Norway - Aalesund, Geiranger, Hellesylt

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Awoke in beautiful Aalesund, Norway, a city rebuilt in art nouveau style after a devastating fire in 1904.	No buses would work to get to Alnes on a neighboring island, so I took a shore excursion to see this lighthouse & other sites.	The 4 islands around Aalesund are connected by tunnels (here's entrance to one) and an occasional bridge.	A view of the islands, taken from Giske or Godoya (forget which)
Alnes lighthouse, on the island of Godoya. I also saw Hogsteinen lighthouse from the bus.	Camping bods on the island of Giske	We visited Giske church, with this interesting altar.	Then, it was back to Aalsund to see a highpoint (literally & figuratively) - the view from Mt. Aksla of the city below.
Aksla view closeup	Farm roof near Aksla	Old building at end of Aalesund, seen from Aksla	Howard took the "land train" up to Aksla and tried out the panoramic feature on his camera.
After lunch I went back out, as did Howard. Here's a viking boat at the Fish Museum	The "brosundet" - canal through town.	The Fish Museum. It stopped raining long enough for a picture or two! (Aspoy School, Glassworks, Fish Museum)	Brosundet
Molovegen is a cute, small street. Here you can find the Fish Museum (this is back), glass factory and antique store.	A rain-soaked bench with the city emblem	Part of this pretty art nouveau city, as seen through a Marina window	The "fjellstua" (mountain cabin) on top of Mt. Aksla - what a view!!
Fjellstua from the ship. You can walk up there - 418 steps. I only made it 1/2 way before saying, "forget it!"	I walked around and found gods bus!	The lighthouse (molja) contains room 4 of the Brosundet Hotel!!! I learned this pre-cruise on Cruise Critic.com.	Howard & I practiced our "o's" so that we could pronounce Aalesund (ole a sun)
Locks on a bridge in Norway signify love!	I had not heard of the Shetland Bus, but apparently small ships ferried supplies from Shetland to German-occupied Norway.	Aalesund Church as we departed Alesund to go deep into the fjords.	Woke up in Geiranger, in the Storfjord. Here's 1st view.
Geiranger's waterfall, and the pretty houses in this small, pretty town	Caravan park	We got tied up and had a short tender to the pier.	We took the 1 1/2 hr. bus ride up the mountain to 2 viewpoints. 1st was Flydalsjuvet.
Flydalsjuvet - view of our ship below	Flydalsjuvet has a lower viewpoint, but we didn't walk down there, as we had limited time.	On the way up we passed several waterfalls	Then it was down the mountain (saw Marina on the way) to go up to another viewpoint.
There was a car in our way on the narrow highway. Bus driver got out & backed the dead rental car down for the hapless couple	2nd viewpoint - Ornesvingen (Eagles Bend)	Waterfall at Ornesvingen	We got back to town and walked around. There are only 300 occupants here.
Marina in Geiranger	It was a 10 minute walk to the city church, where I saw bridesmaids assembling.	Ferry to Hellesylt. Beautiful water in the fjord!	Of course, we HAD to have someone take our picture with the giant troll!
Ship, around 1pm	Ruth is ready to cruise the fjord from Geiranger to Hellesylt!	At 3PM, Marina started cruising down to Hellesylt. Even some of the crew got to watch.	Howard photographed some of the happy crew members enjoying the majestic views.
Seven Sisters waterfall by Howard. I muffed the shot completely, I'm afraid - but I can tell you it was one heck of a sight!	And mine (like Howard's best - more silky!)	Ship made a 360 degree turn; never seen so many iPads in one place. After an hour, it began to pour, and everyone headed inside.	We stopped in Hellesylt to pick up passengers who had taken a long, overland shore excursion.
Howard & I ate at our favorite location, the Terrace, as we sailed back out of the fjords.	I photographed distant lighthouses and a rainbow as we said goodbye to Norway. Now it's on to Ireland.	Map of Alesund

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