NORWAY

The Coastal Express route

My late wife and I had talked about taking the Coastal Express cruise from Bergen, Norway, around the North Cape many times, but we never found the chance to do it. In September, 2000, I flew from Newark, NJ, USA to Oslo Norway.

Clicking on the thumbnails below will display larger versions of the images. Thumbnails which look squashed represent panoramas, which are displayed in correct proportions when the thumbnail is clicked. All the pictures were taken with an Olympus C2020Z digital camera. Thumber was used to generate the thumbnails. Pixmaker generated the panoramas .
Paul Kerrien also made this voyage twice, and has some beautiful pictures at
l'express-côtier

After the night sitting up on the Boeing 763 I found time for very little sightseeing in Oslo. Here are some scenes within a few blocks of the Radisson Scandinavia Hotel:



Scandinavia Hotel	Panorama of Oslo Street	Rural Railway Station

The next morning I took the train across the mountains of southern Norway to Bergen. The snow was fresh, even though it was only mid-September.

Near the highest point of the railway the mountain scenery is spectacular, but punctuated by the many snow-sheds that are needed to keep the line passable in winter.


		Panorama of Mountain Lake	Panorama of Mountain Lake

At Bergen I boarded MS Polarlys, one of the newest of the dozen ships which maintain the Coastal Express. One ship sails north from Bergen each day to start the twelve day round trip to Kirkenes on the Barents Sea, a few miles from the border with Russia.

Bergen	at dusk	Norway has hundreds of beautiful bridges	Oil Rigs at Night
	Alesund Dock	Alesund	Alesund
Alesund	Alesund	Alesund	Alesund

	The ship returns to Alesund	Molde	Molde
We meet southbound Richard With at Trondheim	Polarlys	Trondheim Panorama	Ringve Museum of Musical Instruments Panorama
Flowers	in the	Ringve	Gardens