August 15-25, 2024 – Fabulous Cruise on the Norwegian Prima!

We covered the cruise through the 19th in the previous post. This post covers the remainder of the cruise.

8.20, Tue: Haugesund, Norway
8.21, Wed: Bergen, Norway
8.22, Thu: At Sea
8.23, Fri: Amsterdam, Netherlands
8.24, Sat: Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge), Belgium
8:25, Sun: Arrive London (Southampton), United Kingdom 6:00 AM

August 20: Haugesund, Norway

We started at the national monument Haraldshaugen and followed the Coastal Trail north of the town and through a historic area along the sea. This scenic pathway provides nice views of the North Sea and surrounding landscapes. Kyststien (the Coastal Path) stretches for over 2000 km along Norway’s beautiful coastline. We walked only a short bit of it, of course.

We eventually reached The Rising Tide, a sculpture of horses in water, created by artist Jason DeCaires Taylor. The suited figures illustrate an attitude of denial or ambivalence towards our current climate crisis and the young riders represent hope in effecting future change. The sculptures symbolize our desire to control natural forces, but their position in a vast body of moving water highlights our inherent fragility.

Let’s start with the monument. Haraldshaugen was erected to commemorate the unification of Norway by Harald Fairhair. Snorre Sturlason’s kings’ sagas make reference to the site where Harald Fairhair was buried, which is believed to have been found last century. The national monument was erected on top of this mound in 1872, to mark the millennium celebration of Norway’s unification into one kingdom.

It was designed by architect Christian Christie, as a large burial mound surrounded by a granite wall with 29 standing stones, each representing one of the old Norwegian counties. A 17-metre granite obelisk with four bronze panels around its base stands at the top of this mound. Each panel depicts important scenes from the life and times of Harald Fairhair.

Krosshaugen, one of 60 stone crosses in Rogaland, is also found in this area. The stone cross is from the earliest period of Christianity in Norway. It may commemorate the farmers adopting the Christian faith at the ting assembly, and the Christian mass is also believed to have been read at these stone crosses before a church was built.

Pictures of all of this:

The best view we got from Steinsfjellet viewpoint:

I think our favorite part of the day was the visit to The Viking Planet Haugesund.
This museum uses the most up-to-date VR and 3D technology to bring to life iconic Viking culture in a new and innovative way. A truly immersive experience, the journey through history is separated into 4 zones.

Here are the two of us with our Viking ancestors.

And you can get your picture taken as a Viking! 🙂 🙂

August 21: Bergen, Norway

We were all looking forward to visiting Bergen and the famous UNESCO Heritage Site of Bryggen.

We started with Bergenhus Fortress. This imposing building is the only one of its kind in Bergen. Unlike some other medieval cities in Europe, this city wasn’t built to keep outsiders out. It has no walls or ramparts. Bergen was originally a sea-trading village, whose economy required welcoming many foreigners, and this structure was its only fortification. The Fortress is one the oldest and best preserved fortresses in the country dating back as far as the 1240s. Only a medieval hall and a defensive tower remain today. (We returned later to view the interior – we arrived too early the first time.)

Military history
The building of the fortress at Bergenhus began in the early 1500s. The fortress was continually reinforced during the 1600s, finally reaching its most complete state at around 1700.

The only time it was under siege, however, was some years prior to this, on August 2, 1665. A large flotilla of Dutch ships sought refuge in the neutral harbor of Bergen when being pursued by English warships. When the English launched their attack, Bergenhus offered strong resistance. The battle did not last long, and became known as the Battle of Vågen.

During the Second World War, Bergenhus was again put into service; this time by the German occupying force, who used it as their western headquarters. The reinforced bunker in the center of the fortress grounds was built by Soviet prisoners of war. An accidental explosion at Vågen on April 20, 1944 caused major damage to the oldest buildings in Bergenhus.

As soon the Second World War ended, the Norwegian government initiated work on restoring and preserving the area for posterity. The restoration work lasted until the mid-1960s.

(We visited the interior later that morning, but I am skipping that part to keep this post shorter.)

For further reading, I recommend this: https://thehiddennorth.com/a-walk-through-the-bergen-fortress/

*Haakon’s Hall* (Norwegian: *Håkonshallen*)

I like finding these little heads everywhere. 🙂

*Rosenkrantz Tower* (Norwegian: *Rosenkrantztårnet*)

Most of the stores in Bryggen hadn’t opened when we arrived, which is why we went to the fortress first. But they were open after that. We went inside many, bought a few things, and mostly took pictures of this historic site.

