Scenic Scandinavia & its Fjords ~ 2007 ~ GaryB

The Scenic Scandinavia and its Fjords tour was excellent. The scenery was stunning. I did this tour in combination with the Best of Finland Russia and the Baltic States. I have already posted a tale for that tour.

The tour director was Amanda who was British. She was excellent in all respects. Our driver was Carlos who was Dutch. He safely drove us on all those winding Norwegian roads with care.

Everyone in Scandinavia speaks English fluently and happily does so. It was easy to tell that we were visiting some very wealthy countries. It wasn’t as expensive as I was expecting. The only thing that is excessively so is alcohol.

The following optionals were offered:

Copenhagen North Zealand Riviera and Castle Tour

Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens and Dinner

Stavanger Lysefjord cruise to Pulpit Rock

Bergen Trollhaugen, home of Edvard Grieg

Leikanger Mountain Farm

Leikanger Full day excursion to Jostedal Glacier

Geiranger Eagles Road and Zacharias Dam

Lillehammer Treasures of Lillehammer

Oslo Special Highlights

Stockholm Kaknas Tower & dinner

Stockholm Drottningholm Palace and Vasa Ship

The total cost for all of them was 475 Euros

I participated in all of the optionals and enjoyed them. Most of them were outstanding especially the North Zealand Riviera/Castle Tour, Lysefjord cruise to Pulpit Rock and Drottningholm Palace/Vasa Ship

There were 46 on this tour, 21 from America, 2 Canada, 11 Australia, 6 England, 3 South Africa and 3 New Zealand. There were many couples and 2 families. Also there were several singles travelling individually as well as with friends. As I said in my other tour tale there were five of us that were on both tours.

The flight arrived at 1:30pm. Soon I had collected my luggage and made it to the meeting point. Amanda was there and suggested we get some Danish money from the ATM and meet the coach outside the terminal building. There was plenty of time as the departure was 3pm so I decided to buy something to eat.

We soon arrived at the Copenhagen Island Hotel. It is a new hotel and overlooks the river in a newly developed area that is a short drive out of the city centre.

6:00pm Welcome drink and dinner.

We sat in the restaurant and later enjoyed a dinner together. Afterwards I went for a walk along the riverfront near the hotel. 

6:30am Wake up

7:00am Breakfast

8:00am Copenhagen Sightseeing

Our first photo stop was at Nyhavn. It is a canal lined with colourful houses and translates as “new harbour”. In the days of Hans Christian Andersen it used to be a seedy district but it is now full of cafes and restaurants. Of course when we visited it during the morning it was very quiet. Next we went to the Amalienborg Palace complex which is in fact four palaces facing each other. It is the Copenhagen home to various members of the royal family. Here in the Denmark the palace guards will talk to you while carrying out their duties. We now travelled to the Little Mermaid for a photo stop. There were not too many tourists around so we had nice views of her and the harbour. We finished our sightseeing tour with a walk along parts of Stroget, which is the main pedestrian shopping street. We also ventured into some side streets and squares.

10:15am Optional North Zealand Riviera and Castle Tour

We passed Nyhavn and continued out into the suburbs with nice views of the port, marina and soon the coastline. There were large houses including some thatched cottages. We passed Karen Blixen’s house. She is the famous Danish author who wrote “Out of Africa”. We soon arrived at Fredensborg Castle. This is the country home of the Queen. We walked around the gardens and also saw where the Crown Prince and Princess live. I later bought lunch in a café in the nearby village centre.

Visit to Frederiksborg Castle

We saw inside many rooms of varying sizes including various drawing rooms, Knights Hall and the Coronation Chapel. We had time to walk out in the Baroque gardens. After arriving back at the hotel there was time to visit the adjacent shopping mall.

5:50pm Optional Dinner and Tivoli Gardens

We drove into the centre of Copenhagen to Froken Nielsen restaurant for a wonderful dinner of prawns, salmon or pork and rice pudding with almonds.

8:00pm Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli opened in 1843 and has become a grand amusement park. It has the usual variation of rides from the gentle to the most daring of roller coasters. However it is the historic buildings in traditional Danish architecture and a Chinese pagoda lit up at night that creates its unique atmosphere. It was lovely to walk around and see the attractions. 

7:00am Wake up

7:30am Breakfast

8:30am Departure

We were soon onto the motorway and out into rural Denmark. We crossed two massive bridges over the Storbelt to the island of Funen. The first bridge brought us to a man made island. These bridges are a huge engineering feat. We had our morning stop at a highway complex just after crossing the two bridges.

