Fyrkat Viking Fortress was our destination on our first visit to Denmark. The ship docked at Aarhus (two a’s if you don’t have a Danish keypad, Å if you have the Danish keypad). Aarhus looked like an interesting city with some good stuff to see, but we were ready for some Viking history. We boarded …
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Oslo, Norway: Too Much to See in One Day!
Our second port of call in Scandinavia was Oslo, Norway. Oslo is the capital and most populous city in Norway. Over a million people live in the metro area. Oslo was founded as a trading center in 1040 and gradually grew from there. Today the economy is dependent on shipping, banking, and being the seat …
Stavanger, Norway, Big City with a Small Town Heart
Our first port of call in Scandanavia was Stavanger, Norway. Stavanger is the fourth most populous city in Norway and was founded in 1125. It grew a lot in the 1990’s due to the oil industry. Today Stavanger is known as the Oil Capital of Norway. But most of the growth has been outside the …
Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
At the end of our first month aboard ship, we took a shore excursion to Kinderdijk. We returned to Rotterdam, the home port of the Nieuw Statendam. Most of the Dutch guests got off the ship and lots of Americans and Canadians boarded. Tom and I could have spent our time in port exploring Rotterdam, …
Lugo and the Roman Wall in Spain
Our next port of call was A Coruna, Spain, and Tom and I had a shore excursion to Lugo. A Coruna looked like an interesting place to explore. It had a castle and a Roman lighthouse, but Tom and I wanted to see the Roman Wall in Lugo. Shortly after arriving in A Coruna, we …
Towel Animal Orgami Onboard
One of the things Tom and I enjoy about cruising is the towel animal orgami that greets us when we get back to our stateroom in the evenings. Tom and I usually head out to supper about 6 and then to the evening show at 7:30. So we are generally gone from 6 to 8:30. …
Gibraltar, Gateway to the Mediterannean
Tom has really looked forward to going to Gibraltar, ever since we first looked at this particular cruise possibility. In fact, when I showed him the iternary and suggested going, he was all in, just because of the one port. Gibraltar has enormous strategic importance for the British, and he spends a lot of time …
Arrecife de Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Our third stop in the Canary Islands was the city of Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote. Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands about 80 miles west of Morrocco. The island is the driest in the Canary Islands with rainfall, on average, only sixteen days a year. The rest of the year is …
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
The day after our wonderful visit to Funchal, Tom and I were off the ship exploring Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. People in Europe go to the Canary Islands for vacation the way people in the United States go to the Caribbean. There were 16 million visitors to the Canary Islands in …
Funchal, Capital of Madeira, Portugal
Our first port on this part of our cruise was the city of Funchal, Capital of the Island of Madeira, Portugal. We had a perfect day for our visit. As a bonus, it was Freedom Day, kind of like our 4th of July. On the one hand, Freedom Day meant that many buisnesses and museums …