1. Northern Europe Story
2. All Photos
2. All Photos
What started out as a search for July 4th weekend plan, expanded to include 6 days in Norway and a 12 day cruise of the Baltic Capitals from Kiel, Germany. In the process, we visited 9 countries and 14 cities over 3 weeks - Norway (Oslo, Tromso, Bergen/ Voss/ Flam/ Myrdal, Stavanger); Germany (Hamburg, Kiel and Lubeck); plus Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; Klaipeda, Lithuania; Gdansk (Gdynia), Poland. Here is Norway plus cruise map for visual reference. We hiked a total of 92 hours in these 21 days.
- Initially, an 11 day cruise of Norway starting on July 4 (which would take us way past the Arctic Circle to Honningsvag, Norway) caught my eye. Almost all visitors come specifically to visit the North Cape -- Nordkapp in Norwegian -- Europe's northernmost point (70.9786° N, 25.9767° E; for reference: North Pole is 90° N). During Summer, the sun never sets there for a couple of months, and of course, during winter, it doesn't rise above the horizon for about the same number of days.
- In addition to experiencing 24-hour days, watching the natural beauty of Norway, its mountains, waterfalls and fjords over much of its Atlantic shoreline was tempting. But far too much time on cruises is spent on eating and drinking, and much less on sightseeing. Yet the idea of visiting Norway was very appealing.
- Right after the Norway cruise mentioned above, there was an option of continuing on a 12 day cruise of Baltic Capitals - another tempting option - a lot of countries covered in one fell swoop without needing to pack and unpack bags daily. As we found out later, Costa Cruises alternate between the two (Norway and Baltic Capitals) itineraries, so there were some passengers who stayed on the same ship, in their same rooms and continued on to the second cruise. Very convenient.
- Instead, we decided to do Norway on our own and then take the 12 day Baltic cruise from Kiel, Germany - for a total of 3 weeks. Coincidentally, the cheapest round trip airfare was to/from Oslo. Plan set! - In Norway, another tempting option: 7-day self-guided 900 mile road trip called "Express Norway" that takes you up close to famous attractions like the beautiful Geirangerford fjord, the Olympic town of Lillehammer, Jostdalsbreen Glacier, Bergen, Geilo and many other breathtaking places - for roughly $1100 per person.
- Yet another temptation: Northernmost part of Norway (and Russia), about mid-way between continental Norway and the North Pole, is the Archipelago of Svalbard. The airport at Longyearbyen (LYR) is at 78°13′11″ N, 15°39′00″ E - much closer to the North Pole.
- However, the airline schedule was such that it would take us three days (and lots of money) just to visit Svalbard. In Svalbard, you must take a guided tour - and you can't go on your own unless you carried a gun. Why? Because this is the only place in Norway where you COULD see a polar bear, but of course, no guarantees. Going that far just to go on a hike - that too not even on snow/ice - just wasn't worth it.- Honningsvag, Norway, Europe's northernmost point (70.9786° N, 25.9767° E), can be visited by cruise ships or Hurtigruten commuter service - also didn't fit our schedule.- So, in the end, we settled on Tromso (69.6828° N, 18.9428° E), a large city - in fact, the largest with population of 50,000 - about 217 miles into the Arctic Circle, easily reachable with a two hour flight from Oslo.
How does a weekend plan turns in to a 3 week vacation? Answer - Blue Sky.
Weather is of course always a factor - one that you can't predict that far ahead and can't do anything about other than to deal with it. Most locations on our trip reported getting rains over 300 days a year. The weather forecast showed some percent chance of rain every single day, in every place. So we just ignored it entirely - didn't even pack an umbrella. Luckily, most days were bright, sunny and at least partly clear. None of our plans got rained out. When it did rain, it was either at nights, or just a drizzle, rather than pouring rain.
In six days, give or take, we wanted to spend a day above the Arctic Circle and watch midnight sun, visit the longest and most scenic fjord, hike Pulpit Rock and see the Capital Oslo. This nearly 3000 mile journey - mostly by plane - gave us one day in Tromso, 3 in Bergen (including NIN) and one in Stavanger, but none in Oslo. We visited Oslo at the end of the trip - for two nights.
- Wednesday, July 8, 2015: (to Tromso) - Click on the link.
- Our flight to Oslo was reaching in the morning, so it was possible to spend our first day sightseeing Oslo. Or, we could just continue our journey directly to Tromso and experience the "midnight sun" on our very first day in Norway. No brainer.
- It was raining in Oslo when we reached there, so our decision to fly directly to Tromso turned out to be the right one. - Thursday, July 9, 2015: (to Bergen) - We reached Bergen on the 9th and left for Stavanger on the 12th. Click on the links to read more.
- Friday, July 10, 2015: (NIN) - Click on the link.
- NIN is a popular, convenient (and like everything else in Norway, expensive) way to see Norway when you are short on time. The Norway in a Nutshell® tour from Oslo or Bergen combines travel by train, bus and ferry, offering panoramic scenery of snow-capped peaks, waterfalls, fjords and small goat farms nestled in the mountainsides. It could be an all-inclusive tour, which come with accommodations, train reservations and other local services, or a day trip only like we did. One ticket books you for a train journey followed by a bus trip along the countryside to one arm of the fjord, then 2 hour boat ride to the next arm of the fjord to Flam, then the famous Flam train to the top of the mountain and a fast train back to Bergen. - Saturday, July 11, 2015: (Bergen) - Click on the link.
- Sunday, July 12, 2015: (to Stavanger) - Click on the link.
- Monday, July 13, 2015: (to Hamburg)- 2:20 PM flght from SVG connecting to 4:15 PM flight from OSL to 6:30 PM flight from CPG dropped us off in HAM at 7:30 PM. I was shocked that we made all those connections without a hitch. We took train to Central Hamburg, checked in to Hotel Polo nearby, looked for a grocery store, ate, showered and slept. It was a long but successful day.
- Tuesday, July 14, 2015: (to Kiel) - We had some time this morning to see Hamburg before taking a train to Kiel. After it stopped raining around 10 am, we walked to Hamburg City Hall, St. Michael's church, walked around the lake. - We took 11:38 am train to Kiel (€29) and reached Kiel around 12:40 PM. We had to be on the cruise ship by 5 PM (or earlier.) - Cruise ship offered to take our bags to the ship from the train station. We could see our ship about a mile away, and decided to walk around the city before going there. - Kiel is a university city in north-central Germany has been an important port since the 10th century and boasts a rich maritime history. Downtown is small and walkable. After about an hour or so, we walked to the ship to board our ship Costa Pacifica, returning to Kiel 12 days later. Read about 12 day cruise of the Baltic Capitals from Kiel, Germany here.
- Saturday, July 25, 2015: (to Lubeck) - After the cruise, we were back to Kiel at 8 am. We disembarked carrying our own luggage. We then took a train to visit Lubeck for one night.
- Sunday, July 26, 2015: (to Oslo) - After walking around in Lubeck, we took a train back to Hamburg. Our 4:15 PM flight reached Oslo at 8:50 PM.
- Monday, July 27, 2015: (Oslo) - Click on the link.
- Tuesday, July 28, 2015: (to SFO) - Our 7:45 am flight SAS 482 to Stockholm (ARN) connected with SAS 945 to Chicago (ORD) and after a 6 hour layover (thank you, United Club.), Virgin America 211 returned us to SFO at 9:25 PM.
