May 21 - Svolvær and Henningsvær, Lofoten Islands

We crossed  the Arctic Circle sometime last night after spending a day in Brønnøysund, Norway, a small fishing village.  I didn’t get off the ship because it didn’t appear there was much of anything there. This morning we arrived at Svolvær in Lofoten, Norway. We’re currently anchored there and I’ll go ashore early this afternoon for a tour. Lofoten is an archipelago off the Norwegian coast and Svolvær is one of the largest towns with a population of about 5000. The total population for the whole archipelago is about 25,000. The islands lie between 68° and 69° N. Despite the latitude, Lofoten has temperatures in the winter which are not as cold as one would expect.   This is because of the influence of the Gulf Stream and its extensions, the North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Current.

The scenery around the ship is pretty spectacular. The islands are a series of  irregular peaks that are best described as looking snaggle-toothed.  Many are sheer rock; others have significant vegetation and appear quite lush.  I guess it’s dependent on which way they face and how much sun they get.  There was quite a bit of snow on some of the peaks.

This bronze statue entitled The Fisherman's Wife stands at the entrance to the small harbor. She's either welcoming you home or bidding you goodbye.

The principal industries in these islands are fishing and tourism.   My tour guide today was Paolo (from Modena, Italy of all places).  Paolo  told us that in the past Lofoten was the center of the cod industry.  Evidently the waters here once had perfect conditions for cod to spawn. Thus in the winter months the waters were teeming with cod and in years gone by there would be thousands of boats fishing for them. However Paolo said this past year was very bad for the cod fisherman. Apparently the fish are not coming as far south as they had been.  When I was here last time the wooden racks for drying fish were loaded with cod.  This year most were pretty empty. Nonetheless I should describe the process used for the ones I saw because I think it’s interesting.  After the fish are caught they are gutted and the heads are removed from the bodies.  The heads are placed on racks to air dry and freeze (this is all taking place in the dead of winter.)  The bodies are placed on separate racks for the same process.  As our guide explained it, this method has been used for hundreds of years and essentially flash freezes the fish.  Once it has been frozen it’s allowed to dry out on the racks and it becomes very hard and can be kept for up to 10 years.  Vikings probably carried this dried fish with them and it allowed them to make their long voyages.  The fish can be rehydrated by soaking it for a week and changing the water often.  The heads are removed and treated separately because they are sent off to Africa and some are used to make a soup of some kind, while others are used to make fertilizer.

Empty fish racks which were full last time I was here

My tour took me from Svolvaer to Henningsvær, a small former fishing village.  It was virtually abandoned until a few years ago but has now seen a revival as a tourist destination and artist colony. There are several galleries there and a couple of hotels which appeared to be doing a brisk business.  In fact as we were getting out of our bus there was a tourist bus loading up a group of Swedish travelers with their suitcases so they had obviously been staying for a while. 

Anyway, to get to Henningsvær we passed some inlets and bays which evidently have quite a tidal change, as much as 5 meters.  We went through a tunnel in a mountain that Paolo told us is the most expensive one ever built in Norway.  Apparently the tunnel was initially blown out of the rock but not properly reinforced.  Five days before it was slated to be opened there was a significant rockslide and the tunnel collapsed.  It took another five years and lots of Krone to dig it out and reinforce it with concrete before it finally opened for good. In addition to passing through the tunnel we also had to cross two one lane bridges.  The only traffic lights on the islands are found on bridges like these. 

The village is picturesque with a small harbor and quaint wooden buildings around it.  We went into the Galleri Lofoten displaying works of famous artists from the region.  Before going into the gallery rooms we saw a video with stunning photographs of life on the islands.  The pictures of the boats in angry seas and the people who fish and clean the catch were so interesting. Looking at the people one could imagine how hard a life it is.  The gnarled hands and wind burned faces were like those of working watermen everywhere, even on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.  The paintings we saw after the film showcased the intensity of life on these little islands.  I thought some of them were truly beautiful.  I went briefly into one other gallery, the Kaviar Factory (as the name says the building once was a caviar factory).  It had a lot of modern works which frankly I didn’t like at all.  I went out and walked a little through the village and then sat outside the first gallery and enjoyed the lovely weather.

This huge urn was made by the Queen  of Norway who is a ceramicist!

Then it was time for the ride back to Svolvær and the tender ride back to the ship.  Since we’re inside the Arctic Circle now we are having incredibly long days.  The sun went down close to midnight and it’s rising before 3 AM and it doesn’t get really dark at all.  We’re still nearly a month away from the summer solstice so I’ve been kind of amazed at the amount of daylight.  Tomorrow we’re in Tromsø and I’ve been there so I’m not sure I’ll do anything at all.  It depends on how energetic I feel.  I’m finding it very easy to be lazy and just enjoy being on the ship.

