both weary as we walk back onto the ship.

The ship leaves port on time reversing out passing close to the Disney Dream. We get waves from some of the passengers looking across at us we pass. The captain then spins the ship 180 degrees as we clear the harbour & we sail the short distance out the fjord past the now cloud free island of Godoya that marks the northern entrance to the fjord.

Dinner followed by the World Stage dance group with another great dance program before we head off to bed. Another great day.