Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord

Fjord Cruise

Our fjord cruise doesn’t start too early so we have time to have a relaxing breakfast at our hotel. It is always nice to not have to rush in the morning.

We board the cruise from Flam to Gudvangen and find comfortable seats as our base downstairs where we have a panoramic view. There are a few floors of decks outside that are standing room only so we alternate going inside and out to admire different things during our cruise. Some of us already saw some of this journey the evening before during our RIB boat tour but it is nice to have more of a panoramic view from the large ferry – which is electrical thus reducing the emissions.

We arrive at the even smaller town of Gudvangen. I cannot believe it is even smaller than the town Flam but it is. The major attraction here besides boating is the working Viking village you can visit. We drop off our bags at the Viking village to go get lunch at one of maybe two restaurants in the town. I end up ordering a very large dish of meatballs.

We walk back to the Viking village and wait for the 2:00 PM tour. My friend tries ax throwing as we wait.

The tour guide takes us around the village which acts as a living village. People come from all the world to live and work here, in fact the girl from the entrance is from Minnesota. We learn about metal working, textiles, weapons, and boat making among other things. It is a very educational day in a charming Viking town. I even try archery. I am not great at it but perhaps in time I could be better.

We try one of the local beers and go to catch the bus that is the next leg of our journey. The bus will take us to the train that will take us to Bergen. We have one stop along the way to admire the views.

Finally we are on our train to Bergen. We are getting in later than I’d like. We find a restaurant still serving meals later. It is our splurge meal. I decide to take a chance and order the reindeer steak. I am pleased with my choice. It is similar to beef and not gamey at all. I also order a rhubarb trifle for desert. This is probably one of the best meals I’ve had in Norway so far, and I am paying a good amount for it.

My friend talks me into staying out for one drink even though it is close to midnight (way past my bedtime). It is difficult here because even at midnight, the darkest it will be, it isn’t even fully dark. I would be tricked into thinking it was earlier than it is if my body wasn’t so tired.

Tomorrow we explore Bergen a bit.

Norway: Geirangerfjorden

The next couple days are essentially spent in the car. I have planned a couple stops in the middle of the fjords in central Norway and everything is a long drive to get there.

I fly from Stavanger to Oslo then I am suppposed to catch a flight to Alesund. There are two alesund flights at the same time but I don’t realize it and see the gate number for the first one that catches my eye; the gate is across the airport a couple terminals over from where I land. The flight in question starts boarding and I realize it must be the wrong flight because the flight number doesn’t match ; but really what alerts me is the star alliance announcement because I didn’t think I was on a star alliance flight. I am waiting at the wrong flight. I have to run back across the airport and I’m sure I’ve missed my flight. While I am running my metal water bottle crashes on the tile floor and it seems like the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. Luckily the previous flight is still exiting the plane. I feel like in most cases the gate would already be closed and I’d have to book another flight. Sure got my cardio in this morning. Way to elevate that heart rate.

I fly into Alesund. My flight is very empty so I move to the window seat in my row to get the great view.

The airport is small and it takes no time at all to get my bag and get out the door. I pick up my rental car which of course is another brand new vehicle I am going to worry about hurting. It is bigger than I like but hopefully it takes the mountain pass roads well. As far as driving I am finding Norwegian drivers (or tourists here) to be polite and conscientious drivers. Despite the tight roads it seems safe enough. I do see one camper van take out part of another camper van’s mirror in a tight spot.

There are lots of tunnels at the beginning of my drive and one ferry before I reach the ferry I have planned in advance, the Geirangerfjord ferry ride – a must do if you are in the region.

