My Fjord experience

This week I will be telling you about the ports of call on my recent Fjords holiday. As this was my first time I did not know what to expect re location of the port to the town and attractions. I am happy to say that on the ones we did they were all within walking distance and very easy to do your own thing rather than paying for excursions.

However the cruise started with a call into Le Havre which is a very busy working port so we decided to head into the beautiful French Countryside and went to Honfleur and Deauville. The cruise ship was charging around 90 euros each but we managed to get a local taxi for 100 euros for both of us but we did share with another couple and had the taxi for the whole day. We had 3 hours in each town which we found was plenty of time to enjoy the weather and the pretty ports.

Honfleur is known for its picturesque harbour beautifully preserved slate covered old buildings and is a favourite with painters such as Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet. The lines of timber framed houses surround the harbour with a vast selection of places to eat drink and watch the world go by. You can sometimes see River Cruises also moored here.
Deauville is a very stylish French resort which hosts the International film festival each year and is also known as the queen of the Norman Beaches with miles and miles of golden sand. Its old fashioned streets house some very high end designer shops, a very grand Casino and the famous racecourse. So plenty to see. You do feel you are in a very upmarket resort.

Stavanger – WOW loved it the ship was dock right on the pavement so to speak you could see into the locals windows. Stavanger is Norway’s city on the south eastern coast. A 12th century Romanesque style Cathedral stands proud just behind the busy market place. Quaint streets lead away from the port to an Iron Age Farm which illustrates life back 1500 years ago. We took a boat trip out to Pulpit Rock passing some stunning Fjords en route.

Bergen was founded in 1070 and is a centre for commerce and shipping. The Bryggen quarter as typical gabled wooden buildings overlooking the harbour and is home to the famous Floibanen funicular railway. The stunning views at the top are breath taking. We took this up but walked down and had a very pleasant 40 minute stroll admiring the view.

Once back into the town we wondered around the main market place with an array of stalls selling all sorts of local food from Reindeer burgers to every sort of fish you can image. Not cheap but just the sight and smell was enough. We did try some salmon though.

Olden is a beautiful village set on the shores of Innvikfjorden at the mouth of the salmon rich Oldeelva River. A very quiet port and we found most people where heading on open top buses to the Briksdal Glacier or doing a Rib Boat Adventure. We just strolled around amazed at the snow capped mountains while baking in 25 degrees.

Alesund again a wow for me. Founded in 1793 Alesund is now one of the most important seaports in Norway. A fire destroyed the town in 1904 but has been rebuilt in art nouveau style. A stunning pedestrian street with several high end shops leads you to Aksla Viewpoint with 418 steps leading up from the park. I did manage this but found it very steep as the steps were narrow with only a small hand rail to guide you. There were numbers on some steps counting down for you however we did stop a few times as got very crowded in parts. The view from the top however did make it worth while. There is also a lot of old war time bunkers and ramparts which did not get a mention so very interesting. Again we walked down the easier route which took about 30 minutes.