Port: Ålesund, Norway (Day Three of HAL Nieuw Statendam Nordics Cruise)
Our first port stop of my Holland America Nordics Cruise is to the picturesque port city of Ålesund in Norway.
THE DAILY
One of the things that Holland America does extremely well is with informing/education and that’s on various fronts. As you can see on the front page of the Daily, there is info about Global Blue Tax Refund – what it is, who is eligible and what steps are needed to claim it. And they take it further by bringing a Global Blue Representative onboard to make it even easier to process refunds!
DAY IN PORT
I am in the midst of changing how I write my port stop posts so this day has some overlap, but here’s a brief recap of my day. I will link to other posts that will go more in depth on the activities and tours that I did/took whilst in Ålesund.
Mount Aksla is located approximately 1KM/.62 miles and a 15-20 min walk from the cruise terminal.
You have a walk/hike up 418 steps and are awarded with an incredible viewpoint that allows you to see Ålesund in it’s glory and how it really lives up to its name of where mountains meet fjord.
For more info on Mount Aksla including what the trek up is like and all the ways to get up to the top if you’re not keen or able to do the walk, read this post here
Pro tip: for less crowds, start as early as possible. When I first started around 9:20, there were only a handful of people that I encountered on the steps. But by 10, buses had started arriving and many more had started climbing the stairs. Photo on the right is around 10:45 when I started going down and the photo on the left is around 12:30 or so when I was on my walking tour.
I had discovered that the Tourist Information center offers walking tours and learned more about Ålesund’s history and the art nouveau architecture. I love walking tours – there’s always interesting stories and tidbits that you wouldn’t otherwise learn about.
I ended up having lunch with the tour guide as she was showing a couple to this restaurant when I got here. We had a lovely lunch with the other two and I ended up bringing them back to this ice cream shop (and they were sweet to buy my ice cream cone).
For more on the walking tour and what my costs were for the day, read my Ålesund port day summary post
BACK ON THE SHIP
Crow’s nest is packed by the time I make it back on the ship so I spend some time on the pool deck as we sail away.
PRO TIP: The gym, sauna and thermal areas are less crowded if not empty during prime dinner times
I grab a plate from the buffet after a quick workout and watch Euro24 on the Lido deck before heading to my stateroom to finish watching the matches.
