Norwegian Fjords to Hellesylt, Norway

We needed a sea day to recover from our 18-mile walking day in Copenhagen--and we got it. We slept in and didn't set the alarm clock. While staying in an inside cruise cabin, there's no morning light to wake you up! Even though we got out to eat meals, Mark spent most of the day resting. Did we wear him out in Copenhagen? Denisa went to all the usual at-sea activities--the cooking demonstration, the fruit carving, the Norwegian language class, the latin line dance. She hoped that Mark was feeling better for the next day's entry into Norway!

Mark was still tired, but he was up early the next morning because our ship was scheduled to enter the Norwegian fjords early. We had breakfast on the back deck to get the best views.

A fjord is a long, deep, and narrow channel that was carved from massive glaciers.

We didn't have ideal weather, as the clouds hung over the top of the mountains on both sides of our ship. These fjords are basically u-shaped valleys surrounded by steep mountains and filled with water.

Of all the cruises we could have chosen in Europe this summer, we chose this one because it cruised up the fjords instead of just stopping at ports on the coastal edge of Norway. We also chose this cruise because it won't be available much longer. The country of Norway recently passed a law that will only permit zero-emissions ships into the fjords after 2025. Because that will exclude most cruise ships, it seemed like 2024 was the perfect time to cruise the fjords of Norway.

We spent most of the morning circling the decks. We saw little houses perched at the water edge in the picture above. There were no roads going over that mountain to that little white house that must depend on boat travel. We also saw fish farms not far from our ship as the channel narrowed.

We were hoping for some better weather, as a little blue sky peaked out from the clouds, and a few rays of sunshine hit the water.

We were cruising up one of the most famous fjords in the world. This is Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO world heritage site known for its steep cliffs and clear water.

That's why we took too many pictures this morning of this once-in-a-lifetime journey. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

As it got later in the day, more of our fellow cruisers showed up to watch the spectacular scenery pass by.

The captain made an announcement in the middle of all this beauty that we would be delayed in our arrival to our destination of the day--the tiny village of Hellesylt. We had to wait until another ship passed by before we could enter a narrower part of the fjord. Seeing that huge cruise ship dwarfed by the mountains of the fjord helped to give some scale to the grandeur around us.

Since our time in the port would be shorter than planned, we were rethinking our options for the day. We wanted to take a well-reviewed hike, but now we needed to do it faster. If we could get a ride to the trail head, that would speed us up. So Mark used google translate to get the question we would need to ask a driver in Norwegian when we arrived:

It was only a 4.5 kilometers ride (less than 3 miles), but the uber web site said it would cost $55 for a one-way trip. Ouch! We knew they used on-demand pricing, and when 6,000 passengers arrive in a tiny village in the middle of no where, demand (and pricing) goes way up! So we went to Plan B, which started with a nice walk around the village. From the bridge we could see the town's waterfall as water rushed down the mountains. 

From that same bridge, we could also see our ship.

We walked a little further for a lovely view of the roaring waterfall and summer flowers and the white church on the hill.

Even though he wasn't feeling 100%, Mark still walked all the way to the edge of the waterfall . . .

and then all the way up to that little white church.

We had to take a picture of the RV park that seemed to be right at the nose of our ship. We were seeing evidence that RVing is a great way to explore Norway.

Even with his flu-like symptoms, Mark couldn't stop himself from exploring Norway. We decided against the hike three miles from town, and opted for one we could walk to easily.

Even though this hike was shorter, it was not necessarily easier. We were at the bottom of a mountain, and we were heading straight up the Asenakhen Trail. Trails in Norway are graded as green/blue/or red depending on their elevation gain and length. This one was a medium blue trail.

We went up and then down to our first view point  at a little log cabin at the edge of the fjord. The shingles have long ago been encrusted in plants.

Mark doesn't usually need to lay down during a hike, but this was one hint that he wasn't feeling well today.

After a little rest, we went further and then took another little rest.

We kept climbing up to get more and better views up the Geirangerfjord.

We were glad to see that blueberries also grow wild in Norway.

When we got to the top of the hike, we were greeted with an old rock wall. Along the way we also passed signs for places that had hard-to-spell Norwegian names like Oykjellhammaren and Laypesvodene and Nesevegan. We have no idea how to pronounce them, and we feel a little sorry for Norwegian school children that have to learn to spell such long local words in their language.

The picnic table says we have made it to Asen--the peak of the Asenakhen Trail. Mark can still smile when he doesn't feel well when he's in such a beautiful place.

From here, the hike was all downhill, as we looked over the green meadows and tall mountains that surrounded us.

Old barns and houses spotted the landscape, as we walked down a gravel road in our circle back to town.

Even though we kept the clouds, we were blessed with some peeks of blue sky above the peaks.

We passed a herd of cows, fattened up from the thick grass on the mountain. It rains here almost daily, so we were lucky to stay dry on this walk.

