Posted by Seth on August 27, 2009 under Dining, Trip Reports | 
There is really only one restaurant in Ålesund, Norway that gets much of any sense of reviews on the Internet, at least in English. Sjøbua is a seafood shop located at the end of a small street, and it is THE seafood restaurant in Ålesund. The windows of the dining room open up onto the harbor with some pretty phenomenal views and the food is absolutely top notch. The fact that we actually managed to have a meal there was actually quite a surprise. And it was completely worth it – maybe even worth going out of your way to find.
We tried to dine there on our first night in Ålesund but we were led astray by the review from Frommer’s that suggests they are open on Saturday nights. They are not. And we spent the next five nights camping out in the fjords. It turns out that there was cell phone coverage out there but I didn’t bring mine and I certainly had no desire to interrupt the kayaking with trying to get dinner reservations. So we gambled and simply asked at the front desk of the hotel when we returned to civilization on Friday evening. “I’m very sorry sir, they do not have any tables available. Perhaps you would enjoy dining at the Indian restaurant just up on the corner.” That is the same Indian place that we had dined at the previous Saturday when we found Sjøbua to be closed so that wasn’t going to happen.
We gambled, and we won. We walked in to the restaurant shortly after 7pm and announced ourselves as a walk-in couple and pretty much begged for a table. There was a nice bar area that I would have attempted to dine in had things not worked out but that proved unnecessary in the end. It turns out that there was a 6:30pm reservation for two that never showed. And it was now ours!
The food was delicious. Simply off the charts phenomenal. I can attribute some of that to the fact that we’d been dining off of camping stoves the previous five nights, but those meals were actually pretty good (we have made one of them a regular staple at home now) so it can’t have just been that. The food was actually really that good.
We shared an appetizer and had an entree each. We shied away from the (crazy expensive even for Scandinavia) lobster appetizer and had something a bit more pedestrian, though quite delicious and quite local. It was mussels in a relatively traditional preparation and they were delicious, though not necessarily unique.
The coup de grace of the evening, however, came when the entrees were served. Getting the right amount of sauce to cover an entree is always a challenge. It always seems that you get not enough or the meat is swimming in sauce. Neither is a good way to dine. Sjøbua had quite the appropriate solution to that problem. Our meals were served and then, about 30 seconds later, the waiter showed back up at the table with a small bowl containing extra of the sauce. For one of us that meant more actual sauce, and for the other, a small bowl brimming with perfectly prepared thick cut bacon diced into quarter inch cubes, crispy and delicious.
Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t just the bacon that made the dish. The Salt Cod Gratinee (it sounds better in the native Norwegian) was phenomenal all on its own. But the addition of a side of bacon to top it off served as the proverbial icing on the cake. Except it was bacon on fish smothered in a creamy sauce. And extra bacon at that. Truly top notch at every turn.
Posted by Seth on August 24, 2009 under Uncategorized |
I love postcards. Really, really, really love them. I love sending them and I love receiving them. Sadly, however, it seems to be a dying art.
I seem to be alone (or in a rapidly shrinking population) in my love for the post card. They seem to still be readily available in some places but impossible to find in others. In Norway we were able to find (rather expensive) cards in the over-touristed town of Geiranger but stamps were another endeavor entirely. The hotels all simply have postage meters now rather than real stamps. The card will arrive just the same but it isn’t as much fun.
In Hong Kong I actually struggled to even find post cards. I asked at several hotels and looked in the various stores I passed as I wandered the island. None had cards. Once I finally found cards there was the next adventure – finding stamps. It wasn’t quite as difficult as in Norway, but it certainly wasn’t simple. Fortunately the cards all found their way to the intended recipients.
In India we had quite the adventure getting our post cards home. The post offices there are quite efficient normally and we actually weren’t too troubled with lines or even figuring out how much postage we needed to add to the cards. But the stamps apparently had no glue on the back of them like we’ve come to expect. We did our best with saliva and I’m honestly not sure how they actually made it back to all our friends, but they did. And we came out of it with a great story of wandering Goa and licking (and re-licking) stamps for a couple hours to get them on the way.