11:00am Lunch stop at Odense

Amanda pointed out the location of the local attractions and walked us to Hans Christian Andersen’s house. Firstly we saw a fairy tale performance outside in the garden. Afterwards I went inside and looked around the house and the attached complex that had displays about him. I next walked into the city centre and visited the main cathedral. I bought a sandwich and drink from a bakery.

We were on the road again to the Jutland Peninsula crossing over another large bridge. We saw a few windmills used for power generation. There was an afternoon highway stop at Godina.

At 4:30pm we arrived at our hotel in Aalborg, Hotel Radisson SAS Limfjord. My room has a nice view of the fjord and the bridge across it.

Aalborg sightseeing

There was no tour but Amanda had some suggested where we could visit and of course the hotel had maps for our use. I walked around the pedestrian shopping area and also saw the Budolfi Domkirke, Helligandsklostret Convent, Vor Frue Kirke and Jomfru Ane Gade. The churches were not open so I visited them in the morning.

After the included dinner I had a brief walk again through some of the streets including walking onto the bridge going across the fjord. The middle section of this bridge lifts to allow boats to pass.

There was no wake up call this morning

09:15am suitcases, breakfast anytime after 7am

10:15am Depart Aalborg

I walked around Aalborg this morning with others from the tour. We visited some of the attractions we saw yesterday. This time they were open so we could go inside. These included the convent monastery cloister, Aalborghus Castle, Budolfi Domkirke and Vor Frue Kirke.

We drove across the bridge over the fjord and into the Danish countryside. It was an easy drive to the port of Hirtshals.

12:30-3:00pm Hirtshals to Kristiansand on the ferry Silvia Ana.

This stretch of water is called the Skagerrak. The seas were a bit choppy and I always feel better in the fresh air out on deck. It was a long drive from Kristiansand to Stavanger but we made a comfort stop on the way and of course we had all the wonderful Norwegian scenery to see from the coach.

At 7:15pm we arrived at Hotel Clarion in Stavanger and put our hand luggage in our rooms, then went straight to the restaurant for our included dinner.

There was no wake up call and we could go for breakfast anytime. We had free time until the fjord cruise at 11:30am. Amanda had given us detailed instructions on where to find the boat.

We walked down to the harbour then along to “Gamle Stavanger” which is a couple of streets of 19th century white wooden houses. Afterwards we went up to the old fire lookout tower with great views over the city and harbour.

Oil Museum

Norway’s economy has thrived partly due to North Sea oil and Stavanger is the base for this industry. The museum has excellent displays, movies, set ups of oil rigs and pictures highlighting oil exploration.

Lysefjord cruise to Pulpit Rock

It was a fine clear day so we had fantastic views of the fjord. We sailed under a bridge as we left Stavanger. The fjords gradually became more dramatic as we sailed on. We stopped and gave food to goats and then soon after we reached the Pulpit Rock. It is high up and we were not able to see anyone at the top.

The ferry dropped us off and Carlos was waiting with the coach to explore more Norwegian scenery by road. We later stopped at a Candle Factory and Souvenir shop at Byjedal. Amanda had a sample of a sweet Norwegian delicacy for us to taste. Outside the shop there were goats in a pen to feed and also a troll and Billy goats gruff display. On the way back to Stavanger we had a photo stop at Gloppedalsura to see its large rock formations.

There was no included dinner tonight so some of us walked to the city centre to find a restaurant for dinner. Being Norway, fish featured strongly on the menu so I decided on salmon. Later we walked back past the Oil museum and the harbour front to the hotel.

6:15am Wake up

6:45am suitcases/breakfast

7:45am Departure.

We island hopped this morning over bridges, through tunnels under the fjords and three ferry crossings. One of those tunnels was six kilometres long and went down 133 metres. We arrived in Bergen at midday and Amanda proceeded to point out the main tourist attractions including main cathedral, fish markets, fortress and Floyen funicular station.

We went sightseeing firstly to the fish markets and then onto Bryggen. This is a row of warehouses that highlights Bergen’s hanseatic heritage. Next we visited St Mary’s church, Bergenhus fortress, Haakon’s Hall and the Hanseatic Museum. The fortress has excellent views of the city and harbour.

3:30pm Optional visit to Trollhaugen, home of Edvard Grieg

The guided tour of his home showed us interesting aspects of his life, family and music. Afterwards we walked down to see the hut where he composed his music and then onto the lakefront where his grave is located. Finally there was time to browse the souvenir shop.

On arrival back in Bergen we got on the funicular up Floyen for fantastic views of the city. The sun was shining brightly and it was wonderful to see such views. There were walking tracks you could take. You could see a couple of cruise ships departing.