When we walked back to town, Mark was ready to go back to the room. On this day when we were going to take it easy, we still walked eleven miles. Denisa knew he didn't feel well when he went back to the ship early. Denisa stayed in town to do a little more exploring and shopping. She took a picture of Norway's mascot--the troll.

Her only purchases were two different kinds of cough drops from the two little convenience/grocery stores in this village. She had a little cough that started yesterday. What's going on with that? As she walked back to the ship, the clearest skies of the day showcased the Norwegian fjords and our day in Hellesylt, Norway. We've been blessed!

How many miles did we walk in Copenhagen, Denmark?

It was our first full day on our seven day cruise, and we were excited about our first port. Welcome to Denmark! How many miles do you think we would walk in Copenhagen? (After you've made your prediction, keep reading to see if you're correct.) We docked at the cruise terminal outside of the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, and had done some homework on how to see the most possible in our ten hours in port. We walked off the ship and walked to the nearest bus stop. Denmark is not part of the European Union, so our Euros were almost worthless this day. But unlike some other passengers that tried to pay the bus driver in Euros, we knew to go to the automated kiosk to use our international credit card to buy a two-zone bus ticket for 24 DKK (Danish Krone) for the ride into the city. That's about $3.50 in U.S. Dollars. We also knew to let the bus driver know that we needed to get off at the stop closest to the metro station, and that our two-zone ticket would be good for the next two hours in Copenhagen. Traveling on the cheap in foreign countries takes some homework! But that got us to our first landmark at 9:20 a.m., when most other passengers were still eating breakfast on the ship. We recognized the green roof of Saint Frederick's Church. It's hard to understand how big this church is until you see Denisa standing on the steps.

The church's door points right down the pedestrian walkway . . .

to our first royal palace of the day. The historical sites of Copenhagen were not yet open, and the crowds hadn't arrived. We had the plaza in front of the Amalienborg Palace all to ourselves on this Sunday morning.

While few people were out and about, the royal palace guards were out patrolling. They marked their stiff steps up and down that sidewalk. You can be sure that this plaza will be crowded at 12:00 noon for the changing of the guard ceremony.

This is where King Frederik X lives. He was crowned king in January 2024, a part of the Danish Royal family that has been in power for the last 1,000 years. We could guarantee that other tourists wouldn't get this clear view of Amalienborg palace once the other 6,000 passengers found their way off our ship. 

Our next destination was the most photographed place in Copenhagen--Nyhaven.

This colorful row of townhouses from the 17th century, and the wooden boats that dock here, made for some iconic photographs. Nyhaven is famous for the number of pictures taken. Even though we're only posting two, you can be sure that we took many more.

The North Sea comes inland in the canals that thread their way through Copenhagen. We enjoyed our walk along the water, punctuated with colorful flower pots.

They were also punctuated with sitting areas, and play things. These trampolines imbedded in the walkway made for a little jump in our steps.

While Nyhaven is known for its colorful houses, that certainly wasn't the only place we saw them. This was a very clean city, that was also very walkable. (Do you still remember your guess for how far we walked this day?)

We crossed one of the main canals to get to the Christianshaven district of Copenhagen.

Our first stop was Our Saviour's Church, famous for its climbable tower.

We could see the rails that keep climbers on track as they climb the 400 steps of the staircase. The last 150 steps were outside, with great views of Copenhagen. It was rather windy that day, and we found the "staircase to heaven" was closed because of the weather.

Because of Sunday morning services, we weren't able to peak inside the church either. We had to settle for a picture standing outside instead.

Our main reason to make the walk to this eastern district was to see Freetown Christiania. Once an assortment of abandoned army barracks, this section of the city was taken over by a group of free-thinkers that consider themselves above the laws of Denmark.

Signs were posted around the compound explaining that they are a "self-governing community in which everyone is free to develope and express their selves as responsible members of the community." They consider themselves their own country. Their sign also explains that they don't allow private cars, violence, hard drugs, or guns. But they do allow marijuana, which is illegal in Denmark.

They also allowed all those ugly military buildings to be transformed into works of art.

We also went looking for a forgotten troll. We have been a fan of the Danish artist, Thomas Dambo, who has built these unique wooden statues from recycled materials at 100 locations all over the world. We have caught up with several of his giants in North America. Being from Denmark, we found that he has built six giants in his home country. Perhaps we'll get to find another troll on our walking tour today?

We crossed the wide canal to get back to the historic central city district. At the very center of Copenhagen is Christiansborg Palace and the parliament building, and this row of granite balls to protect the pedestrian area.

The guards were off duty, so Mark tried out one of their guard shacks for size. As we walked through the breezeway on the left, we noticed a line forming for "the view." We didn't know what that meant, but the price was right--it was free. 

We had great timing, as the line got long behind us. We were in the next group that was escorted through the security screening, up two elevators, and up several flights of stairs. That brought us to the best view in Copenhagen. From here we could zoom in on the church where we started our walk, and our ship docked in the far harbor.

In fact, we could see all of Copenhagen! The 360-degree platform had photos on the balcony that labeled the city's landmarks for us.

