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Alesund
Seas flat
Blue skies, sunshine and 26⁰C
We awoke this morning in another new port for us – the picturesque town of Alesund. Jon had read this was the favourite holiday resort for Kaiser Willhelm and when the town was burnt to the ground in 1907, he paid for much of it to be restored.
We wandered into town with Mum and Ann – mission post office ticked off the list after three days of searching (or rather stamps bought in a tourist office with a post box outside). Need to introduce them both to Touchnote so they can send personalised postcards with no hassle of finding stamps or postboxes!
Callum really wanted to see the aquarium so we left Mum and Ann to go shopping whilst we caught a taxi there. It’s only a small aquarium but it was really good. It focussed on the Atlantic seas around Norway and the fish found here. Some really large tanks with fish displays (glass was 26.5cm thick!) and some more open tanks with rays, crabs, lobster and flat fish.
In the outside area, there were separate areas for seals, otters and Humbolt penguins. The otters were incredibly lively and put on a great display. We just saw the heads of seals bobbing up in the water occasionally and the penguins were swimming around having fun!
We caught the local bus back into town and heading back on board and opted for lunch in The Glass House. Sliders for Callum and I whilst Jon went for the chicken, scallops and prawns tasting plates. Jon tried the Rose whilst I went for my favourite FMC although it’s not quite as nice as I remember it.
We chilled on our balcony after lunch taking in the view and the good weather. Callum went out for another swim in the pool before coming back for sailaway.
Mum and Ann joined us for sailaway once again. Another very scenic sailaway and we were sent of in style. A marching band turned out on the quayside although we couldn’t see/hear them being at the back and an old fire boat was just off the aft which set its water cannons off as we pushed off. Britannia pirouetted out in the harbour before heading south towards Bergen – our final port of call for this cruise.
We sailed out and passed the aquarium, easily identifiable by the giant orange octopus on the wall outside!
Callum headed up to Kids club for a bit as he wanted to do the Food Quiz and we collected him and had pre-dinner drinks at the Sunset bar before heading down to dinner.
Tonight was one of those odd menus where there was little that really appealed. I went for the Pulled Beef with Piccalilli, Ann the Crab and the rest for the prawn cocktail. Callum tried the Korean Kimchi Soup and Ann the Cheddar, Onion and Sage soup and both said they were really nice. For mains, Callum had sirloin steak, Jon the Cumberland sausage, I had the venison, Ann the Hake and Mum the salmon.
Back up to the quiz after dinner and there were a fair few teams this evening. We did well once again, finishing just one point behind the winners with some inspired guesswork. Thankfully, no controversy tonight.
