Up early again as Pat and Karen have a bus tour, "The Islands of Giske and Godoy". Our bus left a little late because of a no-show. Brian went hiking on his own; first to Fjellstua for a view over the city and then to the top of Sugarloaf (3.5 miles one way) for a 360 degree view.
We went first to Fjellstua. What a great view of the city of Alesund and the harbor and waterways all around. Amazing. Lots of beautiful pictures and a couple of panoramas.
Next we went to the lighthouse on Godoy Island. To get their we went through three tunnels as low as 147 meters (482') under the water. The tunnels were dug out of granite. In the first one we did a 360 degrees circle under water because it would have been too steep to go straight. Tunnel number two was the same length and depth as first. The third tunnel is the longest, going to Godoy Island. It means God's Island because of the soil.
Light house: In 1982 all the lighthouses became automated. This is a strange lighthouse, seems all new. The house looks liked it's used for a coffee house. The small buildings are used for gift shops. What we thought was a museum is a toilet and coffee place; much bigger. We leave the lighthouse at 10:45.
There is actually a museum buried in the ground to the right there.
...and surfers in the distance.
Driving back, Brian texts that he is at the top of Sugarloaf. We texted back and forth while we were making our way around the back side of our island and eventually he said he saw our bus as it left the island over the bridge. We saw him TOO!
We have a great Norwegian local guide who is very easy to understand, but sounds very Norwegian. He used to work in the oil fields. He is good with jokes and has a smooth talking voice. He gives us a lot of great information.
Alesund is made up of 7 islands and its main industry is fishing. He showed us (from the bus) the German bunkers at the top of Fjellstua. He told us that Alesund airport was big enough to land a Boeing 737-800.
We ended our tour back at the ship at 11:30 and decided to stay in town and grab some lunch instead of our plan to go back to the boat. There weren't many cafes and the ones we walked by were closed, so we found a Subway-type place in the shopping mall two blocks from the ship.
After a quick lunch we walked over to the Art Nouveau Museum inside the Swain Pharmacy. It was just across the street. Cute little elevator took you back to 1904 when Alesund burnt to the ground. Then we watched two separate, but short, videos telling the story of Alesund burning and the rebuild.
In the basement were a few more displays on how they rebuilt the city. They used double walled bricks for insulation.
Upstairs is where the pharmacist and his family lived and they had displays on Art Nouveau and Art Nouveau furniture.
By now Brian was back at the ship eating lunch. He said it was extremely busy. We walked over to the other harbor where the fishing museum is (it was closed but we didn't want to do it anyway). But we got nice pictures of the harbor, ship, and ferry boat.
During the fire of 1904 that destroyed nearly all of downtown Alesund there were a few buildings down on the waterfront that survived. Just two doors down, we walked through one of them that was now an antique store.
By now, Brian caught up with us. We walked with Brian along the waterfront and through town before heading up the 418 steps to Fjellstua for more pictures and more time enjoying the view with no time limits. You can see the steps going up the hill in the distance.
Family picture time near the top.
We walked back using a different route and taking more pictures. It's rained on us off and on today, But we are not cold. We have done everything we wanted to here (but would love to stay and enjoy the view from the top) so we head back to the boat, see more beautiful buildings along the way and go to dinner in the Lido. On board at 6:30.
The three of us went to the Mix Bar on deck 5 for our normal evening of Trivia at 7:30. The Trivia just keeps getting harder. We only get 6 tonight. (winners had 14). Back to the room to write just after 8pm.
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