One of the current iPhone commercials these days is showing off their “app for that” for sending postcards. They have a picture of Paris and some “wish you were here” text and the person taps and it is sent. That just isn’t the same. Sure, at least one of those services (shootIt!) actually prints and sends a physical post card, not just something electronic, but you don’t get the fun of the random stamp, trying to figure out how much postage you need, the cool postmark from a foreign land and the anticipation of waiting for the cards to arrive at their destination. The fact that postcards generally arrive well after the trip is over actually adds to the fun for me.
There was also the discussion we had with the others in our group as we were on the fjords in Norway. Someone mentioned something about simply sending a text or SMS message when they’re abroad. There’s no sense of place from such an action. I’m not a fan at all.
I’m a huge fan of many things digital. I live online in many ways, both for work and leisure. But when it comes to travel there is still one bit that I’m happy to keep offline: my postcards.
Want to receive a random post card from somewhere around the world? No guarantees, but drop me a line and I’ll see what I can wrangle.
Posted by Seth on August 5, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Often in my travels I discover that being lucky is just as good, if not better, than being prepared. Ålesund was one such experience on a broad scale, from dining to hotels to things to see and do. As we wandered about town on our first night there we still needed to make a hotel reservation for our last night – a week later. We checked out a few “name brand” properties like the Scandic and the Clarion and the prices were fair but nothing special. We also happened upon a slightly greenish building that had the word hotel on the outside and a bar facing the street. Given that two of my main requirements for a place of lodging were met we gave it a chance. The price matched that of the others and it was definitely something different, so we gave it a shot. Dumb luck won BIG.
The Hotel Brosundet is a small property – only 46 rooms plus one in the lighthouse around the corner – but it is big on style, comfort, quality and service. The room in the lighthouse gets written up a lot as a search for Mojja Fyr will show, but it isn’t the only nice part of the offering available. The room we had was not large by any stretch but there was space to move around, a desk and a large window near the bed (very similar to the photo). And it had the exposed beams, wood hues and smooth lines that reeked of Scandinavian design (a scent I happen to love). The property was formerly a warehouse, now converted into a hotel, making it the second former warehouse we stayed in during the trip (71 Nyhavn was the other). I have to give it to the folks in Scandinavia: They know how to convert a warehouse quite well.
In many ways it felt like someone had simply extracted the essence of a W Hotel and miniaturized it into a small building along the harbor. The halls were dark, the bar had a bit of a bass line pumping out and the people working there were mostly beautiful. Then again, most of the folks in Norway were so maybe that last one isn’t a great metric. So the aesthetic and the vibe were slightly W-ish (in a good way), but there was also something else, something better. The staff was actually wonderfully pleasant and helpful. They went out of their way to help us with just about everything we needed. It was a wonderful change from my typical experience at a W.
Oh, and the restaurant there is actually one of the better options in town. Not as good as Sjøbua, but I don’t know that anything really is. We only managed to have breakfast as they were fully booked for dinner, but the food was good and it looked like folks were enjoying their dinner, too.
Add on to all of that the top-notch location in town and the history of the building and it is hard for me to even consider staying in one of the other chain properties in town at the same price-point.
Posted by Seth on August 4, 2009 under Dining, Trip Reports |
I tend to go a bit overboard when planning for trips to new destinations. I’m prone to obsession over the nuance and detail of the hotels and the restaurants, hoping to find the best (that I can reasonably afford) and ensure that I get to experience them. When the average trip duration is only about 2 days it is rather important to know where the good stuff is before arrival. Otherwise there is way too much potential to miss the essence of a city.
On our most recent Scandinavian adventure I put a fair amount of planning into the Copenhagen aspect of the journey. That was where we were spending the most time and where there seemed to be the best options available to choose from. That meant our arrival into Ålesund was completely unplanned. From the minor details of how to get from the airport to our hotel to where we should eat, I had nothing. There weren’t even taxis at the airport (my fallback plan) to take us into town had we needed one. It was rather unsettling actually. The good news is that we managed to not suffer for it.