7:00pm Included dinner

Afterwards a few of us wandered around Bergen looking into souvenir shops that were open and enjoying the sights.

7:30am Wake up

8:00am suitcases/breakfast

9:00am Departure

Our first stop this morning was in Voss. We had an hour to see the town before catching the train to Myrdal. After lunch we travelled on the scenic Flam railway. Wow what spectacular views we had. The train had a photo stop at the Kjosfoss waterfall. At Flam we rejoined the coach and travelled through the Laerdal Tunnel. At 24 kilometres it is the longest road tunnel in the world. Later we took a ferry across Sognefjord and arrived at our hotel in Leikanger.

Optional Mountain Farm

We visited a Norwegian farm on a hill behind the town. There were some old Viking mounds and we had views over the fjord. Later we had Norwegian cake and wine in their rustic function room.

After the included dinner I went for a walk along waterfront. The scenery was incredible and what a special location.

7:00am Wake up and breakfast

8:30am Optional full day excursion to Jostedal Glacier

Unfortunately we had low cloud and some light rain today. Nevertheless there were still nice views of the fjords and rivers as we headed for the glacier. After making a comfort stop at the Glacier Centre complex, the coach then drove up to the glacier lake. From here we took a boat across the lake to the glacier face. Even though the weather wasn’t the best the views were still stunning. From here we had the chance to walk up closer towards the glacier.

Later we had an included lunch at the Glacier Centre and free time to look at the displays and to wander around its vicinity. We arrived back at Leikanger at 3:45pm. I went for walk and later had a swim in the hotel’s indoor pool.

7:00pm Included dinner

6:15am Wake up

6:45am suitcases/breakfast

7:45am Depart

Today dawned fine and sunny so we had wonderful views on our journey to Geiranger. We had stops in the towns of Skei and Stryn and also a few photo stops. The road down to Geiranger has hairpin bends and sheer drops with spectacular views.

1:00pm Arrived in Geiranger

We were staying in the Hotel Geiranger. We had time to buy our lunch in the village and go for a walk around.

2pm Optional Eagles Road and Zacharias Dam

We drove up over the mountain with more hairpin bends and sheer drops down. There was a photo stop with Geiranger and fjord views before taking the ferry across Norddals fjord from Eidsdal to Linge. We continued to Tafjord and the Zacharias Dam. Here we had time for a walk on the dam before Amanda gave us a sample of aquavit. It is distilled from potato and is about 40 percent alcohol and flavoured with caraway seeds. We continued in a very happy mood to the Linge ferry terminal and back to Geiranger.

7:00pm Included Dinner

Afterwards a group of us went up to the hotel lounge to chat and look out at the view of the fjord. Then we went for a walk around the waterfront.

6:30am Wake up

7:00am suitcases/breakfast

8:00am Departure

We travelled up over the mountain again with the hairpin bends and sheer drops down. Soon the landscape changed to less dramatic with rivers and lakes.

Lom

Firstly we had time to wander into the town centre before we had a guided tour of the unique Stave church. These wooden Norwegian churches are pieced together without nails. Later we had our lunch stop in Kvam before arriving in Lillehammer

3pm Optional Treasures of Lillehammer

Firstly we visited Maihaugen Folklore museum and had a guided tour through some of the old buildings including the Garmo stave church. There are also more modern Norwegian buildings including a street of houses from differing eras. Next we went to the Olympic ski slope and had a chairlift ride up. There were spectacular views at the top.

Before our included dinner I had a swim in the hotel indoor pool. Later I walked down to the Storgata shopping precinct and the lakefront.

6:30am Wake up

7:00am suitcases/breakfast

8:00am departure.

We had a photo stop at Hamar to view Olympic Arena and later had a highway morning stop.

At 11am we arrived at Oslo Radhus (town hall) with free time until 1pm. I walked on to the Akersus fortress where I saw the Royal tombs, chapel, Christian V1 Hall, Dining Room, Romeriks Hall and Olav’s Hall. Back at the Radhus I had a brief look inside the main hall before walking up to Karl Johan Gate, which is the main shopping street.

1:00pm Oslo sightseeing tour

We drove along Karl Johan Gate and passed the Royal Palace out to Vigeland Park. It is named after the sculptor and has about two hundred sculptures depicting humanity in all its forms. They are very unique and interesting to view.

Optional Oslo Special Highlights

At the Viking Ship Museum we saw ships dating back to the 9th century. There were also interesting displays of other Viking treasures. You could walk upstairs to a mezzanine gallery to get excellent views of the ships. Next at the Fram Museum we saw the ship used in several polar expeditions. It is huge and was specially designed to handle the ice. Finally at the Kontiki Museum we saw the raft that Thor Heyerdahl sailed on in his journey from Peru to Polynesia. These were three wonderful museums that I definitely could have spent longer at.

