Lighthouses Of Europe- Norway 2006 Pt 2

We spent our second day in Norway doing nothing connected to lighthouse- just walking around the small town of Olden and taking a short cruise on Lake Olden to get at least a distant look at the glacier.

We docked right in town this day- no tendering which is a royal pain.

We did not even see any lights on our way back out to sea this day. we docked the next morning right in the town of Bergen. This was a bit different from the other days in norway- this was a substantial sized city.

We took a tour of the area stopping for photo stops along the way. We stopped at the top of one of the many mountains surrounding the town.

We also made a stop at one of the remaining stave churches in Norway. These churches were built with almost no nails holding them together.



We also stopped at the home of Edward Grieg. It includes the small cottage that he used as his composing room and his grave as well. There are also a performance hall and museum at the site. We did not have enough time to enjoy this area.

The house reminds somewhat of Hereford Inlet and Point Fermin- without the lantern room.



These last two photos were taken by Esther on her camera which I bought about a week before we left. I wanted something that would fit in the pocket to use where a long zoom wasn't needed. It's a Casio EX-Z600. It's the size of a deck of cards with 6 megapixels and no viewfinder but a screen the sixe of the back of the camera that does not wash out even in bright sunlight.

It took great photos and was simple to use and literally fit in a shirt pocket.

We finished up our escursion doing a short walk around the Brygyn ares of Bergen. We then decided to stay in town and walk around some more and opted to take the shuttle bus back to the ship.

The multicolored buildings in this shot are part of the Brygyn and they are on the Unesco List of world Heritage sites. they date from the 1400's



We got back to the ship and I positioned myself up on deck to get some shots of at least one lighthouse that I hoped I'd get to see.

We got to see some of those small aids along the way out to sea. Here's another one that I was unable to get a name on.



I took some photos of one of the longest suspension bridges in Scandanavia as the cruise ship was coming up on it , going under it and after it had passed.

Here's one of the ship going under it. I was walking from the stern to the bow at this point.



We then went past another of the small aids just after the bridge. I was able to indentify and obtain a name for this one- Jona.



We continued on our way out to sea and we cruised past what looked like an oil platform being built.




There was a burning tower in the background near here as well. I believe it was burning off excess natural gas. The North Ses provides much of Norway's economy- oil and natural gas fields.

It looks a bit like the Olympic Flame or a giant Menorah to me.(no offense intended)

We continued out to sea and finally came upon the one lighthouse I thought I'd get to see.

Lorie had identified it as the Hellisoy Lighthouse and I thought she was wrong and it was the Slatterloy lighthouse. Upon further review she is correct. In my defense the lighthouses and the areas they are in are very similar. Those Norweigian names are greek to me and the website for the Norweigian lighthouses is a bit confusing.

I got a number of good shots here. Here's a few of them.





















This brought us to the open sea and we cruised overnight and all the next day on our way to Copenhagen.

We got some distance shots of some Danish Lighthouses and even some Swedish ones on this part of the trip. Continue on to lighthouses of Denmark & Sweden for those.

Dennis

Very cool looking church. The four outcroppings (for a lack of a better name) are very interesting looking. Amaazing that the churches were built with almost no nails. The house and the Brygyn are also very interesting looking.

You and Esther sure had quite the adventure!

The stave church ahs a very asian look to it to my eyes.

I'm not sure why the no nails construction- maybe metals were harder to come by. thye had plenty of wood.

This particular church is actually a replica of a real one. The church was bought by a wealthy businessman in Bergen and moved from it's original spot. It took 2 weeks to dismantle and 7 years to rebuild in Bergen.

It burned down about 30 years ago and was rebuilt entirly from photos of the original taken by the businessman. It took only 3 years to rebuild.

The trip was great- even if it was way too hot for my taste just about everywhere we went and my attire on the ship was often not of my liking.

Esther enjoyed it a bit more than I did. Her favorite country was Norway. It's a tossup between Norway and rural Ireland for me. I did not like Dublin as much as the small towns of Kinsale, Blarney and Donaghadee.

Eshter's only complaint was that I didn't want to do all the things she did- we going to fix that for our trip next year. We're going to probably go back to Ireland with my brother and his wife so that everybody will be happier.


Dennis

So Dennis...are you saying I was correct in my first guess of the lighthouse?

I do have to agree with you that it tends to be a bit difficult trying to identify lighthouses when they look similar. I had the same problem while I was cruising through Canada...they all looked red and white.

Lorie,

Yep that's what I'm saying. I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong- it happens so infrequently.

I haven't been to any lights in Canada yet but I'll agree with you on them- especially in the Maratimes- based on photos I've senn of the lighthouses of Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland.

Dennis