20260322 Viking Vela Northern Lights and British Isles - Day 7/32

Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 7/32 – Alta, Norway

When we went to bed last night, a little after 11:00, we were still approaching Alta. We docked shortly after that and will be here today and tomorrow, sailing at midnight Tuesday morning.

We are docked next to the airport

It was sunny, about 35°F, as we went for breakfast. Today's weather was expected to be 35°F to 43°F with periods of sun and snow. The weather changes constantly in Alta, so you get pretty much everything every day. The crew reported that on the last cruise to Alta, it was somewhere around -22°F, so we're feeling pretty lucky with today's weather.

There is still plenty of snow in the mountains

The scenery is beautiful. We looked around from the back deck before heading down for today's guest vs guest Baggo.

Arlona thought that this would make a nice jigsaw puzzle

Our team was thoroughly trounced by the other team today. It doesn't matter because everyone gets a mimosa, and it is all good fun.

We returned to the room for a little while before hopping on the included shuttle and taking the bus into Alta. The bus was right on the pier, a short walk from the ship. The ride took just a few minutes, and the guide explained a little about Alta. Alta has a history that dates back to ancient rock carvings. Alta-Talvik became a municipality in 1838, and Alta became its own entity in 1863. In 2000, the villages of Alta, Bossekop, and Elvebakken merged and became Alta as it is today.

The town was essentially shut down today because it is Sunday. A couple of gift shops and coffee shops were open. 

Slate worker memorial, by Jon Torgersen

Several ice sculptures were still in the town center - this was an octopus, but the upcoming spring was taking its toll on the statue

This looks like something we would have seen at Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival

Northern Lights Cathedral, also known as Alta Church

Arlona, wanting to go in, but the sign politely invited worshipers, but not tourists today during services - we will stop here tomorrow as well, but we have heard that there may be funerals

The sunlit metal exterior was stunning against the crisp, blue sky

Renowned physicist Kristian Birkeland was famous for explaining the physical nature of the Northern Lights - an appropriate statue for the City of the Northern Lights

We spent about 45 minutes wandering around Alta and browsing one of the two open gift shops before heading back to the bus for the short ride back to the Vela.

After lunch, the Sun was brilliantly illuminating the snow-covered mountains

For what it's worth, it was colder than we made it look

As long as we caught a little sun and stayed out of the wind, it was pleasant

We ran into our friend, and former General Manager, Johann, now the corporate General Manager for Viking. He came on board today and will be here until Tilbury. He was our General Manager for the beginning of our world cruise, and we spent a good deal of time chatting with him on that cruise. It was wonderful catching up. He is a genuinely nice person, and we hope to chat with him more on this voyage.

We had the afternoon to just relax and hang out before the World Café's special Seafood and Lobster Tower dinner event. Crab legs, lobster, shrimp, salmon, and more!

At 8:00, we heard an announcement that the Northern Lights had been spotted off the aft of the ship. We hurried to deck #8 aft for a look. There wasn't much, but there was a faint vertical trail to the right of the moon.

We're hopeful we will see more tonight.

At 8:45 tonight, we will depart for our optional excursion, Northern Lights at Pæskatun. We will take a bus to the top of Mt. Pæska to Pæskatun, where they have a Sami camp set up. We will learn more about the Northern Lights and hopefully see some spectacular views of them. Because we won't return to the Vela until midnight, I will post all of tonight's activities in tomorrow's blog.