Our ship has propeller problems! We will never get to Harstad… What shall we do!
On the wild oceans..or the postal run
Kirkenes🛳Vardo🛳Batsfjord🛳😴💤💤Berlevag🛳Honningsvag🛳🏔Havoysund🛳🌁Hammerfest🛳🏔Oksfjord🛳🏔Lopphavet🌊🛳Skjervoy😴🛳Tromoso🛳Harstad😢😢🚌🚌🚞
Ships in the Hurtigruten line travel up and down the Norwegian coast. They deliver mail and freight. Passengers were originally taken on board to increase the profitability of the service and now are a major part of the companies success. Freight and mail delivered as it always has been at each small town, passengers can get off for the ten to fifteen minutes you stop. Larger towns,the stops are often an hour or two. Tours, there are always those on a cruise, are timed to coincide with stops. You get off at one and rejoin further down the coast.
Vardo is a small pretty village on the island of Vardoya. From a distance,the houses look like painted models. It was part of the Norwegian defences in the 1700’s. There is an amazing fortress. In the centre are buildings for housing supplies and troups. There is a deep moat , cannons on the walls . Nothing special you say. We have seen plenty of those….but you are wrong reader. The walls of the fortress are in the shape of a star so each cannon is pointing in the direction of sea and land to account for all possible enemy attacks.
Those that ventured into the moat found it to be more insurmountable that they expected. John , not on his white horse or in shiny armour, needed to rescue a stuggling attacker escape the moat by giving him a hoist . Vardo’s other claim to fame is an interesting monument. It looks like an unfinished boat but in reality , it is a post with metal bindings. This is to commemorate the 93 people that were burnt at the stake for the crime of sorcery……who did they disagree with or upset, I wonder.
Guess what? The sky was clear. The air was coldddddd, there was a breeze…well almost a gale. We looked up and saw…..the NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!! True they were not strong because it is only the beginning of Autumn but there they were…streaks of green across the horizon. Tick off the bucket list.
Hammerfest was one of the towns that suffered in World War 2. Norway was considered a strategic site and so was occupied by the German army. Because of this ,Norway coastal towns were extensively bombed. People moved into caves and abandoned railway tunnels for the duration of the war.
Vardo , Kirkenes and Hammerfest were flattened through bombing and then destroyed as the Germans retreated.
People used the remaining materials to build turf houses ,damaged boats were upturned to become the basis of a house, fabric became Sami style tents. The people were free and on their homelands. The Reconstruction Museum showed the courage and resilience of the people during and in the years following the war.
Rebuilding by government initially took the form of barracks but people defied the officials and built their own style of homes. Now the towns show a mixture of traditional and eclectic modern design.
Trolls?😃
And the fog rolled in
Kirkenes
Arriving late at night ,via two planes and lots of hours, all we had time to do was eat dinner and collapse into bed. Everything was as organised, heaps of buses waiting at the airport. Mike went out and checked…yes a 55 bus. Pauline and I went out , 64 bus and no driver. He was catching up on the news from his friends. Finally, bags arrived..sigh of relief., and now a 112 bus. Yes it did go to our hotel but first we had to negotiate getting on the bus as we were obstructed by a stroppy German man who stood on the steps and instructed his wife on how to put the bags into the bus.
Getting morning exercise or too cheap to pay for the bus? We took a walk around the town in the morning and worked out it wasn’t too far to walk to the ship. It was only about 1.5 km through the residential area. The path was easily recognised by plastic tubs of coloured flowers. No time to get that cute pair of boots 😢 With the black and white striped soles.
Check in was easy but we got into trouble for putting our bags in before the designated time of 12.30. Safety talk (video didn’t want to work) and then guess …lunchtime . 
Roast reindeer for dinner tonight and we are sitting at table number 13. Is this an omen?
Weather is sunny and clear and there is a slight chance we will see the Northern lights. The cruise director said they saw them last night at 12.15am. You have to get up and race out to see them as they only last a short time at present. Please take the time to dress travellers as we don’t want to scare anyone.😱😳😦
Off again ……
🚌🚌🛩 🛬 Oslo🛫✈️✈️✈️🛬 Kirkenes🚌🏢zzzzzzzzzzz🚢
Girls I found a new friend for the coffee group. She is quiet,
but sociable.
All good things end or at least change…
🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧
You knew it had to happen,rain!
On our last day, we saw one of Iceland’s other faces. We had been told that rain, sleet ,hail were all common at this time of year and the mild weather was unseasonable. Out came the jackets and off we went.
Iceland sits on the middle of two Tectonic plates. It is easy to forget that it’s volcanoes are very active and provide the hot water and electricity. Because many eruptions occur beneath the glaciers,it is only when they inconvenience the rest of the world that we become aware of this fact. Today we got to put one foot on each plate. There is a fissure that runs down between the plates. Traditionally this has been a meeting place for people as well as the continents, laws were made, crimes punished (by drowning in the death pool), and the festivals celebrated. There are the remains of booths built by stall owners for these celebrations. Now it is a National Park. It has the most amazing waterfall, complete with love story, and geysers. The word geyser comes from Iceland so now you can all say an Icelandic word. I’ve learnt important words like skollottur( bald), eh ..is, takk for thanks….
