Geirangerfjord, a branch of Storfjorden, is one of the better known and popular fjords in Norway and is part of the West Norwegian Fjords UNESCO World Heritage Site. Full-sized cruise ships regularly travel the waterway, as do the Hurtigruten coastal ferries, local ferries and countless other commercial vessels. A lesser-known branch of of Storfjorden is…
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Romsdalsfjorden
At 46 nautical miles long, Romsdalsfjorden is the ninth-longest fjord in Norway. The fjord forks into three main branches at the island of Veoya, once the main medieval trading center between Trondheim and Bergen where the 12th-century Medieval Church of St. Peter still stands. The three main branches stretch past the towns of Molde along…
Kristiansund
After heading south from Trondheim, we made two brief stops before spending Christmas Eve and Day in Kristiansund. We walked through town on Christmas Eve, including a pass through the Mellemvaerftet shipbuilding museum, and woke up on Christmas Day to a beautiful snowfall. That morning we made an extensive tour of the area by tender,…
Trondheim
Dirona spent five weeks in Trondheim in 2018 as part our making of a trip back to the US, and we really enjoyed Norway’s third-largest city with its university-town vibe. We were on our way south during our previous visit, and this would be our turn-around point on our second Norwegian cruise. Although we didn’t…
North Towards Trondheim
From Atlanterhavsvegen, we traveled 117 miles north towards Trondheim in five short runs. Conditions were surprisingly calm each day, and we enjoyed beautiful light reflections during our morning runs in the dark and evening happy hour in the cockpit, and also some spectacular sunsets. Below are highlights from December 15th to 19th, 2020. Click any…
Atlanterhavsvegen
Atlanterhavsvegen (Atlantic Ocean Road) is one of Norway’s 18 National Tourist Routes that the construction industry in 2005 named “Norwegian Construction of the Century”. The road runs 5 miles (8 km) along the outer edge of the Atlantic Ocean across an archipelago of islands and seven bridges. Popular for filming auto commercials, the route has…
Alesund
If you enjoy holiday lights, Norway is a wonderful place to be in the winter. Most Norwegian towns have a lit holiday display in the hills above the community, and their houses are ablaze with holiday lights. And with the shorter days of winter, the lights are on longer. We’ve spent many a happy hour…
Heroy
The Heroy municipality’s name derives from an old Norse term meaning “archipelago of islands.” The 1,700 islands and islets that make up Heroy are an absolute joy to explore, both in the tender and on foot along the archipelago’s many view hikes. Norway seems to have an endless number of exceptional boating locales, each one…
Flavaer Islands
The lighthouse in Norway’s Flavaer Islands was built in 1870 to guide mariners into Heroyfjorden. The islands themselves lie on the edge of Heroyfjorden and are somewhat exposed, but make a great anchorage in calm conditions. Continuing north from Syltejforden, we stopped for a night in the Flavaer Islands and made an extensive tour of…
Syltejforden
Norway’s headland Stad is so notorious for dangerous conditions that an escort service is provided for small boats and funds have been approved to build the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel through the base of the peninsula from Moldefjorden to Kjodspollen, pictured above. The tunnel will be just under a mile long, 120ft (37m) high…