Transfer from the airport turned out to be easy – there is a bus that handles that. Sure, it is on the edge of reasonably priced (NOK100/person, ~$15) but that’s WAY cheaper than the taxi option and it did take us right to where we were going which was a nice bonus. We even figured out the bus back into town for dinner the first night. That was only ~$5/person and it gave me a much needed 15 minutes of research time on my Blackberry, time I used to search desperately for a restaurant in town. All the search results pointed in one direction. Sadly those same results misrepresented the operating hours of Sjøbua, falsely indicating that it was open on the Saturday night that we arrived. Strike one for the internet, but we did manage to make up for that a week later.
So instead of seafood we wandered into an Indian place, Agra that proved to be quite passable. Yes, it was expensive ($6 for an order of naan?!?), but not really all that out of line with what any other restaurant in Scandinavia seemed to be running us for dinner. And since it was our last meal before heading out into the kayaks for our fjord paddling we decided to make sure it was a good one. We also passed by the same restaurant on our return a week later. Apparently while we were gone they changed their name to Zangra and divorced themselves from the chain of restaurants on the west coast of Norway under the same name. That was somewhat confusing but the food still looked just fine, even after the change.
The small downtown area was rather pleasant to wander through, with some cute shops and hotels scattered about along the waterfront. We meandered for a bit and took a look at several of the hotels scattered about the harbor area. We ended up booking in at one of them – Hotel Brosundet – for the following week and then got ridiculously lucky. We spotted the guide from our tour, the same guide who was staying in the same campground as us 15 minutes out of town – driving along the road. A loud shout form me, an illegal u-turn from him and a sprint through traffic found us happily ensconced in the company van, headed back to bed down at the campground rather than trying to figure out the return bus schedule.
Thus ended our first experience in Ålesund. Not bad at all and an excellent precursor of the great experiences to come a week later.
Posted by Seth on July 20, 2009 under Uncategorized |
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| The waterfalls got larger the more we headed inland |
The last two days of the trip brought us deeper into the fjordlands. Sure, we had been in fjords of some sort all along, but the last two days were where we made it all the way to the end of the line at Geiranger. The last two days were also where we saw the most waterfalls and the most ships – many of them large cruise ships that seemed ambivalent about running us over on the water. And the last night also brought us to the absolutely most fantastic camp site I’ve ever seen.
The paddling was relatively easy and neither of the last two days required too much exertion on our part. We were rather fortunate to be able to focus on the beauty of the surroundings. Shortly before lunch time we turned the corner into Geirangerfjord. That was the last major navigational point on the trip. We set up for lunch at the dock of a house out on the point with an orchard of sorts. We also made the acquaintance of the guy living there at the time. It still isn’t entirely clear to me whether we were trespassing or not but everyone seemed to be all smiles throughout the meal, though the guy did sit down on the dock and stare at us for the hour that we sat there eating. Maybe it was because he was waiting for his friends who showed up a bit later or maybe it was because we were just that strange. Or maybe both.
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| The Seven Sisters on the left and Suitor Falls on the right |
After lunch we made our way deeper into the fjord and to the base of two of the more impressive sets of waterfalls I’ve ever seen. The Seven Sisters falls (on the left in the picture) are fed from a single stream that splits into seven thin, tall falls. They are about 1000 feet above the fjord and all of them flowing together is pretty amazing. Just across the fjord from the Seven Sisters is Suitor Falls. Legend holds that Suitor is constantly proposing to the seven sisters (though no one is quite sure which of the seven) and he is constantly being rejected. Perhaps it is because he is short and fat (Suitor falls is rather lower and wider) and that doesn’t go over well in a country where they mostly seem to be tall and fit. Or perhaps it is because he seems to just be asking for any of the seven and not wooing a specific one. Or perhaps we spent way too much time drinking and thinking up fun stories about the falls on our last night in camp, though the aquavit was quite refreshing.
