Norway – Day 4

Sunday, 9 February 2025

We were in the Flora main restaurant at 7.30am this morning so that we could eat breakfast before heading out on our first shore excursion departing at 8.30am. Today we didn’t have to queue for breakfast we just had to hunt around a bit for a table that was set but not showing signs of occupation! Easy of course if the occupants are sitting at the table but much more difficult if they have only crumpled their serviette while they make a run to the buffet. We couldn’t find a two-seater table so eventually had to settle ourselves at a table set for four.

We had arrived in Molde (pronounced Moll-da) sometime during the night because we could see the lights of the township out of our porthole as we were dressing. However, we must have been anchored in the harbour pending our official arrival time with the captain only bringing us in to the dock just before 8.00am as we were finishing off breakfast.

Our info sheet on Molde tells us that the many lush and flowering rose gardens have given this lovely fjord town its label ‘The City of the Roses’. The township looks across the fjord to a panoramic view of snow-capped peaks which makes for a spectacular setting. And as we drove along the main road out of town on our excursion to the Atlantic Road we saw glimpses of a spectacular sunrise through the buildings. Damn, if we had still been on the boat we could have taken some photos from Deck 6. Hopefully there will be other glorious sunrises that we are able to photograph.

Today our guide was Marietta and our driver was Ute. Ute whisked us out towards Hustavika where seven bridges link Averøya Island to the mainland. In the early years of the 20^th century a plan was proposed to build a railway line linking the islands to the mainland to make it easier for the island fishermen to get their catch to market. However, the railway did not come to fruition and then cars came into wider use. In the 1930s it was decided that a road should be built instead of a railway but it took until 1983 for construction to start! The road is now considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful motoring journeys. In fact the tourism potential of the road was so great that the cost was recouped years ahead of schedule and tolls were removed.

We drove over the main arch and then turned around to come back to the car park adjacent to the elegant sweeping bridge. We were then able to walk along the observation walkway for stunning views of the islands and the tallest section of roadway. Marietta told us that this road featured in the last James Bond movie ‘No Time To Die’ and that locals caused the cinematographers quite a few headaches photo bombing their attempts to shoot the footage they wanted!

On our way to The Atlantic Road we drove through a mountain via a three kilometre long tunnel. On our way back to Molde we drove around the mountain via Bud (pronounced Bude, like Jude). About half an hour out of Molde we stopped for the obligatory excursion morning tea. I thought that I would have been happy enough to get back to the boat half and hour earlier BUT then they served us waffles with strawberry jam and cream which was delicious.

The best thing though, the restaurant had plain green tea tea-bags. Who knew it would be so hard to by green tea here in Norway? I should have brought my own. We looked at a supermarket in Bergen and there was green tea and mint and green tea and ginger and green tea and lemon and lots of other fruity and combined flavour teas but no plain green tea. On the boat there is green tea and lemon and green tea and mint but no plain green tea. While I was making my cup of green tea this morning I pocketed three green tea tea-bags to tide me over for the next couple of days. I’ll keep checking supermarkets along our route and hope that I can pick up some green tea tea-bags at some point. Fingers crossed.

Which reminds me of the other culinary tragedy. I didn’t pack my jar of Vegemite!!!!!! I only realised this this morning when we were leaving the dining room and encountered Meredith and Fiona on their way into breakfast, Meredith with her jar of Vegemite in her hand. D’Oh, I though, I don’t recall packing my Vegemite. Let’s hope I don’t really, really need the comfort of Vegemite toast on this trip. Fortunately, Meredith has said that she’s happy to share some of hers if I need it. Totally had the Vegemite ready to pack weeks ago but I suspect that after our 4×4 trip the Vegemite I had set aside to take overseas with me ended up in one of the pantry boxes that we take four wheel driving??? I don’t ask for much in the way of special food when I’m travelling, just green tea and Vegemite and I find myself without ready access to either.

After morning tea at 11.30am we were back at the boat by 12.30pm. Hmmn, lunch is only available until 2.00pm so I suppose we’d better fit some lunch in? They had seafood soup in the tureen so we decided on a light lunch of soup with a crusty bread roll. That was enough for me, but Bernie managed a small plate of cold meat and salad too!

After lunch we headed off the boat again with our Walking Tour of Molde map in hand. We headed up the hill out of the harbour and after taking a wrong turn right off the bat we traipsed through someone’s back yard to get back on track. After this little hiccup we spied the green arrows denoting the walking route and found our way to The Chateau an elegant mansion that dates to 1918.

From The Chateau we continued uphill to the rotunda at Reknes Park where we were treated to an elevated vista over the (allegedly) 222 peaks opposite Molde. The track then dipped down to Hammervolløa, a collection of houses and gardens protected for their cultural significance. We continued past the Krona (Crown) Museum and around to Molde Church which was consecrated in 1957. There has been a church on this site since 1661 but after town fires and attacks three have been destroyed . When the current (fourth) church was built it was decided to build in reinforced concrete. Our final stop on the walk was at Rosepiken (The Rose Girl) statue that stands in the town square in front of the Molde Radhus (Town Hall).

We were back on the boat well in advance of our 4.00pm sailing time so retired to our cabin to record our memories for the blog. After catching up on yesterday I managed to read my book for a while without falling asleep. Everyone must have been prompt with the return to the ship today as we pulled away from the dock ahead of schedule at 3.55pm.

At 6.30pm we headed down to the dining room to find our allocated table, Table 81. When we arrived Melbourne girls Meredith and Fiona were already seated along with Claudia and Mark from Sandringham. Tonight’s dinner was à la carte with choice of four entrees, three main courses and four desserts. Everyone was very happy with what they chose. We asked our waiter how many sittings there are each night and he said every half hour until 8.30pm. That was something else to be happy about – not having to wait until 8.30pm every night to go to dinner!

Steps: 11,111 (7.32km)