My ticket is for the 3:30 PM Geirangerford ferry in Hellyst which is a good thing because I arrive just as the 12:30 PM ferry is leaving. I want to make sure my ticket is accurate and I can leave my car to get lunch but the one younger man working the car line seems flustered and overwhelmed. It seems there is confusion over tickets and quite a few ended up missing their 12:30 PM ferry so he is bombarded with those people as well as those who have arrived for the next ferry without tickets yet. I patiently wait and finally get his attention to find out my ticket is accurate and where to place my car to wait. I head off to look for food. It seems like there is only one open restaurant in this town and seems to be pizza only. I visit the local supermarket instead and get some berries and ingredients for a do it yourself sandwich. Picnic tables along the water are perfect to watch boats and birds while I eat my lunch. I take a short walk around the town to visit the water fall and a historic bathing house. There is still more time to wait so I go back to my car to read and try to nap.

Eventually the ferry arrives and we drive onboard. This ride is over an hour so after you park below it is essential to go upstairs and get a view of the fjords. It is supposed to be one of the most scenic ferry rides and it is. Some sights are pointed out on the way and one of them is the seven sisters waterfall.

I drive off the ferry in Geiranger and there is a cute tourist town by the water. My only concern at this point is checking into my hotel though so I drive up the hill in that direction. There are many steep switchbacks to get to the hotel and with each one it is becoming more apparent that my plan of heading into town for dinner is not going to happen because I will not have the energy to walk back up tonight. You need to be in fantastic shape to even be a tourist in Norway it seems. Luckily the hotel has a restaurant. The menu is limited but I decide to treat myself to a steak. Before dinner I admire the views of the town from above.

I wish I had planned two nights in Geiranger so I could have had a day to relax in town. I am too tired tonight to make the trip down to town and I have too much driving to do tomorrow to add on a visit to town in the morning, Maybe I will return sometime in the future.

More Budapest

Originally I was going to visit thermal baths this morning (Budapest is well known for their thermal baths) but I decide to skip since I am not in the mood today. It turns out to be a good decision because even though I read it doesn’t get crowded on weekdays I speak to someone later who actually attended this morning and she says it was too crowded.

Instead I find a stand for coffee with non-dairy milk (a luxury while traveling) and stop at that shakshouka restaurant.

I first visit the House of Terror Museum – a museum dedicated to the fascist and communist regimes. I always knew Hungary was associated with Eastern Europe but I didn’t fully understand what life was like under the nazis and later Soviet Union. The audio tour and exhibits thoroughly explained the history. It’s a very interactive museum. I recommend it. In the basement is a replica of prison cells used to torture prisoners.

Its still early in the day but late enough that I can visit my first ruin bar in town. Budapest is famous for its ruin bars or creative bars built in old run down buildings. I order a large apperol spritz in the most famous ruin bar Szimpla Kert. I am solo and admit it would be more fun if I had a companion with me but I still think it is pretty cool inside. I must drag some friends here another time.

For lunch I try the Langos Burger and another Apperol Spritz at a nearby food cart market.

I rest up for a couple hours because I have a prosecco cruise booked for this evening on the Danube. I try to time the cruise so I can see the lights come on in the city for the evening and sunset view. It is busy so I end up sharing my table with a couple from Australia that I learn met on their travels. The cruise has very generous refills of prosecco. I try to drink water to offset but I have a feeling I will be hurting tomorrow.

The cruise is beautiful and fun but with that fun comes big regrets. I lose the entire next day due to Prosecco. I spend most of the day resting and binge watching tv shows while I recover. I am a fan of having days “off” of traveling here and there but I really dislike losing days to hangovers. Just a warning for another tempted by a sunset Prosecco cruise – pace yourself.

After my recovery day I decide to have a casual day of sightseeing and visit the Central Market Hall to browse around. I never can resist a large market.

I decide to eat at the market and instead of ordering something sensible I order plate of fried meats and it is way too much food. I can only eat a little of it. It’s not really my favorite so far. I do like the strudels I pick up for later.

I walk back to the area closer to my apartment.

Later in the day I attend a wine tasting where I try some Hungarian wines, some of them sweet. I also try cheeses and meats. I learn about mangalica – a fat fluffy Hungarian pig.