Back on the ground, We could see the tower that we had just climbed up high in the air. That wasn't on our list of things to do today, but sometimes we find opportunities we didn't even know existed.

This city was full of statues and beautiful spires reaching into the air.

It's also full of narrow two-way streets that are barely wide enough for one car. A few brave souls will drive to work in this city.

But more than half of these residents ride bikes to work.

The next stop on Denisa's list was the stork statue that marks the entrance of Stroget. This is the longest shopping street in Europe, and people were out window shopping on this Sunday afternoon.

We're searching for a cross to buy in Denmark, so we stopped in at several churches. We typed into google translate the phrase "Do you know where we could buy a cross to hang on our wall?" Even though we showed our Danish phrase translation to several people, we never found a cross in Denmark. We considered buying a Danish flag to hang sideways--that would be a white cross on a red background.

The Copenhagen Cathedral was beautiful, and very quiet on a Sunday afternoon.

We stopped in at the Rundtaam, where the line was very long. It was tempting to wait in that line and pay the money to walk the ramp that winds its way all the way to the top. There were no stairs in this tower because the king used to ride his horse to the top.

The blue skies were clouding up as we made our way through Kogen's Haven (King's Garden). Are you still remembering your prediction of how many miles we walked today?

That garden path led us to our third palace of the day--Rosenburg Castle. This is the home of the crown jewels, that were heavily guarded.

We got our picture at the the entrance of Rosenburg, just as the sprinkles started.

Those sprinkles turned into rain, and we were glad that we brought our rain jackets. We kept walking in the rain, because we have many more miles and many more sights to see.

The middle of a rain storm was a good time to slip into the Logkagenhuset Bakery for something sweet. While on a cruise, we eat a big breakfast so we don't have to waste time and money on a midday meal. But we love to try the local desserts. We had to try a Danish danish in Denmark! It wasn't until we looked at the picture later that we realized our vanilla creme danish looked a little like a fried egg.

The showers cleared up as quickly as they started. We took this lovely picture of the flowers and grand statue in Kongen's Nytorv (King's New Square).

Then the skies opened up, and we ran for cover under a tree nearby. Those are the same flowers and the same statue in the same plaza just a few minutes apart.

Once the rain cleared (again) we headed towards the Kastellet, the old military fort on the edge of Copenhagen.

If we could fly over the fort, we could have seen the outline of the old fort with its five points. But walking across the fort, the best way to see the overall shape was on the man-hole covers on the ground.

We could also see the shape of the outside slanted grass walls. It was more like a walk in the park instead of a fort.

We got caught in yet another downpour on our way to one of the points farthest away. We had to make the walk to see the Kastel-Mollen (windmill) on the west point of the fort. We were not seeing lighthouses on this trip, so Denisa adopted windmill watching as her new past time.

We once again had beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds for a picture with St. Albens Church steeple in the background.

It's a pastoral experience in the middle of an old military fort when you catch a family of swans floating on the lily-covered pond beside the church.

We kept walking until we got up close to the church we had been admiring from the distance.

We walked right in and were treated to a rehearsal session. The church choir was practicing for the even-song performance that evening. This is the only Episcopal church in Denmark, and it was consecrated here in 1887.

Right outside the church was another relic from the 1800's--the Gefion Fountain. 

When making a list of "must-see" things in Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid was the most controversial. Some lists put it as the #1 thing, while others suggest skipping it. We had to see it for ourselves. Every tour bus will make a stop here, and we saw one of the biggest crowds of the day admiring the Little Mermaid.

Even with the crowd, it was easy to walk over the uneven rocks to get a closer picture. The Little Mermaid was the star character of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, a resident of Copenhagen. The statue was small, and we certainly saw more impressive statues at other locations today.

It's at this point that we had a decision to make. We could walk one kilometer back to the metro station where we got off this morning, buy a bus ticket, and ride back to our ship. Or we could walk 2.7 kilometers back towards the ship. The second option would allow us to find a second troll on our way to the ship. We've already been on our legs all day, and foolishly we picked the second option. Our tired legs walked through a residential area and then industrial Copenhagen. Google maps had the location of the troll incorrect. This was what we saw through a fence where google thought it was.

We were glad we ran into another group of troll-hunters, who pointed out this easy-to-miss opening alongside this graffiti-filled fence.

By walking through the muddy field, we finally found our second troll of the day.

Captain Bob was pulling a boat through that pasture hidden behind that fence.

Even though we could see the ship, we found that we couldn't get there easily. An eight-foot fence blocked our way, so we had to back track all the way back. That cost us another couple miles. Our legs were dead tired! But we had a ship to catch and we had to keep moving. Do you remember your estimate of how many miles we would walk in Copenhagen, Denmark? When we checked our phones, we realized that we had walked almost 18 miles this day! The ten flights of stairs to our room were hard, but we never take the elevator on a cruise. We were hungry from all that exercise, but it was all we could do to walk to the 6:00 dinner and the 7:30 show on the ship. Kudos to anyone who guessed close to our mileage in Denmark, because we would have never guessed that we would walk that far!