The Smaller Ports of Norway

There were a few ports during my month of Norway cruises that I have not yet mentioned! They were small and/or have some funny stories attached, so I have grouped them together. Here we go!

HAUGESUND

The first time we docked in Haugesund, I had IPM. I quite enjoyed the view from the Deck 9 gym, but according to my castmates, there was little to do in this port. The next time we came to Haugesund, George and I enjoyed a lovely walk over a huge bridge that took us to a quaint shopping area. We found a beautiful coffee shop with a lovely tea selection and parked ourselves there to use the wifi. About an hour later, George had to go back onboard, so I continued walking. I found a lovely bakery that was humming with activity. I could see bakers rolling, shaping, and pulling different pastries and breads out of huge ovens behind the registers.

I purchased this wonderful Norwegian pastry that I call a “cinnamon nest.”

It is basically a cinnamon roll with an egg-sized drop of custard nestled in the middle. I enjoyed this pastry while journaling and knitting some socks for my sister. And that was my afternoon in Haugesund!

BODO

A pic of us pre-"Schlager" performance on the pool deck in sub-zero weather.

Home to the largest whirlpool in the world, due to the changing of the tides in the fjords and the meeting of fresh glacial water and sea water, Bodo was one of the exciting ports that I really wanted to get off at.

Unfortunately, due to extremely strong winds, it was not safe to port in Bodo either time we went there.

We had to continue on our way. No big whirlpool for Cara. Here are some pics of Bodo LOL.

SORTLAND

Our first cruise, I got off in Sortland and immediately wondered why we had docked there. Yes, the surrounding mountains were beautiful, but there was not much to do.

There was a church, there was a small commercial area that sported some cool art and decent wifi. And that was it.

I spent most of my time in a mall café, snacking on these traditional heart-shaped waffles and jam, writing a blog post.

The second cruise, we were caught in this huge storm while in Tromso (This was the place I went husky sledding the first time around!), so we had to stay there the night and skip Sortland. The guests were maddddd... I literally witnessed a guest throw his weights on the ground and swear profusely as the captain made that announcement. I wish I could have told him that it was ok… all he would miss were some waffles!

TRONDHEIM

Trondheim 1.0 was a cold, rainy mess of a day.

Trondheim is a beautiful city that has a very impressive Gothic Cathedral, colorful houses along the waterfronts, and an awesome downtown area.

Kirsty and I had a lovely walk around during a break from the rain, spotting a rainbow and scouting the area for wifi. On our way back to the ship, we got caught in an icy, windy deluge that my umbrella did not agree with.

Trondheim 2.0, Agnes, George, Kirsty, and I ventured out into a BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY day that could not have been more different than Trondheim 1.0.

We stopped at a café with some bomb homemade pastries. I Facetimed my family, then George had to go back onboard, so Kirsty, Agnes, and I went shopping. Then, we headed to the “Rockheim” Museum. This museum was dedicated to the recent history of pop and rock. What a cool place.

Every item that they had on display featured historical information, plus you could listen to famous recordings that had been played on specific instruments. You could compare sound quality of record players to the first Ipod to the most recent! There were so many exhibits where you could click on a picture and it would send a recording or a music video to another screen somewhere in the room.

There was an entire exhibit dedicated to death metal, which I learned was the largest cultural export in Norway for about 20 years! The last exhibit we saw was one that studied famous dances associated with iconic songs (i.e. the Limbo, Shuffling, The Robot via “Billie Jean,” Soldier Boy). I highly recommend this museum, plus we got a discount on the tickets as crew members!