20260319 Viking Vela Northern Lights and British Isles - Day 4/32

Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 4/32 – Touring Bergen and sailing north

We rolled out of bed shortly after 8:00, just after listening to Cruise Director Andre's morning announcement playing in the hallway speakers. After quick showers, we dressed and went up to the World Café for breakfast. After we grabbed familiar favorites for breakfast, we saw that Viking now has biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. We have personally taught several Viking chefs how to make it, so perhaps we can make a claim, at least a little, to that new offering. We will have to watch for it and try it next time it is offered.

Our tour today was the included tour, Panoramic Bergen. It was a mix of a bus and a walking tour throughout the city. We got on bus #27 and headed off for our two-hour tour.

When we hopped off the bus at our first stop, we were greeted with this lovely partial rainbow

We drove to the opposite side of the harbor for a panoramic look back at Bryggen, the famous waterfront area, and UNESCO World Heritage site.

Bryggen historic harbor district

Our hotel, the Radisson Blu, is on the left

The path up the hill is the Fløibanen Funicular that runs up Mt. Fløyen - we rode that during our last visit in May of 2022

The Vela, looking majestic in Bergen Harbor

Mt Ulriken, the highest peak surrounding Bergen

 Bergenhus Fortress and Rosenkrantz Tower

Our second stop was at Nykirken, The New Church, or Children's Church, due to the wide range of children's activities held there.

Outside the church was something you don't see much of anymore, a telephone booth

But...it was holding a secret. With the advent of mobile phones, phone booths were rarely, if ever, used. This had been converted into a book exchange lending library. It is a perfect structure for that since it is weatherproof. There were many books available - take a book, leave a book. What a great idea.

There were a ton of books in there

We were unable to enter the main church because of a children's program. We entered on the south side, under the church. It was known as the New Church because, when it was originally consecrated in 1622 as Holy Trinity Church, it was the newest in the area. Because it has been rebuilt several times following fires in 1623 (one year after it was consecrated), 1756, and 1800, as well as being restored after damage from a 1944 harbor explosion, it continues to be the newest church in Bergen.

A lovely organ as we entered

The area on the back left was used to house two boys who, by having a shooting competition, caused the city hall, which also housed the jail, to burn down - Bergen has a solid history with devastating fires

This area was used previously to house church riches before the Reformation, and the Holy Trinity Church was built on this site

Our next stop brought us to the Den Nationale Scene theater. Opening in 1876, it is one of Norway's oldest permanent theaters.

Henrik Ibsen statue in front of the Den Nationale Scene theatre

A pollarded tree, a tree that has been severely pruned by cutting off the upper branches to promote new growth and control size

Den Nationale Scene

"Ynglingen" (The Youth) sculpture by Stephan Sinding

Mother and Child sculpture by Gustav Vigeland

A fun sewer access cover depicting Bryggen

St. John's Church, under renovation

Ole Bull, a renowned Norwegian violinist and composer, by Stephan Sinding

The lower sculpture, usually in the fountain that was being repaired, is Fossegrim or grim and is a supernatural being or a vette who, according to Norwegian folklore, lives by rivers and especially waterfalls and mills

Telegrafbygningen (Telegraph Building), now repurposed as commercial space

Edvard Grieg

KODE 1 Art Museum

Christian Michelsen was the first Prime Minister of Norway, serving from 1905 to 1907, now nicknamed the tallest man in Bergen

Det gamle rådhuset, or Bergen Old Town Hall

Our final stop was in Bryggen, right by the Radisson Blu. We took this same tour the last time we were in Bergen. It was pouring rain the last time, so this was more pleasant. But last time, we seemed to see much more. Plus, we had the whole day, so we continued on our own and explored a lot. This time, we opted to just walk back to the ship, the same ten-minute walk that we made yesterday.

We grabbed lunch in the World Café and tossed in a quick load of laundry, since we had a couple of items that could benefit from a wash.

At about 2:45, Cruise Director Andre came on the ship-wide speakers, including in the staterooms, for the mandatory SOLAS safety briefing. Shortly after that, Captain Olav made his sailing announcement, describing how we would be sailing to Alta. He also mentioned that due to some heavy incoming weather, we will dock in Alta Saturday night, rather than Sunday morning as planned. This will let us get secured before any weather, ensuring safety and passenger comfort. At least that's what we think he said. (For those reading this from the 2021-2022 world cruise, you know what I mean!)

We went up to the Explorers Bar to watch the sail away. 

Passing under the Askøy Bridge (Askøybroen)

Seriously remote homes on a spit of rock

We were treated to our second rainbow of the day

We met Simbarache, the Beverage Manager. We mentioned that we wished that Viking stocked some kind of diet and caffeine-free soda, because we favor diet soda, and like no caffeine at night. He smiled and said that he had our backs. He had some, but not enough to distribute throughout the ship. He is making arrangements for our cabin Steward to keep our mini-fridge stocked with Sprite Zero for the remainder of the cruise. Sometimes, you just have to ask.

Hotel General Manager, Debassios, stopped by. We were able to thank him for the bottle of Moscato and cake that we received yesterday. And Rose & Ted, if you're reading this, he said to say, "Hello".

Debassios is quite a success story, moving from being an executive chef to a hotel General Manager

We chatted with some new folks, enjoying travel stories, before heading to the World Café for a Taste of Norway, a special dinner. We weren't feeling overly adventurous. I tried the Norwegian hot dog, which was a hot dog wrapped in what appeared to be a tortilla. I'm not sure what the Norway connection was. Arlona had venison Wellington. We had heard that they would be serving reindeer. That was the only venison dish, so perhaps that was it. The meal was OK, but nothing that we found special.

The highlight of the meal was catching up with the Master of the Vessel, Captain Olav Sövdsnes. He was gracious as ever, and we're very happy to have him leading this cruise.

We attended the Captain's Welcome in the Star Theater, where all the senior officers introduced themselves. The Viking band warmed up the audience first, and then played on with the Viking Vocalists in a Duets show. We headed back to the room and caught part of that show before turning on the port talk for Alta. Because of some excursion scheduling issues, we will have all our artic port talks delivered over the next three days, before we arrive in our first port, Alta. 

The Arctic Circle sits at 66.56° north latitude. Alta sits at 70° north latitude, or roughly 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Tromsø is at 69.6492°, and Narvik is at 68.4385° north latitude. In all, we will spend five days in the Arctic. This will get us ready for next year's Pole-to-Pole cruise on Seabourn, where we will spend more than a month in the Arctic, all the way to 80° north latitude, or about 600 miles from the North Pole.

We can tell that we're in the North Sea as the ship was moving. It's nothing serious for us, as we've been in just about everything, but watching other passengers trying to walk in a straight line as the ship pitches and rolls is always entertaining.

We're looking forward to being rocked to sleep tonight as we continue north for a couple of days of scenic sailing along the Norwegian coast.