The geyser and thermal pools reminded us of New Zealand. We patiently waited in the rain. Bubble, bubble, swirl, more bubbles. The water seamed to retreat and then more bubbles. Suddenly a bulge and wooooooosh, a stream of hot air shot up into the air.Fabulous!
Look at the amazing view at the fissure.
I read that the horses of Iceland are among the most photographed subject. I didn’t want to fail this statistic but my efforts with the rain were somewhat dismal. My efforts on the fluff balls on legs that are the sheep were even worse to the point of being wooden. Ha ha!
Bye Iceland,
Hello Norway.
Fire and ice
Large areas of farm area were covered by lava in the 1800’s. This now appears as a rough terrain. If you go to walk on it ,it is rounded rocks. This has been colonised by mosses. If you walk on the moss ,it dies. Where the moss has been successful,there are now small patches of grasses and flowers.
From the lava fields,we drove passed mountains carved by glaciers. These have receded with both volcanic action and human activity. Waterfalls drop down the sides of step cliffs onto farmlands dotted with rocks left by the glacier, rootless volcanic cones and white or brown fluff balls of the Icelandic sheep.
Ice breaking away from the glaciers may melt and cause flooding or float in lagoons formed at the base . It appears blue because the water is compressed so much that the crystal ice reflects blue light.We have checked out the main foods…..and a few unusual ones. Last night it was Angelica soup ( grows as a weed) and freshwater salmon. Tonight was lamb from those cute little fluff balls. Sadly readers, we swibbed out on eating smoked puffin, minke whale,swan or other native birds so we can not enlightened you about their flavour. We saw seals but thankfully,they weren’t on the menu either!
Is anyone out there? Today we…
Best thought out plans often require us to adapt. Today we were to have caught the ferry after a trip to see puffins..those cute little birds that Iceland has adopted as a symbol and appear as tempting soft toys in all the souvenir shops……did not happen! Instead we caught the ferry two hours early as the wind had changed causing us to risk being stranded. We did see some birds flying from the rocks to fish that could have been puffins. They were chubby, cute, had orange beaks and black wing feathers. They were just a little too far away to be sure.
A harbour further down the coast was our new destination, some 70kms away and 2.5 hours ,still we were safe and not stranded. 
Once back on land we headed to a fabulous waterfall . On our left as we journeyed was the rounded mountains and glaciers and to the right, plains and sea. The land has extended with deposits of sediment from the glaciers melting due in part to the continued volcanic activity below it…more about that in a moment but first enjoy the beauty of the waterfall. It is so powerful that the spray could be seen from the distance flowing into the valley. There was a rainbow that stretched from side to side.
In 2010 there was a volcanic eruption in Iceland that disrupted the airlines of the world. We didn’t give much thought to how it affected people living near the eruption. It was not just the ash and rock,but also a glacier melting causing massive flooding to farming areas. Eyjafjallajokull erupted near one farm. The owners recorded their farm before,during and after the eruption. This gives a human face to the eruption.Iceland is expanding withe the deposition of silt,ash and other volcanic material. Can you spot the birds? They are suppose to be puffins!
From here we went to a Folk museum. Look at the turf house. People were living in these up until the early 1900’s.Amazing! Things we take for granted were unavailable in Iceland ,particularly in the south where they were quite isolated.
P.s don’t forget to let us know how we are doing……that is if we haven’t sent you to sleep!
Vestmannaeyjar
Today we head for Vestmannaeyjar, or the West man Islands. They were named for slaves from the Celtic Islands of Ireland and Scotland that killed their Viking master. Ireland and Scotland were known as the West lands since they were west of the Scandinavian countries.This seriously annoyed the other Vikings,who hunted them down and killed many. The remainder committed suicide to escape recapture on these islands off the mainland of Iceland.
On route to the Islands, we passed mountains created by volcanoes erupting under the glaciers. Some of these are long and flat from flows of lava forming layers on top of layers, while others are high with flat tops from fissures pushing up through the glacier. We saw the glacier ,we are going to visit in the distance. Flowing over the top of one of these mountains,was a series of waterfalls. It was amazing to walk behind it and feel the spray from the force of the water. I didn’t volunteer to sit on a rock to take a shower. Too coldddddd, too scary for the rest of the tourists. Is that a gnome or troll ,Pauline?
Heimaey is the main island of the group. In 1973 the volcano Eldfell erupted and the islanders were evacuated for 5 months. When they returned ,they had to dig out their houses before they could resume their lives. There is an exhibition to show the devastation as well as the resilience of the people.
Discovered that barley can be used like mashed potatoes or rice in a dish….surprisingly tasty as was the celeriac and monk fish. Maybe I will try preparing something similar at home ..or …maybe not. Lets be realistic here.
Moving on!
Today our travellers decided to be energetic…..well more than usual. We packed up ,and left our apartment in the centre of the city for the relative quiet of the hotel ,near the domestic airport. Our tour of the rest of the island leaves from here. It was wonderful being in the city but all the young tourists like to party on Friday and Saturday nights and strolled past the apartment at 12,1,2,3,4,5 o’clock and share their happiness.
We walked as it was only a few kilometres but our bags did appear to grow minds of their own on route…and gain a few kilos. Our hotel is close to a domed building. John and Mike decided they must be water reservoirs.They have surrounded the building with bush land, and put shops and restaurants in the centre,then topped it with a revolving domed restaurant.A clever use of a necessity.
Dear Mel
Reykjavik is a city….just not lots of skyscrapers!