we left arou d 9 am from Dingle to drive to Galway, it was a long drive however we made a few key stops.

Irish Countryside

Not to be confused with the English countryside, the Irish countryside is spectacular.

Cliffs of Moher

Before Galway, we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher.

The views are majestic and spectacular and we had fair weather as a nice bonus.

Driving In Ireland

This long drive here also reminded me of a big pet peeve and criticism I have of Ireland: The roads.

Almost all of Ireland outside of Dublin is connected by a single two lane highway. The road is fairly narrow and there are often hedges or rock walls along the road that block views around curves and corners.

I assume the hedges are there to block farm animals from getting into the road but they also impede visual cues while driving.

I wish that were the only problem witb Irish roads but the fact is the roads are used by EVERYBODY. At one point a single bicycist was slowing down a line of cars because there was no way to pass.

At other points, pedestrians were walking along the edge and in order to not run over them, one side of the traffic needed to stop until one could pass by on the other lane.

In another section, road was being repaired which means one lane was shutdown and cars had to queue to give each other time to rotate passing.

There are also large slow moving big rig trucks hauling stuff that move slow and difficult to pass.

Overall, driving has been unpleasant as there are also imparient speed demons that ignore all speed limits and traffic rules.

Parking

Parking is also a major problem as it simply doesnt exist in most places around Ireland.

I would have prefered NOT to drive entirely bus there is no train system as far as I could tell and only ONE major road between cities.

Tags: Cliffs of Moher
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We left Cork for Dingle and on the way we made a few stops…

Ross Castle

First stop is Ross Castle.

Impressive castle with majestic views.

Next stop was an old Abby.

Mockross Friary

A large cemetary surrounds this place given the violent history.

After the friary, we went to see Torc waterfall however we misread signs and ended up at the small waterfall not the larger one!

The right waterfall…

After the Waterfall we drove to Dingle for dinner and had some amazing seafood chowder and Hake fish.

Walking around Dingle is fun, lots of shops, restaurants and bars featuring Irish folk music. It wasnt always this nice or popular. It took a few courageous bar owners to bring in musicians and them it became popular so more replicated the success.

After dinner we went to an Irish Folk music event at a nearby church and we found the history of James Goodman salvaging IRISH songs before and during the Irish famine intriguing.

It has been a long day so we are off to bed….the adventure continues….

Tags: Dingle
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We left Dublin this morning and headed out to Cork Ireland. Our hotel was near this cathedral so we walked over to take a look. It is an impressive building called St Fin Barre Cathedral.

St Fin Barre Cathedral

After the Cathedral we headed out to Blarney Castle. This site has many stories to tell from Druids to Witches to Kings and invasions.

The site encompasses 60 acres and is impossoble to see in one day so we split up and optimized our photo shoots.

There is a ledgend that kissing the Blarney Stone at the top of the tower grants “the ability to deceive without offending”. Unfotunately, there was a 90 minute wait to climb the tower with the sheer number of people wanting to kiss the stone.

While wife was kissing the stone, I walked the grounds, gardens and rock formations eaxh with their own lore and history.

Garden pathway

There are many interesting and beautiful plants in the garden including many of these giant plants.

There is also a bee keeper on the premises that while I didnt get to see, I did see plenty of bees.

There is a rich history and mythology around the castle grounds.

We spent three hours on site and sadly had to depart as it shuts down at 6 pm.

The site is well worth the visit for the history, lore, mythology and beauty of the grounds.

Tags: Blarney Castle,Cork,St Fin Barre
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We left Norway and landed in Dublin late yesterday.

This morning we had a lunch meeting with some very dear friends at a great Irish eatery called Fallon & Byrne.

The food was absolutely amazing. We had scallops, smoked salmon and Hoke.

We then did a walking tour with a student from Trinity College.

The campus is home to an amazing library which will be shutdown for renovations next year for a decade. The image below shows most of the books removed.

The university has many unique buildings including the building below where geology is taught that feature Connemara Green Marble – a rare Unesco protected stone.

There are two museums on campus dedicated to the Book of Kells and the modern museum features a very impressive and immwrsive 3D presentation that is worth visiting.

After departing the university we headed to see the Dublin Castle. An impressive structure featuring an amazing interior and exterior.

We will be leaving Dublin for the west coast of Ireland.

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71° 10’ 21”

Today we started the day in Honningsvag and took a bus ride to the North Cape at 71 degrees, 10 minutes, 21 seconds.

Kjollefjord

After leaving the top of Norway we headed to Kjolleford where we met an amazing Sami family that talked about their life in Norway.

The sign says “kissing bench.”

Our Sami hosts started by offering us jerky made from Reindeer meat. the Sami survive in the remote arctic by herding Reindeer and fishing.