One lady from the tasting is in town for business from the USA. I used to live in same city she is from so we talked about the city and other things. We continue the conversation to another ruin bar I’ve been wanting to check out called Csendes Létterem. We enjoy nice conversation and more drinks in a funky environment.

My trip to Budapest is basically over at this point since I have to go back and pack. It is a nice visit but I am mad at myself for losing a day due to Prosecco. I feel like I am getting too old to keep making those bad decisions. As a result I have added this city to the list of places to visit again. I think I wouldn’t mind just chilling in the area for a week or two sometime when I am not rushed. You have surprised me Budapest.

The next morning I find the airport bus after a ten minute walk. The airport is so efficient I think I didn’t need to get here two hours early but I guess always better safe than sorry. While at the airport I do some browsing at the Hungary airport duty free store. I see cigarette cartons with very graphic pictures on box: Lung cancer pics, mouth cancer pics and pictures babies harmed by smoking. They must have pretty strict regulations here.

Not one person has asked to see my id on my flights today. The EU has a very efficient and electronic system of doing border checks. I am heading to Norway now. See ya Hungary.

Hvar and the cave tour

Our ferry takes us 3 hours to get to the charming Mediterranean town of Hvar. It is the beginning of season and we are the only guests except one other small group at our B&B. This town is pricey so we close this B&B with great reviews because there is a family member that will frequently be able to take you to and from town. Otherwise it is a 2 km walk uphill, which we have yet to attempt. It is still a little chilly in town and they have just refilled the pool for season; not sure if we will have enough time to swim since our time here is short but the pool and the view is nice. They also have a pretty nice breakfast spread but it is 15 Euros, expensive but seems to be on par with this island. This is not a discount vacation location. We are sad that we are too early to enjoy the lavender fields but we do have an all day cave boat tour scheduled tomorrow.

Our ferry arrives in the afternoon so we stop to eat before we have our driver pick us up. We both enjoy a very rich truffle cheese gnocchi. It is so rich that even I, the human equivalent of a cheese-like Cookie Monster, have to scrape a layer of cheeese off. It is rich and very good. Before we try to settle the bill the waiter offers us glasses of free local wine that we enjoy. We glance around town a bit but can’t do much on account of our bags and call our driver. We note that this is a party town and some late night places don’t even open until 2 am. I am not sure I would have even been able to handle that during my “club” days. When I was younger I could extend the fun to the early morning but only if the early evening had started the activities.

In the morning we eat breakfast and we head down to town early before our boat ride.

We meet with the coordinator of the tour and they give us the disappointing news that the blue cave part of the tour is canceled for the day. It is disappointing but not at all surprising. The conditions have to be right to visit the blue cave and this past month alone it had only been reached 50% of the time. Us and many of the passengers decide to carry on with the boat tour anyway due to there being enough other stops to make it worthwhile (besides I already had an amazing blue cave experience many years ago in Capri in Italy).

They split the passengers into two boats and while I am initially sad we are to go in the small red boat, but I quickly realize I am with the fun group and it makes the tour much more enjoyable. First its about a thirty minute ride out and then we ride along and admire the coast of another island. Due to it being a choppy day, no one is manning and collecting money for the green cave so our adept captain takes our entire boat inside to enjoy. Due to the seas being rough we are unable to swim inside today though.

Our next stop is a small secluded beach only accessed by boat or by a steep trail. It was used in the second Mamma Mia movie. Our guide tells us we can swim out to the beach but only one is brave enough for a swim since the water is cold and it is early. We all resolve to watch the beach from the distance until the solo bartender on the beach waves us down and comes out with a small boat to taxi us over. Luckily we all get a better view from inside the beach. We are sure to purchase some beers from him for his kindness.

Supporting the local private beach business man

We are off to our next stop which are some arches in a cave that look pretty cool. Again if the sea wasn’t rough we could have been swimming in there but it is too dangerous today. We do stop in another little enclave that some of us do brave the cold water and jump in.

We next stop for lunch at another island. Mine is not memorable.

Finally we stop at a Cold War submarine cave at Vis. We get off the boat and walk through a tunnel.

