Scandanavia: The Voyage

 

At the harbor in Oslo

I boarded the ship the evening of the fourth night I was in Oslo. I handed my bags to the crew aboard, and was quickly introduced to my roommate (a German woman in her late 40s with hair a brighter shade of red than mine), and she quickly agreed to take the top bunk. (Thank goodness, I'm not sure I would have been able to get up there!) Each cabin had its own tiny bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower.

We had an introductory dinner, met all the passengers and crew, and spent the night at the dock there in Oslo. This is the same ship I was on last year in Scotland, but all of the crew (including the Captain) were new to me. There was a full set of passengers - 12 - and 10 crew, including Captain, two Mates, Engineer, Cook, and five deck hands. The crew hailed from Germany, England, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. The passengers were four couples all 60+ in age, a family of four (mother, father, a boy and girl 18 and 20), and my roommate and me. One couple were English, one couple were Americans living permanently in Berlin, and all the rest were Germans. But everyone spoke English, and most of the ship's business was conducted in English.

Early the next morning, I was one of the first up, grabbing coffee, and watching the quiet early morning Oslo harbor. I was struck throughout the trip how quiet and not busy early mornings were - I got up around 6:30 or 7, but I didn't see much of anyone in town or on the water until closer to 9. Ship's breakfast was at 8, and people came trickling in slowly. Breakfast was always European breakfast: hot and cold cereal, yogurt, cold meats and cheeses, excellent bread (not toast) baked on board, and fruit salad. 

Our track

We began what would be our usual pattern: the Captain briefed us on plans for the day, we left the dock around 9, and sailed south until mid- to late- afternoon. In contrast to Scotland, this sailing area was well set up with plenty of dock space even for a big ship like us, so we were tied up to shore every night. (In contrast, in Scotland we were mostly anchored out, and had to dinghy ashore. This was both physically difficult - climbing down and up the ship's side and the dockside - and logistically constraining - meeting a scheduled dropoff and pickup. Dockside was much nicer!) The overall plan was to sail south, out the long Oslo fjord and along the Norwegian and Swedish coast, in and around the many islands, to Gothenburg, Sweden. It was about 200 miles, and a four-hour train ride, but we were taking eight nights to make our leisure cruise.

 The first night, we stopped at an island in Oslo fjord, Oscarborg. This little island was in the middle of a narrow part of the fjord, and thus strategically controlled the seaward approach to Oslo. It was an important military site throughout history. When Germany made a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway in April 1940, the cannon battery on the island fired on and sunk one of the largest German warships. This slowed the Nazi advance, and allowed the government and the king to escape north and eventually to Britain. As a result, Norway never surrendered. So this site is pretty much the most important Norwegian WWII battle site. I toured the fortress with my roommate, read all the placards, and wondered how all the Germans thought about this now.

At Oscarborg Island, 
where the Nazi ship was sunk.

 

Many, if not most, Norwegian and Swedish families have summer houses at the seaside, or in the mountains or forests. Some of these are tiny houses with maybe 10 square feet of yard, some are much bigger.  The coast we were traveling was thronged with these houses, painted white or red. Everywhere were flowers - 18 hours of daylight really helps the annual plants to grow vigorously! There was corresponding infrastructure on the islands, from nice big marinas to ferries, some for people-only and some carrying cars. The islands we stopped at (never the mainland until the last night) ranged from tiny with no cars to much larger, with traffic. They were all rocky and for the most part only sparsely forested. There were sheep and cows as well as houses and people. Every island we stopped at (except one) had at least one little cafe that sold ice cream and beer (probably other things, but these were the things I paid attention to!)

The narrow chasm I failed to climb

One of the bigger and busier islands we stopped at had an Ingrid Bergman park and display. Bergman's daughter, Isabella Rossellini, is my pretend friend and neighbor. Her Instagram featured a post just a couple of weeks before about her trip to the family summer house on a tiny island reached from this bigger island we were at. Just missed her! This island also featured a high stone ridge behind the harbor, reachable by climbing up rocks through a narrow chasm that at one point had rocks wedged in the top over you. This was where a famous movie scene had been filmed, all the crew mentioned it. I started up this climb, and realized that I was only able to crawl over the rocks, no semblance of walking. I only went part way up and then backed down, which was harder than continuing up. I was chagrined to realize that not only was there a more gentle way back down from the top, there was even a wooden staircase all the way up! But I never got to the top.

Another night, we tied up directly to a stone cliff face - no dock! These islands are adapted for this - there were iron spikes driven into the rock we could tie the ship to. And, there is essentially no tide in this area, so tying up is much less complicated than if we needed to keep adjusting. There were several other boats in the cove on the island, and one house and some cows. But most of it was rock with small heathers and other plants. We climbed around, played with wildlife in the tide pools, found comfy rocks to sit or lie on, and ended the evening with a shoreside barbecue and sea shanty sing. 

Tied directly to the rocks!

We sailed and motored through this archipelago, sometimes through very narrow passages. During the days, we moved around on deck, watched the ship work, chatted, watched the scenery, and read books. We were invited to pull on ropes. Some passengers also took a turn at the wheel, and a couple went up the mast or out on the bowsprit, accompanied by crew. The passages were very smooth, except for a couple of times. One day took us out a very narrow passage into an open seaway, where the Skagerrak Channel between Norway and Denmark meets the Kattegat Channel, between Sweden and Denmark. The water was very confused, not just waves from one direction, and the wind was fierce. Several people got sick, but I am lucky in that regard. However, I sat outside, hanging on for dear life as the ship staggered about irregularly, and kept my eyes on the horizon. You never know when the luck might run out! We were only in the big water for a few hours before finding sheltered water behind more islands. Another afternoon we encountered a lot of wind and some big waves for a couple of hours, but all the waves were from one direction and the ship rode through them much more smoothly.

Overall, a great time! 

Here are several more pictures:

Passengers and crew leaving Oslo

 

Sailing down the fjord!

Just one of the islands was really wooded.
It had a campground and bathing beaches
and working farms with cows and sheep

 

Island barbecue

Tidepool friend

Summer houses and the rocky ridge above

Another day aboard

Under sail, no engine, through narrow passages!

Rob, the intrepid English sea dog (passenger)
assisting the crew

The crew furling the sails

More narrow going

Looking down (photo by Rob who went up)
It really is narrow!
We are using the engine here!

The same place, looking forward from deck

In the narrow spots, it was hard to look away!

Swedish holiday houses

A new development of holiday houses?

And more holiday houses

One of the cutest islands

Who needs a yard?

We were usually the big dog in harbor
People would bring their kids to see us

Even more narrow going

Coming into Gothenburg
All over!