We were able to kayak right up to the base of Suitor Falls. Literally. We actually crashed our kayak head-on into the rock at the base. It was pretty cool to be in the center of the fall with water flowing down on both sides, staring up as the rush of water surrounded us. And we didn’t actually cause any damage to the kayak when we ran into the rocks which was an added bonus.
Our campsite the last night of the trip we camped at Blomberg Farm, just inside the fjord from the Seven Sisters falls. The hike up to the farm was somewhat taxing – about 30-45 minutes and rather steep going up. But the exertion was extremely well rewarded. The farm is the highest one in Geirangerfjord and also has the benefit of being literally at the edge of the top of the Seven Sisters falls. A short 10 minute scramble across a few slippery rocks and we were standing at the edge of the water, several hundred meters above the fjord. The roar of the water passing by was incredible, as were the views back down into the fjord and across to Suitor Falls on the other side.
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| Looking down from the upper falls |
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| Suitor Falls, as seen from Blomberg Farm |
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| Another cruise ship entering the fjord, being watched by the Viking mask rock formation in the wall |
There was plenty of drama with getting up to Blomberg Farm. They had a winch/lift system in place that we attempted to use to get our camping supplies up to the site. It was a rather strenuous hike and not carrying our gear would have made it way better. Sadly, the winch broke. We managed to get one load of stuff up on it but no more. The good news is that nothing was lost but the bad news is that there was no way I was going to repeat that hike unless absolutely necessary. Fortunately I had packed most of our stuff into a backpack myself and carried it up so we were OK for bedding and whatnot but we did need dinner still. The guides and a couple others made a second trip (and finished another bottle of Jack Daniels, I believe) and we managed to get everything up to the camp. They called in reinforcements for the hike down – more employees from the company came out to help – and we managed to enjoy our last night with some great food, beautiful views, a few bottles of wine and booze and got a great story out of it as a bonus.
The last morning we hiked back down to the dock, loaded up and began the last segment of the journey – the paddle into Geiranger. I’m not really much of a fan of Geiranger. It exists essentially because the cruise ships like to come in there to show off the fjord. And the ships anchor and tender their passengers over to shore and the people get out and shop in the tchotchke shops along the main drag. But there is nothing particularly redeeming about the town. The good news is that we didn’t have to spend too much time there. We ducked into the grocery to pick up some lunch (and a beer for me) and hopped in the van for the drive back to Ålesund.
The trip could not have been better if we tried. There was some exhaustion and some frustration at points but that just made the other bits better. The weather was wonderfully cooperative and the people we met and shared the trip with were great. Most of all, the scenery was unparalleled. I shot over 1000 photos and probably would have taken a ton more if I hadn’t been paddling and worried about dropping my camera into the fjord. Plus even with some extras purchased just for the trip I didn’t have a ton of memory cards with me. Still, it was unparalleled beauty out there, an experience that I cannot recommend highly enough. The rest of the published photos are here. If you haven’t seen them yet you really should.
Posted by Seth on July 17, 2009 under Uncategorized |
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| The farm buildings. Yes, that is grass on the roof for insulation. |
After a relaxing 24 hours at the Ytste Skotet farm it was time to head back out on to the water. It was good to be paddling again, working up an appetite for our next meal and otherwise enjoying the beautiful weather that Norway was providing us.
The paddling on day three was not particularly strenuous. We only had to go an hour or so, just across the fjord and around the corner to find our way to the next stopping point. That meant lots more time to explore and – for a few of the folks on the trip – a chance to go fishing. The fishing was rather unlike anything I’ve ever seen previously. The lines weren’t baited. They were simply unwound off the back of the kayak and then the folks fishing would paddle a few hundred yards through the fjord and reel it in to see what was hooked. Oh, and they managed to drink a bottle of Jack Daniels, too.
One of the two fishing pairs was more successful than the other. In a big way. At the end of the efforts the score was 8-0 in terms of fish caught, with a single line pulling in 5 fish at one point. That was much more luck than anything else, it turns out. Three of those five were not hooked through the mouth. Either way, they were definitely delicious, filleted right there on the rocks and then grilled over an open fire. It was among the freshest fish I’ve ever had and it was wonderful.