This evening was free with no included dinner. I went with some others from the tour to the Royal Palace and wandered around the gardens. Later we walked down Karl Johan Gate to the city centre and had a Chinese meal at a food hall. We wandered down towards Parliament and then back to the hotel. 

6:15am Wake up

6:45am suitcases/breakfast

7:45am Departure

We stopped at the Norway-Sweden border to use the just money change. We had our morning stop in Karlstad and later had views of Lake Vanern.

Orebro lunch stop

I walked over to see the castle and later went to the town square and visited St Nicolai Church. Afterwards I wandered through the pedestrian shopping centre and bought lunch.

On our journey to Stockholm, Amanda played some of Abba’s music for us. At 4:30pm we arrived at Hotel Birger Jarl. I made use of the opportunity to send free emails.

6pm Optional Kaknas Tower & dinner

We drove along Strandvagen with views of the harbour and Djurgarden Island through the embassy area to the tower. There were fantastic views of the city and we could see a few departing cruise ships going through the Stockholm Archipelago. Afterwards we had dinner at the Solnadal Vertshuset Restaurant, which is an old 18th century coach house.

6:30am Wake up

7:00am breakfast/suitcases

8:00am Stockholm sightseeing

We began with a tour of the Stadshuset (City Hall), which included the stunning Blue Hall and Golden Room. It is here the Nobel Prize ceremonies are held. After some free time we had a photo stop from a viewpoint overlooking the harbour and city.

Optional tour of Drottningholm Palace and Vasa Ship

At Drottningholm Palace we had a full tour of the State Apartments. The Swedish Royal Family lives in a separate wing of the palace. Later we had some free time to wander in the gardens or go into the souvenir shop. We then drove back into the city to the Vasa Ship museum. It is absolutely awesome. The ship capsized on its maiden voyage in the harbour and lay there for centuries before being refloated and restored. 

2:30pm free time

We were dropped off at Sergels Torg Square in the centre of Stockholm. After some lunch we walked along the pedestrian Drottninggartan to Gamla Stan (the old town).

We decided to do a self guided tour of Royal Palace State Apartments and also visited the palace garden, the Treasury and Museum of Antiquities.

Later we went for a visit inside Storkyrkan church. It is a lovely old church with nice treasures and paintings. We then took time just wander around some of the other streets and lanes of Gamla Stan. We also saw the 6pm changing of guard at the Royal Palace. To finish off our visit to Stockholm we had dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel.

6:45 Wake up

7:00am breakfast

7:15am suitcases

8:15am Depart

We had our usual mid morning stop and later we passed an arm of the Baltic Sea. We saw views of the ruins of Brahehus Castle and travelled through Granna before our lunch stop at Brunstorp Wardshus. It had a restaurant and swimming pool complex overlooking the lake. We had our afternoon stop at Ljungby but I didn’t get off the bus as it was raining very heavily.

4:30-4:50pm Ferry to Helsingor in Denmark. We had views of Kronborg (Hamlets) castle as we were arriving back in Denmark.

At 6:00pm we arrived at our hotel in Copenhagen.

There was no farewell dinner so some of us went to Nyhavn. Along Stroget there were lots of street theatre and buskers. We got a taxi back to the hotel.

I got up early and said goodbye to the people going on the early transfer. I stayed in Copenhagen for two extra nights before flying home.

Today I went to the Kings Garden and made a visit to Rosenberg Palace. Later I walked in the Botanic Gardens and visited Vor Frue Kirke.

Canal/Harbour cruise. 

The cruise departed from Nyhavn and firstly went into the open harbour area with views of the Opera House, various naval boats and the Royal yacht. We also saw sculptures, the cruise terminal and the Little Mermaid. Now we went into a canal to see the Christianhavn area and later the Royal Library, Royal Arsenal and Christianborg Palace.

Monday

Today I took a bus into the suburbs to visit Grundtvigs Kirke. It is a modern Danish church with unique architecture. I came back into the centre of Copenhagen and had a guided tour of Christianborg Palace. This was an excellent tour of the State Apartments. Afterwards I walked along Storget to Amalienborg Palace and had a visit inside one of the palaces. I saw the Kings Study, library and various drawing rooms. I now went inside the nearby Marmorkirken. It is a huge domed church and very spectacular. I finished off the afternoon by walking along Storget.

Tuesday

I flew from Copenhagen to Singapore on Singapore airlines.

I had two nights there on a Singapore Airlines stopover package. I eventually arrived home in New Zealand, very tired but happy after a fantastic trip.