Alesund.

Alesund, the largest town on Norway’s North-West coast and the country’s leading fishing town was today’s port of call. The town is built on three islands linked together by a series of bridges and tunnels.The Mount Askla viewpoint dominates the town and is reached by 418 steps from the town park. Sylvia and I had decided that we would would climb this today but on arrival we had second thoughts and chickened out. (Victoria, Oliver and the two children did successfully manage the climb).

Instead we walked through the Art Nouveau buildings that make up the old town of Alesund, the ancient buildings having been destroyed in a devastating fire in 1904. Remarkably with 850 dwelling destroyed and over 10,000 people made homeless there was only one fatality. We made our way to the harbour wall which gave magnificent views across the fjord to the islands beyond.

The lighthouse at the end providing a good photo opportunity.

The main reason to come to this part of the town was to visit the Fisheries Museum, housed in the white building in the photo below.

The town’s development depended on the fishing trade and the processing of by-products such as “Klipfish”, salted and dried fish, and Liver Oil, firstly from whales and latterly other fish such as haddock or cod. The museum took us through firstly the production of the liver oil from the crude methods used in ancient times up to the modern laboratory controlled processes. Of particular interest was the assortment of packaging used for the products which were on display.

Klipfish was an important product in Norway’s history with the modern production process being developed by two Scotsmen named Gordon and Ramsey. I kid you not!! Simply the process involved salting the gutted and cleaned fish and then drying in the open-air. Much of the work completed by the fish wives shown in the following picture.

Situated close to the fishing museum is a small glass workshop where a demonstration was given of glass blowing.I’ve seen this done a few times but am always astounded with the ease that the glassblower changes the shape of a blob of glass into an intricate tumbler or vase.

A visit to the town museum was next on the itinerary. This featured exhibitions of the history of the town, especially the Great Fire, and a special exhibit of Alesund in World War Two. An interesting visit.

Tonight was Indian night in the buffet, Oliver’s favourite night, so there was no decision to be made as to where to eat. Victoria had a mixture of English and Indian main courses…

….while Oliver concentrated on the sweeter side of things.

After a lovely meal we retired to the Planet Bar at the rear of the ship where Oliver had his favourite cruise tipple, a strawberry daiquiri. On a previous occasion the waiter took his order and then said “Thank you Madam” but this didn’t seem to bother him.

We don’t leave Alesund until 2.30am in the morning so we were able to witness a beautiful sunset over the town. 

Tomorrow we make our way during the early hours to Geiranger.