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It was raining lightly when we pulled into the little town of Ålesund, Norway…typical Norwegian weather!  However, shortly after we left the ship the weather lifted and it barely rained the rest of the day.  We did a bit of shopping in the town center (I actually found a nice t-shirt) and then headed up the local hill for our first hike of the day, to the top of Fjellstua, an overlook of the city.  Be warned, the restaurant at the top has a nice lookout, but they want $10/person just to get in!

Screw that…there are plenty of spots on the hike up as well as up on top to get a great photo for free!  Here is one of them!  That’s the trusty Silver Dawn down below.

On the hike back down, this is one of the great “free” photos you can take!

This “free” platform is on the same hike.

Which makes for a great “free” selfie spot!

There are literally a dozen “free” spots to take photos on the trail up/down the hill!  Did I make a point about how free they were?  I hope so!

At the bottom of the hill is this statue to Ganger Rolf, an ancestor of William the Conqueror.  Ganger was a Viking Leader who was born in this area.  The Norwegians love their statues!

Near the Ålesund harbor entrance is this statue that represents the 320 Norwegians who lost their lives on land or at sea following the escape route across the North Sea to allied harbors during German occupation of Norway in WWII, as well as the 3300 Norwegians who safely arrived in allied lands to fight against the Nazi’s.  Very cool statue!

That afternoon we had an excursion to hike up Sugar Lump mountain, not too far from downtown Ålesund.  Let’s just say that this was a much more difficult hike that we had anticipated, particularly since we had to scramble over a lot of rocks and keeping track of the actual trail wasn’t exactly super easy.  It did come with it’s beautiful moments however!  Bear in mind, that space between my camera and those two people is the  trail….you figure it out.

We were hiking in and out of fog, which just made the hike a slightly bit more difficult.  On the summit, the fog would lift here and there, allowing for a photo back towards Ålesund!

Here is our hiking party at the top!

One last photo from the top of Sugar Lump Mountain.

Coming up next, we visit Trondheim, Norway, yet another beautiful Norwegian city!

 

 

 

We boarded our cruise ship, the Silver Dawn, at around 1400.  After a nice lunch we made our way to our stateroom, and immediately had a nice view of the same fort we saw the day prior.

It was good to see it from a different perspective.

We had an excellent dinner that night at La Terraza….Pasta with Duck Ragu….yummy!  Yeah, it was as good as it looks!

I had to get up from dinner to go outside and take a shot of the sunset.

The next morning we were docked in Stavanger, Norway, the 4th largest city in Norway,  and we had an excursion booked first thing to head into the nearby Lysefjord.

This is the first fjord we will see on this cruise, and it was stunningly beautiful!  This is the view from the stern of our boat as we enter the steep part of the fjord.

Our captain got us right up against this waterfall, to the point you could feel the mist from the falls!

Here is a video of the same falls….sorry for the cheesy music the boat started playing as we approached the falls.

This waterfall is as far as we ventured up the fjord, so this view is looking back towards the end of it.  Wish we could have gone further!

We then passed by the world famous Pulpit Rock, perhaps the most famous spot in Norway.

This is a different perspective on this flat rock that sticks out over the fjord.

Pulpit Rock has been featured in one of the Mission Impossible movies.  This “behind the scenes” video gives you a good look at what it looks like from up on top.

A little further up the fjord the Captain pulled over so we could see this goat that is placed here to eat up the local greenery.  The area around him was such that he couldn’t go very far, filled with very steep cliffs.  He had a partner with him, but I have to limit my photos!

The Captain then pulled into this small spot on the side of the fjord.

More video and more accompanying cheesy music!

Our boat stopped at this little spot for refreshments, which were waffles with lots of sugary jam and sour cream!  Ok, we’ve done that….were done.

We had limited time in the little town of Stavanger, so we walked through the old town area, with the cute little white wooden houses that date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The old town area has a lot of statues…the Norwegians love their statues!

I mean they really REALLY love their statues!

Coming up next, our cruise ship visits Ålesund, Norway, where we do a little bit of hiking!