our hotel in the background with the Eagle Rd rising above it
- the only road to Geiranger open all year round
Later we did a cruise up and down the length of the fjord. Like other boat trips we have been on, it was OK but we seem to see much better scenery from the roads high above the fjords.
the Seven Sisters waterfall
The next day the weather turned really bad so we left a day early to head to Alesund in search of sunshine, or at least no rain. (Aside - if you have a choice of booking online with Venere, Expedia or Booking.com, use Booking.com. Although the hotel was happy for us to leave a day early there was no way to avoid the 15% commission charge by Venere as they block changes by guest or hotel once the guest has checked in. Not so with Booking.com).
Alesund was virtually destroyed in a fire in 1905, and completely rebuilt in Art Nouveau style. We did an informative guided walk round the town, and then did the mandatory 418 steps up to the lookout over the town.
typical Art Nouveau ornamentation
the view from the lookout
Today we did a day trip to Runde, also known as Bird Island because 500,000 birds roost and breed there in the warmer months. The very pleasant drive there involved crossing about 4 islands, mainly by bridge, but also one very busy ferry.
We hiked the eastern end of the island for over 3 hours, in search of birds. Initially we saw none, but then we saw an eagle, and some gull-like birds. Graeme found a lookout which I managed to accidentally pass - from there you could see hundreds of birds on the cliff face. There were many kittiwakes (G called them the opposite of me - I was Kitty Asleep when I missed the lookout).
the initial ascent up to the ridge was very steep
view down to the lighthouse and cottages
the white spots on the cliff face are 100's of birds
lovely views from the cliff tops
crossing from one island to another on the trip back
Back in Alesund - the view from our hotel room.
We left in steady light rain but returned in nice sunshine.
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