This is the Lofoten Cathedral we passed on our way back.  It's made of wood and can seat 2000 people!

 May 19  -  Trondheim, Norway

We had two calm but chilly days as we sailed north to our first stop  in Trondheim, Norway.  Saturday was a huge turnover day for both staff and passengers.  My move three doors down went smoothly and with much less bother than I thought it would. Several friends from previous cruises have boarded and it’s great seeing them.  My friend Hilary from Stoke on Trent in the UK is on.  She’s a widow too and we met a few years ago on a cruise not long after Covid when we still had to wear masks when walking around the ship.  She’ll be here for this 14 days of my voyage. A couple, Cat and Doug, whom I’ve sailed with several times before are here too. It’s always nice to meet old friends.

The sea days were uneventful.  I played trivia both days and name that one tune one day.  No thanks to me we won the latter.  Yesterday I was feeling under the weather so in the afternoon I stayed in my cabin and watched the lectures by one of the guest speakers that I’d missed.  She’s an American who was married to a Norwegian but is now divorced and as best I can tell she has some kind of business degree. Nevertheless she’s done talks about Polar explorers, Queen Victoria, and Norway.  I’m not sure what the connection is, but anyway.  She went to UC-Berkley and in one of her talks about Norway she described a society in which the individual is unimportant; the collective group is what’s important.  It sounded like Karl Marx’s dream society.  If that’s what Norway is, I didn’t realize that it was and I’m pretty sure that despite the beauty I wouldn’t want to live here.  

We arrived here in Trondheim early this morning to a gorgeous sunny day with the temperature around 70°.   Before lunch I did a little wander into the town.  It looks pretty picturesque and spotlessly clean. Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway with a population of nearly 220,000. It was established by a Viking in 997 AD. During that era it was the capital. During WW II the Germans turned the city into a large naval base for its submarines that operated in the north Atlantic raiding Allied convoys. The city sits where the river Nidelva meets Trondheim fjord and along the riverfront are old warehouses that are colorfully painted and now converted into shops and apartments.  The Nidaros Cathedral was built between the 11th and 13th centuries and is the most important Gothic structure in Norway.  It’s also the most northern medieval cathedral in the world.  After the Reformation it became a Lutheran cathedral.  Close to where the ship was docked there was a little beach and children were playing there because it was such a sunny warm day.

The Nidaros Cathedral

The old town bridge near the central square

The colorful old restored warehouses along the river

I liked this mural painted on a building close to the dock

Someone was airing their bed linens out the window of their flat and I just thought it was cute. It reminded me of my grandmother airing her featherbeds out the window.

Not the best picture, but if you look really hard you can see the kids playing on the beach below.

We’re in the Land of the Midnight Sun now and even though there’s close to a month until the longest day, it stays light now until nearly 10:30 PM.  Sunrise is before 4 AM. Thank goodness for good drapes in my cabin!  That’s all for now.  We have trivia in a few minutes and I can’t miss that.  

May 15 - Is it real or not?

We’re at sea for our last day of this leg of my journey.  Tomorrow all but 88 of my shipmates will be leaving.  Most of my incredibly smart and successful trivia and name that tune team will be leaving.  Worst of all, I found out last night that I have to change cabins.  I thought I had the same one for the whole voyage, but it turns out I have to move three doors down the hall.  What a pain.

 

Yesterday I took a shore excursion to St. Andrews, Scotland.  Any golf fans know the name because St. Andrews is widely known as the home of golf. I don’t play nor did my husband, but he loved to watch it and somehow I felt it was an excursion he would have taken. So off I went with my able driver Kevin and delightful guide Sandra.

 

Before I get into the question of whether it’s real or not, I must write a little about St. Andrews.  It’s a town of close to 20,000 on the east coast of Fife, about 30 miles northeast of Edinburgh. While there have been inhabitants for thousands of years in the area, the present town was founded around the mid-8^th century with the establishment of an abbey which was reputed to contain relics of St. Andrew the Apostle.  As a matter of fact St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and the cross of St. Andrew is what is on the flag of Scotland, a white cross on a blue background. St. Andrew was crucified and supposedly before he was he said that he wasn’t worthy enough to be crucified on a cross like Christ’s so he was placed on an x-shaped cross instead. A town grew up around the monastery and it eventually became the seat of the Bishop of Alba.  In 1160 the cathedral of St. Andrews was completed and the town became an important center for pilgrimages for people seeking help from the relics of the saint. Because of the pilgrims St. Andrews became the ecclesiastic capital of Scotland. In 1413 the University of St. Andrews was founded making it the third oldest university in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge.