The Sami traditionally lived entirely off the land using every resource in their environment such as using the bark of willow trees to water proof shoes and leather created from reindeer skins.

The willow tree bark also has medicinal properties.

Grass is used to pad and insulate shoes, as it absorbs moisture from feet.

Feb 6 is celebration day for the Sami as that’s when the tribes in Norway, Finland and Sweden created a unified front.

Sami have 300 words for snow and a similar number to describe deer.

The Sami were never concerned or interested in climate change until they started seeing and experiencing changes to their own environment.

The normal dry coldness for weeks and months are gone.

It now rains more during winter, rain turns to ice which covers grasses reindeer use to eat and makes them unable to get food from under ice. This has caused the Sami to have to provide food for them to eat which then makes the reindeer dependent on the Sami for food.

Many stories about how the Norway government and church did not allow the Sami to play their traditional drums or speak their traditional language. Fortunately things have been turning around for the Sami in recent years.

After our stay we headed back to the ship to get some rest. Tomorrow is our last day in Norway, it’s been quite an adventure.

Tags: Norway,Sami
Categories: Norway
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We started the day with a lecture at the conference room about the history of the long sea routes across the Norwegian coast. Our host Howard was funny and entertaining. He gave us the history of how the cruise line industry came to be in Norway and how the two cruise lines, Hurtigurten and Havila came to be. Here is a quote from one of his stories, “When I was a kid, we were told that if we studied hard and did well in school, someday we could get a job on a Hurtigruten ship but today kids are told that if they don’t do well in school they may end up working on a Hurtigruten ship, how times change.”

Another interesting point and a core issue we’ll discuss in our final review of the ship, is the ongoing labor shortage for skilled sailors on these cruises. We’ll tell you how this impacted our experience on the cruise in our final review.

Lunch

After the lecture we headed over to the fine dining restaurant for lunch.

I asked our attendant if she and the crew ate the same food we were being served but said they had a different menu consisting of items such as burgers, pizza and salad bars.

Our first excursion was a bus ride to the gondola station and a climb up to the mountain overlooking the entire city of Tromsø. It has an impressive view of the city and there be trolls here.

Trolls?

Arctic Church

Our second excursion stop was the Arctic Cathedral which features a unique triangular shape.

Full Steam Museum

Our third and final stop on our excursion was the Full Steam museum which features the history of the fishing industry in Tromsø.

As usual fish are hung out to dry here after the harvest which runs from January through March.

We also learned about the Sami people of Northern Norway. An indigenous group of people that have been left marginalized by the broader Norway community. This group of people have tens of thousands but have no representation in Norway’s parliament. Sad.

Dinner

For dinner, we skipped the fine dining and ate at the regular restaurant and I was a bit disappointed with the steak below. Havila Pro Tip: Stick to seafood dishes for optimum culinary satisfaction.

Veggie plate served with our entrees.

Jacuzzi

After dinner, we spent most of the evening in our Jacuzzi as we sailed from Tromsø to our next stop. We should be reaching our final destination tomorrow and it’s been a great trip in Norway.

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Lunch / Dinner

We had a late start today and our first real stop on the ship was the dining hall to eat fabulous meals.

Lunch consisted of lamb sausage, Norwegian fish soup and tomato salad (image below).

Dinner – A three course meal with the usual seafood theme. The bowl has some type of mushroom soup.

Baked Cod (image below) – main course

Veggies

Our ship dropped us off in Stamsund and we took a bus to Lofoten and stopped at a small town along the way called Torvdalshalser where we took the photo below overlooking the whole valley.

Our next bus stop was Lofoten which features a museum and an art gallery of a local resident, Kaare Espolin Johnson. The photo below is right outside the museum.

Kaare Espolin Johnson

Local artist famous for artwork in books and magazines. Wikipedia page here.

Art exhibit in museum

After the art gallery we headed over to the Lofoten museum. The museum tells the story of how the family which owned most of the land in the area was built as a “company town” and the family that owned the land also owned the general store, the houses fishermen would live in when they came in to fish. The owners would eventually also buy all the fish from the fisherman.

The working and living conditions of the fisherman were abysmal.

There were tens of thousands of pounds of fish processed each fishing season. Image below shows fish being hung to dry, much like the fishermen.

Typical living conditions except there would be 14 or so people packing into a room like the one below.

After our site visit, the bus took us to the next port over called Svolvaer which is considered the “capital” city of Lofoten but our tour guide insisted that was a lie because it’s not a capital, just the biggest city in the area.

We got back late and the ship had porridge treat along with some type of exotic hot drink.

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We spent the day at Trondheim today. This is Norway’s third largest city with a population of 225,000 people. We got in at 9 am and proceeded to get on a bus to visit Nidaros Cathedral.