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| Jeromy shows off his eight-fingered fish gloves. |
The other effect of filleting the fish on the shore near the campsite was that we were treated to a show from the many seagulls that came along to help clean up. Watching them swoop in and fight over the scraps was quite entertaining.
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| Fighting over fish guts |
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| Taking time out to relax and reflect |
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| This kid was having fun playing on the dock in Stranda |
After yet another beautiful night of camping it was on to the town of Stranda to reload our supplies. We were up early – too early as it turns out. Stranda is a quiet little town with a few houses and a ferry terminal and not much else. Well, it does have a couple grocery stores, a post office and a liquor store. Maybe it isn’t so bad after all. We stocked up at the grocery (the guides on fresh fruits and veggies, me on chocolates and candy) and then wandered next door to stock up on the more critical bottled supplies. It was just before 10am and the liquor store didn’t open until 11am. Fortunately we had a contingency plan for this scenario – wait. Having exhausted the entirety of our supply of booze (the bottle of vodka during dinner at the farm and the Jack Daniels during the fishing) it was declared that waiting to get more booze was more important than getting back out on the water. Shortly after 11am we collectively had about a case of hooch (red & white wine, scotch, vodka, aquavit and probably some more, too) loaded up in the kayaks and we were back out on the water and headed on.
Day four also happened to be the longest paddle day of the trip. Maybe it was because we kept believing Brian when he said that the campsite was just past the next point or maybe it is because it was the first day where we had to deal with rain (just a tiny bit of drizzle) or maybe it was simply because we were getting tired. But that was a long day of paddling. The good news is that we had plenty of booze to celebrate with when we made it to camp.
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| The clouds rolled in, but that just made the mountain views more impressive |
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| Sure, it was cloudy, but our campsite still had spectacular views |
Like the previous nights, the views from camp were simply outstanding. The fjords make for great backdrops and the failed to disappoint at any moment during the trip.
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| Looking down from our campsite on night 4 |
That’s all for part two of the trip. Part three should be online shortly. In the meantime, there are a ton more pictures here to keep you busy.
Posted by Seth on July 16, 2009 under Uncategorized |
The grand plans for our summer vacation this year had one main focus: kayaking on the fjords of Norway. A good friend of ours had done a similar trip a few years back and both the photos and stories she’s shared were unbelievably amazing. I say unbelievable because they really seemed that way. And then we went over to Norway and did it ourselves. Now I absolutely believe her and know that she wasn’t exaggerating even the tiniest bit in describing just how amazing the trip was. I believe, and I now get to try to make others believers, too.
The trip we booked was a 6 day, 5 night kayaking and camping adventure. We covered about 100 kilometers across the 6 days – some days as many as 25 and some days as few as 5 – setting up camp along the way on some pretty amazing patches of grass in what certainly qualifies as Top 5 in the most beautiful surroundings I’ve spent time. Even better, we got to do it with 10 other folks with whom we quickly became friends. It was an amazing journey and not without a bit of extra sweat and exertion to make it so.
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| Out into the water on day 1 |
The western fjords of Norway run pretty much the entire coast. Our trip with Coastal Odyssey focused on the Geiranger fjord and the Sunnmøre Alps. The trip began in Ålesund – quite a nice town, really; more on that in a future post – with a bit of drama. Sure, we had read the packing list. We planned, purchased and planned some more. And then we packed everything into a bag and schlepped it through Denmark on the way to Ålesund. And then we met Brian and Jimmy, our guides for the trip. They handed us each two dry bags and simply said, “Make it fit.” Easier said than done, to be certain. We rather quickly determined which items absolutely needed to be dry through the trip and which we could risk a bit of splashing with. And we learned that with two people squeezing and pushing a dry bag can be made smaller than it seemed possible. We left things behind at the starting point and otherwise manipulated our packing but we eventually managed to make it all fit. We even managed to jam it all into the kayak somehow, along with some of the food and other “common” supplies that we’d be using through the week. And with a shove from behind we were off onto the water. Yippeeee!