 

Flag of St. Andrews

While the exact origins of golf aren’t known, Scotland is pretty universally considered the “home of golf” and in one of the earliest surviving documents about the sport written in 1552 it speaks of “playing at golf” on links near the waters of Eden (referring to the nearby river Eden).

The town and cathedral (which is now in ruins) went into decline during the Scottish Reformation in the mid-16^thcentury. Scotland was greatly influenced by the teachings of Martin Luther and then by those of John Knox and broke with the Catholic Church.  Scotland is actually the birthplace of Presbyterianism. There was even consideration of moving the University of St. Andrews to the city of Perth not far away, but that didn’t happen.  (An interesting thing about the University is that it is the alma mater of William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who met as students there.)

 

I confess I didn't take this photo of what's left of the cathedral. It was spitting rain when I passed it.

Now on to golf in St. Andrews.  There are seven courses in St. Andrews with the most famous being the Old Course. It dates back to medieval times and is one on which an Open Championship is played.  Next to the first tee of the Old Course is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews which was founded in 1754.  Until 2004 the Club exercised legislative power over the game worldwide except in the USA and Mexico. It’s a private club whose membership is by invitation only and which only began admitting women in late 2014 with Princess Anne being one of the first female members.  The Old Course is known for being difficult because of the frequently prevailing stiff winds coming off the North Sea. Unlike the very manicured grounds around many of the American courses, the courses here are not.  The roughs look rough with tall native grasses.  Our guide around the course was a senior citizen who grew up here and started playing as a boy.  He told us that one of the sand traps along the course is known as “Hell” because it’s that hard to get out of. One thing I found interesting was that I saw no golf carts at all; everyone walks the courses and most people had no caddies. The courses are public and I think he said it costs around £355 to play a round.

 

The building on the left is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club

Our guide Robert

I have to confess that I wimped out and didn’t walk the whole course with the guide.  It was very cold and windy and occasionally spitting rain.  Another lady and I left partway through and went to the old hotel next to the Golf Club. It was in that hotel where our group was having lunch so we went to the pub there and drank some hot tea to warm up. In due course the rest of the group came and we had a lunch of fish and chips with mushy peas.  After lunch we had free time to wander around the little town and shop.  I think all the men, and many women, made beelines to golf shops to buy hats, shirts and anything else that said “St. Andrews” or “Old Course” on them.  The lady who wimped out with me let her husband go and shop for golf stuff while she and I browsed through several shops selling beautiful cashmere things and jewelry.

 

A street in the town of St. Andrews

It was on our bus ride back to the ship that the subject of “is it real or not” came up. Most of us have heard of the Stone of Scone (pronounced skoon).  It is an oblong block of red sandstone that weighs close to 350 pounds.  The Stone, whose alternative name is the Stone of Destiny, was used by the Scottish kings during their coronation until the late 13^thcentury.  During the coronation ceremony the king would actually sit on it.  The Stone was kept in Scone Abbey which is now in ruins.  During the first War of Scottish Independence Edward I of England seized the stone and took it to England where it remained until 1996 when it was returned to Scotland.  English kings and queens were crowned while sitting on the Stone itself until a wooden platform was added to the Coronation chair in the 17^th century.  The question of whether the stone is real or not arose with a legend that began to be told.  According to the legend when the monks in Scone Abbey learned that Edward was on his way to capture the stone they hid it and what they gave him was a fake stone, made of the same rock and the same in size, weight and shape.  No one knows for sure so it’s anyone’s guess if it’s the real thing or not.

 

The Stone of Scone - Is it the real thing or a 700 year old fake?

Just one more thing I wanted to mention.  This eastern part of Scotland is very different from the highlands I saw the other day.  As we drove along we passed through lush fields of canola and barley.  Can you guess what the barley is used for?  Of course, it’s used to make the scotch whiskey the country is famous for.

 

It was a nice and interesting day, but when I got back to the ship I was absolutely pooped.  I was quite achy too; I think because of the cold and wind.  I cleaned up a little and had a quick dinner by myself and then turned in very early for me.  We have one sea day left in this leg of my cruise and most of the people I’ve met are getting off.  I do have some old friends boarding in Dover on the 16^th and it will be nice seeing them.  For now that’s all.

