Bergen

Bergen in Norway, the second biggest town and former capital was reached early in the morning.
Our pier is just beneath the famous fortress Bergenhus. Its origin goes back to the 13th century.
Around the MS Fram a lot of big supply and maintenance vessels for the oil platforms in the North Sea are moored.
The weather is like the inhabitants would like to see it a lot more often in Bergen...sunny and warm.
At 9 am a sad moment.... we had to say goodbye to all our guests. It was an absolut nice company and wonderful trip with all of them from Reykjavik to Bergen.
The MS Fram started to be prepared for the long Antarctic season. A lot of gear is transported inside the ship and the ship's outside got a new appearance. Have a look at the picture!!!! 

At sea

Our last day on board......a sea day from Leith/Scotland to Bergen/Norway.

In the morning the sea was calm but that turned to a 5-6 on the Beaufort Scale in the afternoon.
Gannets and fulmars followed the ship and dolphins were to be seen around noon.
The day went with bridge visits and lectures.

The lectures were about the Vikings, stave churches, whales and dolphins, information about the city of Bergen, the art on the MS Fram and also about the destinations with the MS Fram all year around.

Your photographer on board showed his presentation of the voyage pictures and in the evening the Captain Arild Hårvik said goodbye to everyone in the Observation Lounge.
Good bye and have a nice trip back home tomorrow from Bergen!!

Orkney

This morning we reached the Orkney Islands. It is a group of 70 islands which lie only 12 km north of the Scotish Mainland. The archipelago have been settled since the Neolitic Period that means around 5000 years ago.

The weather forecast promised lovely weather for today and so it was: a little bit cloudy, then high sunshine and important nearly no wind at all. Two excursions left before 9 am from the pier.

One to the Italian Chapel & Highland Park Distillery and the other one to Skara Brae & Skraill House. It has been said that if you scratch Orkney, it bleeds archaeology. Those who did not want to join the excursions walked to the near by old town and visited the "Light of the North" which is the Magnus Chathedral. It was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St. Magnus.

Our vessel left Kirkwall the main city of Orkney at 14 pm. In the afternoon lectures about fish and the Gulfstream and informations for the next day in Leith\Edinburg were given in different languages.



Skye

A beautiful sunrise at 8 am over the mountains of Isle of Skye when our ship reached his destination for today.

The largest town on Skye and the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, Portree.

Portree has a natural harbour fringed by high ground and cliffs. The name of the port Portree might came from "Port Righ" translates as "king´s port". Today the town serves as a centre for tourtists exploring the island of Skye.
Again a lovely day with sunshine and calm warm weather the whole day.
Excursions today:
"Panoramic Isle of Skye and Museum of Island Life" and
"West Highlands & Iconic Eilean Donan Castle".



At 5 pm we passed the famous Kilt Rock. It got its name of the typical kilt fabric pattern made up by basalt columns and dolerite sills. Both have there origin in the time when the Atlantic Ocean started to open.

Oban

We reached Oban, a resort town within Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland.

Oban has a population of about 8,100 inhabitants.

The town is an important ferry port for the connection to the Hebrides.

A modern town which grew up around the Oban Distillery which was founded as early as in 1794.

Up on the hill there is the McCaigs Tower a prominent local landmark.

Outside of the town stands Dunollie Castle.

The weather again was fantastic with temperatures up to 18 degrees.
Two excursions were offered: "Majestic Scotland" and "Seil Island and Easdale".



At sea

Today is a sea day with lots of lectures. Tone our norwegean viking women dressed in fine viking clothes gave informations about the live in the middleage in Norway and where ever the Norweagians settled down.

Katja hold lectures about the viking religion, art and the daily live. Informations about the landing tomorrow morning are given by Klaus, Torshavn and the Faroes, his home for many years.

Heimaey

Around 7.30 am the MS Fram entered the small entrance to the only village on the island of Heimaey the biggest island of the Vestmanna islands. It is always exciting how a vessel of the size of the MS Fram can pass through the steep cliffs on starboard side and the redish vulcanic lava from the last eruption in 1973 on portside. The weather was overcast and rainy, but nevertheless all of us enjoyed the bustrip, the walking tour and also the film about the eruption on Heimaey in 1973 in the museum.

Itilleq In The Sunshine

Itilleq in the sunshine is a rainbow of colourful houses.   Purple, blue, torquoise, green, chartreuse, yellow, orange, pink, and red houses arc across the hillside.  It is cheery relief from the stark, largely monochromatic landscape.  I imagine the settlement in the winter and how the colours must stand out against the snow. Perhaps the bright colours provide a margin of safety in the case of white out, or near white out conditions making it easier to find your way home.  Or maybe it's an answer to living in a world devoid of a large colour palette. Or, perhaps Greenlanders just love colour.

Regardless I love it.  It's beautiful.

Itilleq is a very tidy well looked after settlement.  It is obvious that the people here take pride in their homes and community.

Shortly after 13:00 we loaded into the Polar Cirkle boats for a short ride to the pier.  We were all issued tickets to partake in a kaffemik.  Several people in Itilleq opened their homes to us and offered coffee, cakes and in some cases a broader selection of local foods.