The skies were blue and the water was crystal clear. The wind was at our back. Everything was simply great. Being out on the water with nothing but the sound of the paddle pulling through the water was incredibly calming and wonderful.
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| One of the goats we met on the island where we lunched day one. |
Day one was a pretty long paddle – about 20 kilometers – and we spent a long time out on the water. It felt good to be out moving and we made great time on the water, no doubt thanks to the wind. Before we knew it we had made it to our lunch stop and then, after a few more hours of paddling, to our campsite for the first night.
The meals were certainly camping food but the veggies were fresh (hard not to be on the first day) and the we settled in to share some stories and otherwise chat as the evening rolled on. And then the bad news came. Brian had been reviewing the weather forecast and the tide charts and our routing for day two. There is one stretch of water where the currents get tricky and if we don’t time it right we’d never make the pass. Unfortunately, to time it right meant leaving the campground no later than 5:30am. That put us up for a 3:30am wake-up call. On vacation. Ouch.
The good news about the 3:30am wake-up was that it was bright daylinght out when we woke up so I didn’t really notice just how early it was and we were pretty much done paddling by noon. We had arrived at our day two campsite and had a ton of time to spare, exploring the grounds of Ytste Skotet, an historic farmhouse that is now operated as a museum. The site has been inhabited since the turn of the last milennium (yup – over 1000 years) and the oldest current building dates back to the 1700s. They do real farming there (though they also have to import some goods because of the number of folks passing through) and they have kids come out to play and live on the farm as part of a summer camp experience. The kids learn all about life on the farm, from chopping wood (yes, they give 7-year olds axes to play with) to where their meat comes from (at the end of the summer the kids are around when the pigs are slaughtered for the following year’s meat supplies). They also cook up some pretty delicious local foods and were incredibly hospitable to us. There was a small stream running through the farm and a pool just off the edge of the farm house where we were able to rinse off in fresh water. The water was cold but certainly refreshing.
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| One of the kids hanging out at the farmhouse the night we were there |
The farmland surrounding the house covers about 750 acres, with fields and trails to go along with the historical buildings. We certainly had no trouble finding ways to spend our time. And we had plenty of time. Thanks once again to the tides we weren’t actually leaving until the following afternoon. We had a full 24 hours off from paddling to explore.
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| One of many fields of flowers on the farm |
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| This is about as close as it got to sunset while we were in Norway. It was light out non-stop! |
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| The view from the outhouse. Not too shabby. |
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| Looking back down at the fjord across the field of flowers |
That’s all for the first couple days of the trip. There are a ton more pictures here, part 2 of the tale is here, and part 3 is here.
Posted by Seth on July 8, 2009 under Uncategorized |
It should hardly be surprising that travel between the Scandinavian countries is very much a nautical affair. The coastlines are enormous and water is truly integrated into the daily life of the vast majority of folks in the region. And so getting between Copenhagen and Oslo can be done either by hopping on one of the many daily flights between the two capital cities or by cruising with DFDS Seaways on one of their ships plying the waters between the two countries. There is a daily sailing in each direction that takes about 16.5 hours. It is certainly not the fastest way to get between Copenhagen and Oslo, nor is it necessarily the cheapest or the most luxurious. But it is probably the most relaxing and certainly it is an enjoyable way to cover the distance.
The amenities on board the ship are typical of most cruise liners, albeit not quite as involved as the mega-ships of the Caribbean. Yes, there is a sun deck, duty-free shopping, a night club, a discotheque and a few restaurants. But there are no swimming pools, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls or midnight buffets. The ship carries cars in addition to people which limits the number of passengers a bit but there are still about a thousand folks on board enjoying the crossing. And they seem to be a typical distribution that you’d find on any cruise (at least the few I’ve been on). There are families, a slightly higher percentage of older folks and the random collection of guys that seem to be straight out of central casting as “Jersey Guidos” though I’m not entirely sure where they find those guys in Denmark. There was even the random guy who just walked by at 8am with one open beer and about four more rolled up in his shirt; I hope he realizes that they won’t go bad if he doesn’t drink them all this morning.