May 12 - At Sea somewhere north of Cape Wrath, Scotland

I’ve been AWOL for the last few days so I’ll try to catch up this afternoon.  Sometime after we left the Isle of Bute on May 8 my lower back issues got much, much worse.  On the 9th we stopped in Greenock, the port for Glasgow, and I took the tour I’d booked which sounded like it was mostly driving and riding.  We stopped for a look at Loch Lomond (maybe you know the song “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road” in which the singer will never meet his true love again on the “bonny, bonny shores of Loch Lomond”).  Anyway, it was a Saturday and there were lots of people on the shores enjoying a food market with vendors selling such traditional Scottish dishes like nachos, gyros, burgers, and satays.  I didn’t see a single one selling anything I thought sounded Scottish.  I got a little glimpse of one end of Loch Lomond.  There was a path to a promontory overlook, but no way was my back going to let me do that. I’ve taken one from online that is much better than my little glimpse.

The good photo of Loch Lomond

This is what I saw of the Loch

We moved onward to a scotch distillery for a tasting (I don’t even like scotch, but the tour sounded easy).  Just as we arrived at the distillery, which by the way is owned by Suntory, a Japanese company, the skies opened for a good old-fashioned downpour.  The bus couldn’t park near the entrance which was down a steep slope, so I stayed on the bus.  As it turns out I had a lovely time talking with, and learning a lot, about Scottish politics and the relationships among the countries which form the United Kingdom from Jamie and Jerry the tour guide and bus driver.  Let me tell you, it may be called a “United Kingdom” but there are apparently lots of undercurrents and fractures beneath the surface.  Reminds me of another country I know whose initials start with U and end with A.

When we returned to the ship I was really feeling very sore.  I had dinner with some friends and then skipped the show and turned in early for me. Sunday we arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  I’ve been there before and so I had booked what I thought would be another easy tour without a lot of walking.  I was supposed to visit Hillsborough Castle outside of the city.  It’s the royal residence when the monarch visits Belfast. When I woke up, I felt as though someone had cut off three or four inches from my hamstring in the back of my thigh and I just couldn’t face a tour.  I called the spa and managed to get an appointment for a hot stone massage; several friends had said that might help.

I hadn’t had a massage in many years because they’re just not my thing.  Well, the massage felt pretty good, but it did absolutely nothing to improve my back and leg pain.  It did cost me nearly $350, and the masseuse tried to sell me juniper cream, a gait analysis, acupuncture and advised me to come back in two days for another $350 massage.  I told her I’d think about it.  (I’ve thought about it and I won’t be going back.) I did go to play trivia and one of my teammates who used to be in a ski patrol gave me some Advil (I only had Tylenol which isn’t an anti-inflammatory).  By the end of trivia, the Advil had kicked in and I was feeling so much better.  I still had some twinges, but nowhere near as bad.

That brings me to yesterday the 11th.  We anchored in Oban, Scotland.  I had a tour booked called “Scottish Highlands and Glencoe.”  I decided to try it, but first I went ashore early to find some Advil of my own which I did in a local chemist shop (that’s a pharmacy here in the UK).  I had extra time so I wandered into a seafood restaurant for a Scottish lunch.  I chose wisely because it felt like I’d died and gone to food heaven!  They had local oysters on the half-shell and I ordered them followed by some traditional fish and chips.  If I’d known how big the oysters were I would have skipped the fish and chips.  These were mega-oysters and they were so good!.  The fish and chips were great too, but I couldn’t do them justice.

The waterfront in Oban

The Ee-Usk Restaurant in Oban

Look at these oysters!

and how about these fish and chips?

Oban, Scotland is a fishing and vacation town on the Firth of Lorn in the Argyll council area of Scotland.  Perched atop the hill above the town is one of the more interesting sights, McCaig’s Tower (AKA McCaig’s Folly).  John Stuart McCaig was a wealthy banker in the 19th century. He wanted to build a lasting memorial to his family while at the same time providing work for the stonemasons in the area in the winter months.  He also was in love with Roman architecture.  So he commissioned what was to be a large tower which would incorporate a museum and gallery inside.  He was his own architect and he spent the equivalent of about $1 million on it before his untimely death of a heart attack.  The only part completed is the outer shell of the tower which bears an uncanny resemblance to the walls of a Roman colosseum perched on the hill above a Scottish fishing village. It definitely is a lasting memorial to him, but not for the reasons he wanted it to be.

