Sunday, 2
September 2012
At
sea on the Eurodam, 3 pm
The bad news is that we are skipping the port of Lerwick in the northern Shetland Islands. The captain has announced that there is a big storm in the North Atlantic that he hopes to avoid by making a change in itinerary and heading straight for Reykjavik, Iceland. He hasn’t said anything about what happens after our two days in Reykjavik, so let’s hope the next announcement is good news. In the meantime, I will continue where I left off . . .
Friday, 31 August 2012
Stavanger, Norway
I wake to spectacular views of the center of Stavanger from my balcony. The ship has docked right alongside the streets of the Old Town and we could not be closer to the city—in fact, the massive presence of the ship towering over the cozy wooden houses is quite surreal. Although the sun is shining, the weather is rather and windy and cool, so I do the old layering-on of clothes and after breakfast in the Lido I head ashore.
Stavanger, the fourth largest city in Norway, lies at the top of the Lysfjord, which connects to a series of larger fjords, as it heads out to the North Sea. The old town has a series of wooden residences preserved from the 18th and 19th centuries that have managed to avoid the fires that routinely destroy the old neighborhoods. Rich in forestry, lumber was the cheapest and most readily available building material and the risk of conflagration is always great. There are no major museums or tourist stops, so the best thing is to wander and enjoy the atmosphere of the compact city center and harbor, where another large cruise ship has anchored just behind us.
We sail from Stavanger at 5 pm, after the Eurodam has made another of its amazing 180° turns.
Pics
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