The ship sets off at 5pm from the ferry terminal in Copenhagen, plenty late that you get a full day for your last day in Denmark. And it arrives in Oslo at 9:30am, just after the morning rush. In between the coastlines of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are the views off the deck of the ship, scrolling by at about 20 miles/hour. Yes, it is a much slower means of transportation than flying, but it is worth it to take a bit of pause in a hurried life of travel.
The arrival onto the coast of Norway is a rather stark change from the Danish coastline. Sure, most of Denmark that you see is part of the capital city area while the Norwegian coast is decidedly unpopulated a a similar distance from Oslo. And that is also part of the allure of this region of the country. Shrouded in a morning fog there are small islands and towns with a few dozen homes carved into the wooded hills of the coast. Truly rather beautiful.
We’ll arrive in port in another hour or so, back to the hustle and bustle of city life for a few hours before heading back out of town and off to the west coast of Norway and the centerpiece of this trip – the fjords.
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A decidedly craptacular photo of the moon and its reflection on the sea.
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Hmmm…interesting juxtaposition.
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Note: This post is showing up a couple days later than it actually happened because I’m off in the middle of nowhere enjoying the fjords but didn’t want to leave the blog empty all week.
Posted by Seth on July 3, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Our trip to Scandinavia was supposed to only really cover two countries – Denmark and Norway. Still, when I learned that we were going to be visiting a friend of my wife’s up in Helsingør, Denmark – just a 20 minute ferry ride across the way from Helsingbor, Sweden – I became somewhat hopeful of adding that to the trip. That hope was realized yesterday as we headed over to Sweden on the ferry for lunch and to wander around for a couple hours.
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| One of the many ferries serving the Helsingborg/Helsingor route. |
The ferry ride between Helsingør and Helsingbor is quick, cheap and easy, with three different companies plying the route and ferries running several times per hour. And at less than $10 for a return ticket the ferry is actually one of the more affordable things in Denmark. We hopped on Scandlines’s ship Hamlet (cute, right?) and cruised across the sunny calm waters and docked in Sweden about 20 minutes later.
Entry into Sweden consisted of just walking off the boat. No immigration checks. No customs. Nothing. Even if we had wanted someone to check out our passports or if we had taxable items on which we needed to pay duty that would not have been possible as those desks were not manned at the terminal. So we successfully invaded Sweden. We then set off to wander about downtown Helsingborg and grab some lunch.
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Locals enjoying the beach near the ferry terminal in Helsingborg, Sweden.
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Helsingborg, Sweden is a much prettier town than Helsingør, Denmark so wandering around was rather more enjoyable. The shopping areas seemed to be a bit more upscale rather than focusing entirely on selling alcohol to Swedes who cross over to Denmark to avoid taxes on their booze (truly the backbone of Helsingr’s economy). There are also the typical tourist sites, including the 500 year old church and remnants from an old castle. Both are quite well done, actually, and worth wandering over to see.
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The only remaining bit from the castle at Helsingborg.
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A rose out in front of the medieval church. Lots of roses all over the region.
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| One of the many shops in the shopping area of Helsingborg |
We also dropped in to the local Italian restaurant for a surprisingly good lunch. My preferred choice was not available and so I ended up with a curried shrimp over pasta, decidedly un-Italian but still rather delicious. And the carbonara was pretty delicious. As an added bonus, I also got to sample the local beer, a lager by the name of Spendrups. Nothing to write home about, but it certainly qualified as cold, wet and beer, three things that I needed at that point.
Overall I must say that Helsingborg is definitely worth the visit. It is a fun, quaint town and has more to offer than Helsingør, assuming that you’re not looking for Hamlet’s castle. Plus it meant that I got another new country on this trip which is always a good thing!
