The trolls, of course, have had something of an image rebrand in recent years by animators DreamWorks. You can admire Dahl’s paintings and Edvard Munch’s too in the excellent KODE museum as well as humorous drawings of trolls. The real DahlĪnd it is Norway’s second city and birthplace of landscape artist JC Dahl.ĭahl did more than anyone to promote the fjords to the wider world and bring cruise travel to Norway in the 19th century. They fled the country for this cruise and the call of the fjords, rather than be forced to endure watching Dublin win another All-Ireland.īergen, our third stop, is situated between the longest fjord Sogneford to the north, the Strusshamn fjord and Hardangerfjord in the south. Germans, French, Dutch, Swiss, Spanish and Bulgaria.Īnd there’s Sarah and I and a spattering of Irish… we come across Gerry and Breid from Killarney who meet in Bergen. We are venturing to their land and our ship is populated with a rich mix of Continental Europeans. We too are heeding the call of the fjords. Our cruise is, of course, heading in an opposite northerly direction to the one they took. The winds blew them to Normandy with a detour to Britain and Ireland where they found it even wetter here, and as far south as Italy. My precious: The MSC Preziosa and The Boss in Geiranger They had to wrestle strong winds through the fjords with no more buttress than their sails which must have seemed like mere hankies in the vast waterscape. Today’s ships are very different beasts than their forbears…įor the Vikings and their friends on their longboats life on the ocean wave was certainly no pleasure cruise. The Vikings are all there on the first night of course, the crew in their horned helmets and Norse robes, cajoling us onto one of the many dance floors on board.
I’m on a seven-night cruise of the Norwegian fjords, departing in Kiel, Germany.Īnd stopping off in Copenhagen for the day with port calls at Geiranger, Bergen, Flam, and two full days at sea.Īnd for this week I will channel my inner Viking, drinking, feasting and dancing. The call of the fjords is beckoning me again.īest get back on board the MSC Presiosa methinks where I’ve an all-inclusive package and the beer, wine and cocktails are flowing.
Not then, but later in the Fishmarket when they brought me the bill for two beers (€20). I’m sure one tripped me up on our first day off ship in Norway as I climbed down through the forest above Geiranger. Mind you, there isn’t much chance of that in the Land of Rain. Those stones may well be trolls who have transformed themselves into rocks rather than risk being burnt by the sun. Watch too where you step as you listen for the call of the fjords. Its fjords are alluring, its peoples steeped in myth, magic and mysteries. It would be all too easy to follow the seductive Huldra blindly into the Norwegian hinterland though. Now this will negotiate the Norwegian hills
Huldra stands here in the same spot every day at the Kjosfossen Waterfall on the Flam-Myrdal train route, serenading those who have ventured into her mountains.īut don’t you be taken in, there is a sting in the tale, she’s only wearing that floaty dress to hider her witch’s rump. She’s shameless, Huldra, can’t she see I’m here with the wife but then that’s the call of the fjords?Īnd persistent. Huldra is beckoning me from the cliffside to join her in the woods.