Alesund

Norway is one of the more popular cruise destinations going. Our captain gave a talk on navigation during which he indicated that the ports of call are laid out well over a year in advance. At one point on our return journey there were three cruise ships lined up off our starboard on the horizon all going the opposite direction we were. Cruise ships jockey overnight to be the first into the port and thus have dibs on the prime berth they are seeking. The Norwegians aren’t stupid and they have capitalized on this with a sort of “Field of Dreams” mentality. If you build it, they will come. The formation of the fjords makes it simple to build deep water cruise dockings and build them they did. I have opted not to blog about all of the little places we visited with no redeeming features which could be reached without a lengthy ride on a tour bus. Others were much more interesting.

Alesund was one of the latter places. Coming from Italy, the land of brick and stone, it was interesting to again be in a place where they build wooden structures. One of the natural results of this is fires. There are very few structures of any great age in Norway, simply because is you wait long enough everything eventually burns down. The city of Alesund suffered a devastating fire in 1904 which wiped out most of the city center. It was rebuilt in the art nouveau style which makes for a unique experience.

Below are wide shots and close ups of the features on several buildings which caught our eye.

Finally, we have a monument erected to Wilhelm II, a frequent visitor to Alesund during that period, who assisted in raising funds to help rebuild the city.