All's Well in Alesund

We awoke Monday morning tied up at the dock in Alesund. This town is perched at the mouth of another of the largest fjords. The town burned down in the late 19th century. This was a very common problem in a land of wooden houses. So common, in fact, that many towns sooner or later adopted ordinances requiring stone building. Hence older wooden houses are sometimes hard to find in these cities. Alesund was rebuilt with help from German architects and became something of an Art Nouveau model town. Many of the buildings feature Art Nouveau details, and the many of the homes were decorated with furnishings from that period. There is a museum in an old apothecary right across from the docks where these have been preserved as the family that lived there had them. Cool if you're into Art Nouveau.

After a quick tour of this small museum I headed off to check out the largest aquarium in Scandinavia. It was only 3.5 km away, so I walked. The road wound through a light industrial area and over a bridge overlooking the commercial fishing port. Alesund is a major fishing town with large processing plants bellied up to the water in this part of town. The port was full of husky working boats with big cranes, their decks littered with traps, nets and other gear. The air smelled of diesel fuel and cable grease as big trucks rumbled across the bridge in both directions going to and from the boats and the plants.

The food on the ship is fine, and often better than that. But there is no attempt to feature Norwegian dishes or cuisine, and by this time I was hankering for a little "native" eats. My guidebook featured a place whose fish stew was recommended, so I took a bus back to town and walked across the main business area to find it. When I did, after struggling with an incorrect address in the book, I discovered they no longer serve the dish. Disappointed, I "settled" for an order of shrimp, served "natural" with bread and mayonnaise. I expected a few shelled shrimp on an open sandwich. What I got was a bowl of more than 4 dozen small shrimp steamed in the shell, which I ate on an outside plaza overlooking the inner harbor. Mission accomplished.

Stuffed from lunch I wandered across town and ended up hiking up the 418 steps (I didn't count, they are widely touted) to a cafe/observation deck high above the town with wonderful views on both sides of the town's location on a peninsula.

Once again our ship left midday, sailing further north to Trondheim.