Alesund, Norway

Although this was our 3rd visit to Alesund we ended up doing something different. Alesund is a quaint town. The buildings are colorful and built in the Liberty style. The city was mostly destroyed by a fire on January 23, 1904. When the city was rebuilt the buildings had ornate fronts with lots of colorful decorations as well as many windows.

Alesund is built on 7 islands and there are many more islands in the surrounding area. Most of the islands are hilly. About 48,000 people live in Alesund. The main source of income for the area has been fishing for cod and herring and ship yards. During WW II, Alesund served as a major port for those trying to escape. Many houses have grass roofs, which serves as insulation both during winter and summer. Housing costs are around $200,000 to just under $1,000,000. 95% of the electricity comes from hydroelectric production.

Almost every house had a flag pole outside. The Norwegians fly a small triangular flag to signify a personal event, birthday, new baby, wedding, etc. They fly a rectangular flag for holidays. It also seemed that almost every house had a trampoline in the back or side yard.

My tour took me to the outer islands. First stop was the in town mountain, Aksla. It is a good viewing point to see the whole town below as well as the many islands that surround the city. It was very cold and windy there, but my guide was able to show me the mountain that Bob was hiking. It looked like it was covered in a thick fog.

We then traveled through 2 of their 4 sea tunnels, of which they are very proud. They were long, over 3.5 kilometers each. They no longer charge a fee to use them, since they have been paid off. Our first stop was on Godoy, on Alnes Island. We had a coffee and pancake stop and then got to see and climb the lighthouse.

Our next stop was on Giske Island at the local church. It is over 900 years old. When the church was being restored around 1756, a young man by the name of Jacob carved the altar piece. He was just 22 years old and because of his talents was given the honor. He subsequently carved all of the wooden objects in the church and also did the painting of them. The church is still in use today.

Bob hiked Sugar Lump Mountain. He said it was one of the more difficult hikes he had done. It was cold and windy. The trail was mostly rocky and very steep. In addition it was misty/rainy which made the trail slippery. He came back cold and muddy. I got to do a load of laundry to both clean his clothes and get his jackets dried out.

Last nights sailing was like being on a roller coaster. The winds were high and the seas were over 10 feet. We both ended up wearing our “sea bands” which helped a lot. Seasickness adverted.