The buildings you see today aren’t the originals because the wooden structures of Bryggen have been destroyed by fires repeatedly. That said, the current buildings have been built to look exactly like the originals. The Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf has a long and interesting history – it was a trading hub for Norway from the 10th century and from 1360 to 1750 it was a dominant force in trading.

Also on that street but farther down:

It was also fun to walk the little streets behind the main street.

The last thing we did was catch the funicular to the top of Mount Fløyen. Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains, the most accessible of which is Mount Fløyen. It stands 399 meters above sea level, and you can reach the top (Fløyfjellet) either on foot or by taking a ride on the Fløibanen – an 850-metre-long electric cable funicular. The funicular ride is beautiful. It takes less than 15 minutes to climb 1,000 feet to the top. Once at the top, you can enjoy the Fløytrappene, a large viewing area from where you get stunning bird’s eye views of the city. We also walked around up there and visited with the goats.

The scenery leaving Bergen through the watery passages was quite pretty.

August 23: Amsterdam, Netherlands

I think my favorite thing in Amsterdam is the crooked buildings. They are everywhere! We were assured that they are structurally sound, as they have to be inspected annually. Here’s the scoop on them:

Amsterdam’s buildings are known for their distinctive tilt due to a number of factors, including:

Wooden pilings The city’s soft ground led builders to construct many buildings on wooden pilings, which were driven into deeper layers of sand. However, the quality of the wood, the length of the pilings, and the time that has passed since they were installed have caused the pilings to warp and sink unevenly.
Soil stability Amsterdam is built on polders, land reclaimed from the water, which has led to variations in soil stability.
Flooding The city was once prone to flooding, which caused wooden beams to rot and buildings to tilt.
House design Leaning forward houses were designed to protect the interior from rain, snow, and wind. They also had hooks at the front to help haul supplies up to the higher floors.

The tilt of Amsterdam’s buildings has become part of the city’s recognizable urban aesthetic.

Here are a lot of pictures of this intriguing and beautiful city, taken both when walking the city streets and from a canal boat. Look for the tilting! 🙂

The National Monument in the center of Amsterdam’s Dam Square serves as a daily reminder of the atrocities of the Second World War. The imposing 22-metres high monument was designed by Dutch architect J.J.P. Oud and unveiled on May 4, 1956 by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. A national Remembrance of the Dead ceremony is held at the monument every year on May 4th to commemorate the casualties of World War II and subsequent armed conflicts.

We visited the Rembrandt Experience. Boy was it wonderful! And in 5D! Afterwards, we used their software to see what out heads would look like in a Rembrandt painting. Linda, Michelle and Michael all looked fabulous! I looked old and mean!! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt!

We took a picture in front of Anne Frank’s house but couldn’t go inside. They sell out months in advance.

We walked by the stock exchange and tried to wrangle the bull.

We also visited the De Beurspassage (Exchange Passageway) between the Nieuwendijk and the Damrak.

Our final visit in Amsterdam was to Zuidkerk, which literally means South Church. The Zuiderkerk is a 17th-century Protestant church in the Nieuwmarkt area of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The church played an important part in the life of Rembrandt and was the subject of a painting by Claude Monet.

Odd “art” in the sidewalk on the way to the church:

Did we finally find the “stairway to heaven?”

The Prima (along with us, of course) went through a lock on the way out of town.

We had only one full day left after this.

August 24: Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge), Belgium

We all fell in love with Bruges within minutes of our arrival. What a beautiful city! We took a horse drawn carriage tour and a canal tour. Both were great and offered different experiences and views of the town. And of course we had a waffle . . . with ice cream! And we bought a fair amount of chocolate.

The Church of Our Lady in Bruges is the undisputed home of a masterpiece of the arts. The church dates mainly from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Its 115.6-meter high (379 ft) tower remains the tallest structure in the city and the third tallest brickwork tower in the world (after St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck and St. Martin’s Church in Landshut, both in Germany).

The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle, known as the Cappella sacra created in the 18th century in the Baroque style, enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church—a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504. There is evidence of this date based on payments being made to Michelangelo by Florentine bankers Baldassare and Giovanni Balducci between 1503 and 1504. The block of marble used to sculpt the Madonna weighed close to a ton so suitable locations for carving would have been limited. It is likely that Michelangelo began carving the sculpture in Carrara, as he was there for close to a year in 1505. The Madonna was completed in 1506. It was probably meant originally for Siena Cathedral; however, it was purchased in Italy by two Brugean merchants, the brothers Jan and Alexander Mouscron. This was due to a monetary disagreement that led to Michelangelo having the statue brought privately to the Mouscrons in Bruges instead and in 1514 it was donated to its present home.