Austra
Having rested during the morning as we cruised along the island studded coastline of central Norway, everyone was looking forward to an active afternoon. The captain and Norwegian pilots guided the ship into an anchorage off the island of Austra. Even though there was some wind from the north, protection from small peninsula provided us with calm seas.
After landing on a small pebble beach many of us walked along a narrow path and then past a local farm house. The local couple in the house were somewhat surprised at the presence of a group of curious people. However, we found the couple to be very friendly and congenial, giving us suggestions on where to go and what to see. Most followed a narrow dirt road where we viewed plants, birds and even a local farmer drying hay in an old traditional style, on wire fences.
Those who did not go ashore spent the afternoon kayaking along the rocky low cliffs and vegetated slopes of the island. A few of the kayakers even spotted White-tailed Sea Eagles.
Following dinner the bridge slowed the ship so we could look at a very unique mountainside, Torghatten, where a large hole has formed a few hundred feet above the shoreline.
Norwegian legend has it that the mountain is a hat from a horseman further to the north and that another ancient figure shot an arrow through the hat thus forming the hole. Many people found it difficult to retire in the evening since the darkness was almost non-existent in this high latitude.
Having rested during the morning as we cruised along the island studded coastline of central Norway, everyone was looking forward to an active afternoon. The captain and Norwegian pilots guided the ship into an anchorage off the island of Austra. Even though there was some wind from the north, protection from small peninsula provided us with calm seas.
After landing on a small pebble beach many of us walked along a narrow path and then past a local farm house. The local couple in the house were somewhat surprised at the presence of a group of curious people. However, we found the couple to be very friendly and congenial, giving us suggestions on where to go and what to see. Most followed a narrow dirt road where we viewed plants, birds and even a local farmer drying hay in an old traditional style, on wire fences.
Those who did not go ashore spent the afternoon kayaking along the rocky low cliffs and vegetated slopes of the island. A few of the kayakers even spotted White-tailed Sea Eagles.
Following dinner the bridge slowed the ship so we could look at a very unique mountainside, Torghatten, where a large hole has formed a few hundred feet above the shoreline.
Norwegian legend has it that the mountain is a hat from a horseman further to the north and that another ancient figure shot an arrow through the hat thus forming the hole. Many people found it difficult to retire in the evening since the darkness was almost non-existent in this high latitude.