McCaig's Folly

After lunch I boarded my tour bus for the trip to the Highlands. Our drive took us inland to the western Scottish highlands.  The area is one with very dramatic mountains and lochs (lakes) which are very sparsely populated.  There are forested areas, but those are primarily planted for the timber industry.  For the most part the mountains are covered with sparse grass, not at all lush and green as in Ireland, lots of yellow gorse shrubs and many stones in the landscape.  Much of the terrain is actually peat bogs and not suitable for farming or even for grazing.  Therefore, while we saw some sheep, there really weren’t that many along the way.  What we did see were quite a few people walking along a highland trail.  The area is evidently a favorite place for people to go on hiking and walking trips.  In the distance we could see the last bit of snow on the northern slopes of the mountains.

A pretty church along a loch

These are a couple of the desolate highlands

That's mainly peat bog out there and not much will grow.

Glen Coe (Glen is a valley) is a valley carved by glaciers and the area is part of the Scottish National Heritage Trust.  It’s the home of Scottish mountaineering.  It’s also an area rich in Scottish history, famous for a massacre in 1692.  In the 17th century after the creation of the United Kingdom after Queen Elizabeth I’s death and the ascension to the throne of King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and following James I’s death, the country went through a complicated series of revolutions and rebellions which our guide explained to us but I’m not going to recount here.  I’ll just say that for a while there wasn’t a monarch; instead Oliver Cromwell ruled.  Then a monarchy was restored but one king left the country and the upshot was that two people wound up on the throne with names familiar to my part of the world, William and Mary.  Anyway, when that pair wound up on the throne everyone was required to swear an oath of allegiance to them.  Up here in the western highlands the MacDonald clan supposedly didn’t take the oath on a timely basis.  As the story goes, orders came from on high that every MacDonald was to be exterminated for that offense. Members of the Campbell clan were charged with that duty.  In the highlands when a stranger or traveler came through the custom was to offer them hospitality – lodging and food – and no harm was to be done to them. The story goes that the Campbells arrived and after a few days of the MacDonalds feeding and housing them, in the early morning of February 13, 1692 the evil Campbells massacred 38 men from the clan MacDonald and raped and murdered some of the women.  A few managed to escape across a mountain pass where they were then trapped for the rest of the winter by snows and avalanches.  The upshot is that in this part of Scotland there are still some places where signs are posted saying no Campbells will be welcome or served.

We stopped briefly at the Glen Coe visitor center where there are three films shown about the place.  Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see them.  (I should take this opportunity to say that the Seabourn Shore Excursion  department did a pretty poor job of planning and timing this particular excursion. Not enough time was allocated for what we were supposed to see and do.)  The visitor center had a nice viewing place of the mountains around the glen and the area around the building itself was covered with beautiful bluebell flowers.

I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of the bluebells. Take my word for it they were lovely.

Our ride back to Oban took us past another ruined castle with a story stemming from a little later.  Charles Stuart (Bonny Prince Charlie) had a claim to the throne and lost his bid at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 which ended any claims to the throne of the Scottish House of Stuart.  After the defeat a woman named Flora MacDonald helped to disguise the Prince as a maid and helped him to flee the country.  Flora was caught and arrested and imprisoned for a while in the ruined castle we passed. She was supposedly so charming that she was taken to London and freed. Eventually she married and emigrated to North Carolina. My tour got back very late and we were on the last tender back to the ship.

This isn't a ruined castle; it's actually one that has been bought, renovated and is lived in.  It's called the"Stalker Tower."

That brings me to today.  We were supposed to be in Ullapool, Scotland.  Unfortunately it is a tender port again and the seas and wind were going to prevent us from doing that so we’re having a sea day. Mind you that’s fine with me, but I think some of my shipmates weren’t happy.  The Cruise Director had to quickly come up with things to entertain us so there were lots of games.  My trivia team won (we’ve won three sets of cumulative games now and are getting dirty looks from other teams).  I played Name that Tune with the same people and we won again.  Out of 17 songs I only knew one so I’m really guilty of stolen glory.  As we were playing the Captain came on the PA to tell us we were sailing past the northernmost point of the British Island, a place called John O’Groats.  My English teammate Mark went out and took a photo which he sent me.  Evidently a popular fund-raising thing in the UK is to walk from John O’Groats at the tippy top in the northeast to Lands’ End down at the very furthest southwestern point in Cornwall.  He told me people can take 9 weeks to do it.

That's John O'Groats. If you zoom you can see the furthest north lighthouse.

So now I’m caught up.  If you’ve read all this you know more about Scottish history than you probably want or need to know. I write this stuff down because it helps me to think about what I’ve seen and done.  And who knows, one day a trivia question might be what is the northernmost point of Britain and maybe I’ll remember it, or maybe not.