Yet Further North - Bodø and the Ferry

Today is a day of two halves, the morning exploring Bodø and all it has to offer and this afternoon beginning the next stage of our journey north on a ferry

As usual let's start with the beginning of the day.

Waking up

I woke this morning at 4.30am, what has been my normal waking time all holiday. No need to set an alarm as our onward journey is not until 3.20pm.

I complete the photos from Monday by 5.30am; I then shower etc and Drew does the same. We go down for breakfast at 6.30am, lots of new tastes and flavours as well as the usual ones.

Breakfast

I began with my yogurt, nuts and fruit

It is good to see the nuts and seeds reappearing at breakfast, it is walnuts today.

Drew has a fried eggs with various versions of mushrooms and bacon.

I have my pickle selection

they really do pickle everything up here - pickled carrots, picked mange tout and pickled radish all appear for the first time, alongside the more typical pickled herring, smoked salmon and peppered mackerel, plus cheese.

Drew feels like sugar today, so enjoys some sweet items.

While I go for a vegetable selection with scrambled eggs

Roasted cauliflower and broccoli, join a vegetable fritter with a mushroom and spring onion base along with scrambled eggs and roasted potatoes. Really sets you up for the day ahead.

We come back to the room at 7.15am. I then load Tuesday's photos to Flickr, just before 8 and start editing yesterday's photos. 

Bodø 

We left the hotel at 9.00am and have no great expectations of Bodø. Our extra night in Trondheim (we had intended three, but the detailed plans led to four, which worked out well with the photo editing catch-up day) was to be here for this afternoon's sailing. Yesterday and today's plans were only because you can't get the train from Trondheim to the ferry in one day, but have to stop somewhere overnight. Bodø is the obvious place as the ferry will leave from here. 

So, unlike all the places we stayed at because we wanted to see them, Bodø is the poor relation, we were here, but didn't have the usual detailed plan for things to see, but wandered around the small town cente.

We were astounded to find that a small town like Bodø has a Cathedral, and not a small one either. A huge edifice with a spectacular interior. Drew had noted last night that the Nazi's had flattened Bodø, which means that the buildings are all post 1945. But, Bodø didn't just re-build what had been there, but were creative in their architecture. The Cathedral is a great sign of that.

Here are some of the images we captured of it, as ever more can be found on Flickr, starting here.

You will notice some interesting features, especially the unusual, but traditional local culture, of celebrating faith by the creation of mats with images - these are hung on the wall.

From the Cathedral we walk around the other sights of Bodø, some of the key ones here but more on Flickr at the link above.

We then came upon an area of murals in Bodø centre, we love the effort to decorate the streets that mural artists make, so we always try to capture them. 

Having exhausted the items that any 'Things to do in Bodø' list could produce we walked to the Port to check out the location we needed to be at this afternoon. Like much in Bodø it isn't far away from our hotel.

So, feeling we had made a good effort we went back to the hotel at 11am.

[Co-pilot's note: I think, dear readers, that he is being slightly hard on the fair city of Bodø, I suspect it is a very nice place to live and that people are very happy to live here. You have to compare a place like Bodø with, perhaps, Pontypridd in terms of size, and there is a world of difference.]

Check-out

We have a midday check out, so after some time in the room we come downstairs at 11.50am, check out on the Thon app and sit in the open airy sitting area near reception in the hotel.

At 12.53pm our vessel arrives in the Port. We can see it arriving from the front of the Hotel. The sound of its horn indicating a big ship was coming in.

I sit in reception and complete naming and loading yesterday's photos to Flickr. We have a last toilet visit and leave the hotel at 2pm. 

To the Ferry

We stroll gently along the harbour and Drew is able to take some photos that he tried to take this morning, but the fog had come down then, it is much clearer now. 

On the Ferry

We arrive at the ship, the Hurtigruten Polarlys, at 2.30pm. We are able to board and collect our key cards immediately, but the cabin doesn't become available until 3pm. So we head to the Panorama room and sit comfortably until it is that time. 

They announce the rooms are ready exactly at 3pm, we go down to collect our luggage from the Luggage Room and head to room 530 and take our usual photos. 

At 3.10pm the ship blows its horn, it is a loud noise scaring a young lad along the deck from us. It is the 10 minutes warning sign and hordes of people head from a tour bus, an explorer jeep and other places. All are boarded by 3.16pm, the goods gangway is closed, the people gangway pulled up and we leave at 3.20pm exactly, our next stop at 7.15pm tonight is at Stamsund.

The cabin has a map on the TV and a view from the bridge; we made use of both. But went outside on deck for the departure:

Dinner

When we had boarded earlier and been given our cabin key, we had been told that we were on table 45 for the 6pm sitting. 

We arrive at 6pm and are shown to our table. Luckily the ship isn't full, so we don't have to make conversation with others, as no one is sat beside us.

We had Sparkling Water and Coke Zero for our drinks.

Drew had Pickled halibut with cucumber, sugar kelp cream and dill

A lovely juicy fish with sharp crunchy vegetables. He enjoyed his choice. 

Chicken liver with blackcurrant syrup and pickled rhubarb

The flavours were excellent, but I wouldn't have minded some toast to put the liver on. I also wouldn't have minded a larger portion!

I then had beef culotte with variations of cauliflower, gratinated potato cream, and jus with lovage oil

It is impressive the quality of the food they are able to present on a journey like this. Still, again, it seems a little skimpy.

Drew had decided to have the Boknafisk with variations of cauliflower, gratinated potato cream and creamy bacon sauce with chive oil, as he hadn't tried the stockfish this area is famous for, yet.

Drew took to the flavour of the fish, finding that it has a slightly meatier texture than a normal piece of fish. It was very well seasoned and the accompaniments were good. But even Drew commented on the size of portion. Perhaps people who are using this ship to travel up the coast and have a full food package of breakfast, lunch and dinner would find the proportions right as this would be there second three course meal of the day, but we who are only on half board as we are travelling from 3.20pm one day to 2.15pm the next, felt the need for a little more. 

Drew then had Rhubarb cake with redcurrants and vanilla sauce

which he found beautifully sweet and full of vanilla flavour. 

I, of course, opted for the cheese course 

There were tiny portions of cheese - A Jarlsberg type, a Manchego type and a Cheddar type - all made her in Norway. But sadly, the biscuits weren't biscuits for cheese but more like the Marie biscuits of my youth.

We had finished dinner by 6.50pm, which is great timing for us to arrive at our first port on the Lofoten Islands.

Arriving in Stamsund 

We then go back on deck as the ship docks at Stamsund the first place it stops on the Lofoten Islands, one of the most beautiful parts of the journey we are told - but on this occasion one of the foggiest.

I loved Drew's comments as we came towards the islands: "Come to the prettiest part of Norway, they said. The Lofoten Islands, they said. We do and the fog has got there before us."

Still we enjoyed watching the process of docking and a new batch of travellers embarking. 

The end of the evening

After we leave Stamsund, we go for a coffee and some crisps (dinner being so small) in the Panorama lounge 

We come back to the room at 8.30pm. Both of us are tired, either the effect of the sea air or of the long travelling day on the train on Wednesday, but whichever it was we were both dozing by 9pm, so by 9.30pm we bit the bullet and went to bed. 

We look forward to waking-up with you in the next post