We meet up with some of the groups of girls on the boat ride afterwards at an outdoor cafe. About 5 of us are from the US and the rest are from the UK. We talk about various things. It is nice getting to know people while I am traveling and seeing the world through other’s perspective.

I have a not so exiting dinner and then we have the driver from our hotel come pick us up. We have an afternoon ferry tomorrow so we mull over things to do in the morning. Our driver insists we should visit the castle on the hill and he will drop us off in the morning.

The next morning we pack up our bags and the driver says he will bring them to us down by the bus station later so we’ll have them for our ferry. This eliminates the stress of wondering what to do with our heavy bags while we sightsee.

There is a nice view of town from the fortress. We take the walk down to down afterwards watching people walk uphill from town. We definitely have the easier way of doing things by having our driver drop us at the top. There are some lovely gardens of the way down. We learn that it is designed this way by one influential person.

We get to the bottom, pick up our bags and catch our short ferry to split where we will pick up our rental car and drive to Zadar for a couple days in that region.

The not so wee Titanic

I am in Belfast and everything is wee this and wee that. I originally thought we was a Scottish-only thing but watching the amazing show “The Derry Girls” corrected me in that matter. Side note: I wanted to originally visit Derry during this trip but due to me traveling off season, none of the tours are running there yet. I love the show and cannot visit the town without a proper tour of all the filming locations. If you have not seen it, this fantastic show gives you a glimpse into life of Northern Ireland during the 90’s through teenage girls. This show hits even harder because I was a teenage girl in the 90’s and I get to see what life was like for girls my age overseas in Northern Ireland.

Anyway today I am to visit the Titanic experience and tour around town. I look at the weather report and rain is expected this afternoon so I force myself to go wander around town this morning before my Titanic reservations.

I finish my morning tour of the city at the waterfront. I have to cross the Lagan Weir footbridge across the water to make the walk to the Titanic Museum. It is a about a mile walk but there are things to look at along the waterfront like Game of Thrones glass panels and a sound activated wind chime that makes sounds that replicate an active ship construction.

I finally pass the smaller boat, the nomadic, a smaller version of the same class of boat as the titanic. I will tour this boat a little later.

I get to the main building, it is designed to look like a boat, even the reflections in the pools outside are specifically designed.

I am early for my entry time and I guess because I bought the package with a guided tour I have to actually wait. I go to the cafe to try to get a cider while I wait but they have the same law as back home, you cannot purchase alcohol before noon on Sundays (I find out later that is the case for bank holidays too).

Finally it is time to start and our guide takes us to the building across the way. Normally more time is spend outdoors but it is still raining so she takes us to cover so we are comfortable. The tour I am on basically takes us through the offices of the company that designed and built the titanic White Star Line (building is now a posh hotel). We learn many things about how the boats were constructed and the workers who built it. For example, workers building the ships were not known by name, only by number and had to have access to their numbered time card at all times or they would not get paid or worse fired. Bathrooms breaks were pretty strict. It basically seemed like hard work.

Good thing I did my sightseeing before titanic because I end up spending multiple hours at the titanic so there is little afternoon left when I am done.

I start at the nomadic after the guided tour because it closes earlier. I get to see inside a smaller version of the company’s ships.

Finally I enter the main museum. The main exhibit is huge, being multi-floors and interactive. It is very thorough. There is a little ride inside that takes you through a titanic construction experience. There are exhibits about the missions to discover the wreckage years later. The museum also talks about immigration and labor history. A visit to the titanic museum can take the entire day if you tour it properly.

I make a dinner reservation for the early evening because I don’t want to be caught scrambling like I did last night for my dinner. It is at a fish restaurant. I enjoy oysters and a cod with a side of chips.

It’s raining again so I am in my hotel lobby drinking a smithwicks. As you remember I have some beer homework to do to prepare for St. Patricks Day so its all legit. I just have to force myself to stay up somewhat late so I don’t wake up at 2 am once again.