One of the advantages to being a crew member is the ability to escort shore excursions. The job of the tour escort is to guide the paying guests to the transportation off the ship (usually a bus), help count heads when leaving tour destinations, and enjoy what the tour has to offer while filling out a comment/rating sheet. That's it. In addition to the job being really easy, you get to go on tours for free. Nice!
I took the opportunity to escort a tour of Ålesund on our last visit. I wanted to get out of the port city and enjoy a little bit of the countryside and inland areas. As it turns out, there aren't very many inland areas of Norway to explore. I did get a chance to see and learn many different things about the town thanks to our tour guide, Aydin (like Haydn, the composer, but without the 'H'). Aydin is Turkish, but, moved to Ålesund in 1977. He speaks Turkish, Norwegian, and English and LOVES boogie-woogie rock and roll.
The town of Ålesund (3rd largest city in Norway, I believe) was re-formed by fire in 1904. A fire started in a canning factory and burned through most of the port city including setting fire to many fishing sailboats in the harbor. The fire extinguished due to lack of fuel - it had literally destroyed everything in it's path. There was only one casualty in the fire, one elderly woman who actually lived next to the fire station. She got out of her house safely in time to avoid the fire, but, went back inside (presumably for belongings) and never made it back. Ålesund reflects the devastation of the incident today in that the area of the town that burned is divided from the VERY small area that didn't by the design and architecture of the buildings. When the town was rebuilt, many architects moved to town and took the opportunity to design very modern structures, for example, complete with indoor plumbing. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but, in 1904 it was rare. Furthermore, the rebuilt area of town contain concrete buildings as wood buildings were banned after the fire. Ålesund was rebuilt in 3 years. Over 600 of 850 buildings had to be replaced.
Our first tour stop was at an aquarium near the shore. It's not exactly Sea World (although, maybe that's a good thing), but, the aquarium did have a lot to offer. Many fish indigenous to the waters of Norway could be viewed behind the glass in tanks. There were also a group of penguins living outside near the water's edge. Penguins are not found in Norway naturally, but, these animals seemed to be comfortable in their environment. The main attraction of the aquarium was the largest tank holding. I never got the exact dimensions of the tank, but, it is filled and refilled with over 10,000 liters of unfiltered sea water per minute. The water is sucked in through a pipe 450 meters out in the ocean. The tank was filled with hundreds of fish. Cod, halibut, wolf fish, and more. The 'glass' of the tank was actually acrylic plastic measuring 21 centimeters thick. The fish are fed twice a day by a diver with shrimp and pieces of smaller fish. I was lucky enough to be there during a feeding and got a few photos of the diver inside the tank. Very cool.
Our next stop was at a very old church on a nearby island. We travelled to the island by bus through an undersea tunnel. Many of the islands in Norway are connected this way. The church is over 900 years old and, I believe, is one of the oldest in Norway. I thought the best part of the church stop was checking out the 900+ year old marble outside. Scratched into the marble were "kissing crosses." These scraggly crosses are reported to get you absolution of sins for 90 days if they were kissed on the birthdays of certain saints. Pretty good get-out-of-jail-free-card for a little smooch.
We also stopped at a lighthouse (which I climbed all the way to the top of) and a mountaintop lookout. Some great views were captured at both places. I also had a homemade waffle with jam and coffee at the lighthouse. Excellent! Homes on the mountaintop start at 1 million USD. Don't think I'll be retiring there anytime soon.
Anyway, I learned a lot about Norway on my tour. Looking forward to escorting some tours to Rome and Pisa when we return to the Med.
The Big Tank.
From just outside the aquarium.
This is the pipe that fills the big tank with ocean water.
Penguins. Just hanging out.
Ringing the dinner bell for all the little fishies.
A farm near the lighthouse stop.
Not great weather, but, beautiful views anyway.
The view from the top of the lighthouse.
This house has a turf roof. Kind of cool.
From the mountaintop lookout.
I can see my house from here! Wait, that's just my ship.
I took a picture of the mountaintop lookout from the pier.
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