The highlight of the day was the soccer match:  Fram vs Itilleq.  On a sandy, gravel field where not a blade of grass could possibly survive, we engaged Itilleq in a raucous game of soccer.  As the score will attest, our team was better than it usually is. We have rarely beaten Itilleq and we did not win today. The final score was 5 - 5.  Or perhaps both teams won.

Would You Go To Rome And Not See The Coliseum?

You can't go all the way to Greenland and then travel to Ilulissat and let a little rain stop you from going to the mouth of Kangia Fjord to witness one of the most spectacular scenes on earth.  That would be just plain crazy.  Would you go to Niagara Falls and not see the waterfall?  Would you go to the Grand Canyon and not see the canyon?  Perhaps you would just look the other way?  Would you go to Rome and not see the coliseum?  Of course you wouldn't.  That would be crazy.

We are not crazy.  A light rain (heavy mist?) would not keep us from seeing what might be considered an eighth wonder of the world.  We walked through Ilulissat in a light rainfall and you know what?  It was downright pleasant.


Soon we were on the outskirts of town and going through the centre of what you might call dog city.  Hundreds (or at least it appeared to be hundreds) of Greenland dogs are kept just outside of town.  They are working dogs.  Sled dogs.  There were many puppies waddling about.  It is important to keep new young dogs coming up for your team.

Another twenty minutes of walking brought us to a stunning lookout over the fjord.  Awesome is a very tired word but it IS an awesome site.  And it is the major reason that the Ilulissat region is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Greenland Air

Our charter flight landed at the Kangerlussuaq airport at about 3pm.  Indeed, most international flights to Greenland utilize that airport. It is the gateway to Greenland.  The small town is very utilitarian looking. That's not surprising.  Originally it was a United States air base called Bluie West 8.  It was built in 1941 at a time when Denmark could no longer ensure Greenland's supply and security.   

Kangerlussuaq is situated at the head of a 160 km Fjord of the same name.  Kangerlussuaq means the long fjord.  Go figure.  

We were met at the airport by some of the Expedition Team from the MS Fram.  Before long we piled into a bus which took us to a small harbour in the middle of nowhere.  Really.  A quiet, lonely road wound through an austere, rocky landscape and then suddenly, the road ended and there was the fjord.

And there lay the ship.  Our new home away from home.  At dockside we were given a quick briefing by the Expedition Leader Anja Erdmann on Polar Cirkle Boat procedures and how to put on our life jackets. A brisk two minute boat ride brought us to the ship.  We were quickly checked in on deck three, issued I.D cards and room key cards and then escorted to our rooms.  

Soon it was time for dinner but where was the dining room?  There are always lots of people wandering around looking a little lost on the first couple of days.  But no worries.  There are always lots of crew around to point out the right direction.

At 8:30pm there was a mandatory safety drill which was immediately followed by the Captain's welcome speech.  We were introduced to the Officers and some of the key personnel on the ship including the Expedition Team.

Now it is 22:40 and Fram glides gracefully down the fjord.  It is overcast. The outside temperature is about 9 degrees celius.  There is a light breeze.  The sea is calm.    The fjord rises steeply on both sides of the ship. It is peaceful. 

The air is pure, fresh, clean.  Greenland air. 

There isn't cleaner air anywhere. Breath deep.

Relax.  Your Greenland adventure begins!

Qaqortoq Is The Green In Greenland

Treading in the footsteps of Vikings argh!  The legendary viking chieftain, Eric the Red came to southern Greenland from Iceland around the year 982.  It is widely accepted that he named the region Greenland to encourage other settlers to follow him. This morning we landed at the last known area inhabited by Norse Vikings in Greenland.  Hvalsø.
The incredible stone structures of the church and meeting hall at Hvalsø date back to 1300.  The last official record in the community was of a wedding that took place in 1408.  The second last record was also about l'amour.  It was not a happy event.  A young man by the name of Kolgrim was convicted of sleeping with another man's wife.  The young lady's name was Steinum.  She was the daughter of the local lawman Ravn.  Kolgrim was accused and convicted of using sorcery to seduce Steinum.  He was subsequently burned at the stake.  Poor Steinum.  It wasn't long before she went mad.  She died soon after.

Whoa.

Fascinating story, but let's turn our thoughts to a happier time.  We had more perfect weather.  At the landing site everyone spread out over the Viking settlement.  Many sat in the sun and enjoyed the spectacular view of the fjord and the ruins.  Numerous sheep roamed the area.  Indeed there are over 20,000 sheep in Greenland.

I have to mention that in all of the  many years of experience of all of the expedition team members we have NEVER seen a group of passengers arrange their life jackets as neatly or as attractively as everyone did today.  The life jackets represent a new form of landscape art. Beautiful!

It is a short boat ride from Hvalsø to our next stop at the town of Qaqortoq, the fourth largest community in Greenland (population 3,306).

We had lots of time to explore the attractions of Qaqortoq.  Amongst other things, there is an excellent small museum, many beautiful scultures both free standing and carved into the bedrock and a superb tannery that specializes in making clothing and other items from seal skin.

Qaqortoq is a very lush, green town in the summer.  Qaqortoq is the green in Greenland