Four part series on Into The Midnight Sun
e higher we went the more
impossibly bucolic it became, from
flower meadows brimming with
welcoming cheeriness to
untrimmed billowing hedges, the
smell of summer grass, the rush of
mountain streams, small vertiginous
fields bursting with multi-coloured
wildflowers; campions, Arctic
cotton, buttercups, cornflowers,
saxifrage, sedums and poppies. If all
that hadn't been enough, the
sudden appearance of a pack of
llamas and a herd of bell-ringing
goats on the track in front of us
just seemed normal for Norway. In
retrospect they were just another
wonderful surprise in one of the
most beautiful and individual
countries in the world.
Every day the surprises came when
you least expected them, like a
chain of beautiful bridges in the
Arctic Sea linking one remote tiny
island with a handful of humans
and some sheep to another tiny and
remote island with a handful of
humans and some sheep. I am
positive that if you could look
down on it from space they would
create a linking pattern as beautiful
as the DNA helix.
In every port we had the joy of
experiencing the seductive
attraction of a new place; the smells,
Clockwise, from left:
One of the bridges linking isolated
islands; Fi meets a Giant Crab; the Arctic
Cathedral in Tromsø
the prices, unfathomable things in
shops, hummus as a snack for
customers in a high end clothes
shop, confident Scandinavian
friendliness, unheard of brands of
confectionery, ancient paving
stones, the odd tram rattling
politely past or the terrifying ski
jump high above TromsØ, a town
inside the Arctic Circle at the top
of the world and the middle of
nowhere. Norway was both just like
home and like nowhere else.
Other surprise highlights? Being
beaten by birch twigs in the spa
(really, try it!), eating king crab
fresh from the sea and cooked in a
yurt, huge rapacious sea eagles being
attacked by furious, tiny terns in
the Lofotens. Shetland, part of
Scotland, but with an ancient
Norwegian soul, the lush treeless
greenness of Orkney and the
standing stones that made me stand
and weep. All never to be forgotten
and just when I thought none of
these could be beaten – they were.
Like all great hosts Viking saved the
best surprise til last.
e last night of a cruise is always a
bittersweet affair, not only is there
the sadness of it being over, and
goodbyes to be said, but far, far
worse – the horror of packing.
GETTING THERE: The 15-day Into the
Midnight Sun voyage from London to
Bergen or vice versa, starts from $11,495pp
in Veranda stateroom.
North
Sea
Arctic
Circle
Bergen
N O R W A Y
Reykjavík
Honningsvåg
Tromsø
Lofoten
(Leknes)
Geiranger
Oslo
Orkney Islands
(Kirkwall)
London
(Greenwich)
Shetland Islands
(Lerwick)
Edinburgh
E N G L A N D
S C O T L A N D
Norwegian
Sea
–
Cruise
•
• Overnight in Port
North
Sea
Arctic
Circle
Bergen
N O R W A Y
Reykjavík
Honningsvåg
Tromsø
Lofoten
(Leknes)
Geiranger
Oslo
Orkney Islands
(Kirkwall)
London
(Greenwich)
Shetland Islands
(Lerwick)
Edinburgh
E N G L A N D
S C O T L A N D
Norwegian
Sea
–
Cruise
•
• Overnight in Port
Arctic Circle
PRICE &
BUILD
viking.com
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