This is the front and main entrance of the church. It does look a bit like Notre Dame.

After the cathedral we visited the top of the hill to get a scenic view of the city and coastline. The church can be seen (green steeple).

Lunch

After the tour we got back to the ship for lunch and we had another round of fine dining that blew our taste buds away. Havila has bridged gastronomy like no other cruise line has and we are very grateful they have taken a different approach than most cruise lines. Last year we did a Greek cruise and were disappointed that the cruise line shipped all of their industrial processed food out of Miami. You can read our disappointed rating for the cruise ship here.

Havila has already earned an A+ rating on food a mere three days into the cruise.

Dinner

Dinner at Hildring (fine dining) today was a five course meal. The first dish was King crab from Varanger served with arctic ponzu. Very nice.

Second dish – Scallop from Hitra served in its own shell with horseradish vinaigrette and herb sprouts. Absolutely scrumptious!

Third dish – Pan-fried turbot in butter sauce, caviar and crispy crudite of leaf thin fennel slices. Exquisite flavors perfectly complemented.

Four dish – Rack of lamb from Dovrefjell with caramelized carrot puree and borettane onions. I prefer my lamb medium rare and this was served medium but it was good.

Fifth dish – Sea buckthorn cream with cloudberries and herb crumble. A nice juxtaposing of texture, rich creamy and saucy. Smooth yet crunchy, sweet yet savory, delicious and yummy.

Desert – Dark chocolate confectionery.

The chocolate eye is astonishing and amazing. A great way to finish the evening but you have to ask for the Sea Eye!

You may be wondering how much this meal cost and the answer is we don’t know. We were given the menu below but then the host said it would be double the price for some unknown reason. So we were expecting the bill to be 600 krona. After we finished our meal, the hostess said there would be no charge and it was included in our suite package.

We’ve had situations like this all throughout our journey. There is a cafe that sells pastries, coffee and other items in between main meals. Sometimes we are told our purchases are free (part of suite package) and sometimes we’re told there will be a charge. No one seems to know when or why we will be charged or when items are included in our suite package. We call it “Havila lottery” and sometimes we win big and other times we don’t. This cruise ship doesn’t have a casino but you still gamble with the cost of things during your journey.

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Rough seas in the North Sea last night. Our ship rocked up and down and rolled left and right the entire night. It was at least 15 to 20 foot swells!

After today we will head to the Norwegian Sea so hopefully sailing will be smoother.

We spent most of the day sailing and while the weather is dreary we still had spectacular views.

There isn’t much to do in the ship. There are no entertainment venues except for the expedition expert that gives a daily lecture.

Lunch

We had lunch in the fine dining restaurant and the food was excellent.

The portions may seem small but the food has high dense nutrition. All the food on the ship is sourced locally and fresh and it is amazing.

There is no buffet on this ship as it leads to enormous food waste so all servings are modest but it is possible to ask for more food if you are still hungry. We haven’t asked for any extra portions yet.

Excursion

We headed out to Geiranger for our excursion and the views of the fjord were amazing.

The only catch was it was a long bus ride to the site and an even longer bus ride to the next stop.

Our second stop Andalsnes had a gondola you can take up to the top of the mountain. We had dinner at a restaurant at the top.

It is worthwhile mentioning that our ship dropped us off and Geiranger and we will re-board in Monde. This means that we will travel bus and ferries to meet our ship at its next destination. We left at 2 pm and won’t be back on the ship till 10 pm.

We will be getting back dead tired.

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We were told to check in at 3 pm but the ship hadn’t unloaded passengers from last sailing and we had to wait 45 minutes to check in.

Strangely enough, for a budding new cruise industry, the building we checked in had no signs and we weren’t sure if we were in the right place. The photo below is what it looks like.

While we were allowed to board after checkin we had to wait till 6 pm to get into our cabins so we had to lounge around.

We also walked around the ship.

When we finally got to our room a bottle of champagne and other goodies was waiting for us.

After unpacking we headed to dinner.

Dinner

Fine dining wasn’t available on the first day (Saturday) so we ate in the general dining area. There is a three course meal with a starter, main course and desert.

Sashimi starter was ok.

The poached salmon (above) and lamb shank (below) were excellent.

Side of veggies was also excellent.

The unusual deserts were very good as well. Unique ingredients that we hadn’t had before anywhere.

Overall food was excellent but service was slow. Took a very long time in between dishes to get the next dish.

Earlier in the day we had an orientation and the host mentioned that there is a shortage of engineers and experienced officers and that may have extended to crew i. the kitchen and dining areas but not mentioned specifically.

After dinner we headed straight to our jacuzzi to watch the coast as we sailed out.

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