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Spectacular Norway!
Oslo, Bergen
And a Coastal Cruise
June 12– 25, 2012
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Your Executive Worldwide Travel Tour Itinerary
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June 12 – Depart Canada.
June 13 – Arrive in Oslo and check in at the Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel,
located in the centre of the city near Oslo's finest shopping, sightseeing and entertainment.
Overnight Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel. B
June 14 – Breakfast at the hotel followed by a full-day sightseeing tour of this exciting global city.
Overnight Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel. B
June 15 – Full day at leisure to enjoy this world city.
Overnight Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel. B
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Some of the many interesting sights in Oslo
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Akershus Castle – Dating from 1299, this medieval castle and royal residence includes several magnificent halls, the Akershus Castle church, the Royal Mausoleum, models of the castle, the government's reception rooms and banquet halls.
The Viking Ship Museum presents great Viking ship discoveries as well as the world's two best-preserved wooden Viking ships built in the 9th century as well as small boats, sledges, a cart with exceptional ornamentation, tools, harness, textiles and household utensils.
The National Gallery houses Norway's largest public collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures. The museum's central attractions include Edvard Munch's The Scream and Madonna and paintings by Cézanne and Manet.
Munch Museum – Edvard Munch has a unique position among Nordic painters and is considered a pioneer in expressionism.
The Munch Museum's collection, left to the city of Oslo by Edvard Munch, consists of a large number of paintings, graphical prints and drawings.
At the Fram Museum, come on board Fram, the strongest wooden ship ever built and still the record-holder for sailing farthest north and farthest south.
See how the crew and their dogs lived and managed to survive in the coldest and most dangerous places on earth - the Arctic and the Antarctic.
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The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History is one of Europe's largest open-air museums. It consists of 155 traditional houses from all over Norway and a Stave Church from the year 1200.See traditional handicraft items, folk costumes, Sami culture, weapons, toys, pharmaceutical history and other historic artifacts.
Akershus Fortress, located in the city centre by the Oslo Fjord, is a great place to discover Oslo's history and a beautiful place to enjoy a summer day.
Hadeland Glassverk (glassworks) explains the production of glass from the 1800s to the present and allows you to blow your own glass. Hadeland Glassverk's eight shops offer an unique opportunity to buy both quality crystal and porcelain at fantastic factory prices.
Vigeland Sculpture Park is the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron.
The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet is Norway’s largest performing arts institution. Designed by the Norwegian architects Snøhetta, it is the first opera house in the world to let visitors walk on the roof.
Holmenkollen National Ski Arena - Inside the actual ski jump is the Holmenkollen Ski Museum, the world's oldest ski museum. The museum presents over 4,000 years of skiing history and polar exploration artifacts.The observation deck on top of the jump tower offers panoramic views of Oslo.
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June 16 – Depart Oslo on the “Over The Roof of Norway” train to Bergen,
one of the “top 20 railway experiences in the world.”
Check in at Scandic Neptun Hotel, centrally situated in the center of Bergen.
The hotel is noted for its cozy atmosphere, its excellent French cuisine, one of the best wine
cellars in Norway, and its extensive private art collection. B
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June 17 – Full day at leisure to explore Bergen, Gateway to the Fjords.
Bergen is full of history and tradition, an international city that has retained its small-town charm.
Visit the old Hanseatic wharf, Bryggen, a lively and important part of the city through the centuries.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, it includes the remains of the old harbour buildings and is one
of the best known medieval city settlements in Norway. The Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene,
the Hanseatic assembly rooms, give an intimate picture of the life of Hanseatic merchants who
dominated Bryggen for 400 years.
Bryggens Museum, next to the twelfth century St. Mary’s Church, the oldest building in Bergen,
illustrates commerce, handicrafts and daily life in the Middle Ages. Bryggen also houses
the Theta Museum of the Resistance Movement during the Occupation of Norway during World War II.
See the Royal Residence and Håkon’s Hall, which was built by King Håkon Håkonsson in the 1200s
and the adjacent Rosenkrantz Tower, which dates from the 1270s.
Take the short ride on the Fløibanen Funicular from the city centre to the top of the Fløien
Mountain to view the city, the mountains, the fjords and the sea.
Then take an easy walk through delightful scenery to bring you back down to the hustle
and bustle of the Bergen Fish Market.
Bergen has several valuable and impressive art collections, housed in a string of galleries
facing the central Lake Lille Lungegårdsvann, including the Bergen Art Museum, with its Edvard
Munch’s paintings; Bergen Contemporary Art Centre; and West Norway Museum of Decorative Art.
Visit the Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen, the home of Norway’s most famous composer,
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). Grieg lived here for 22 years and composed many of his best-known
works in the little garden hut by the shore of Lake Nordås. See the cliff-hewn tomb where
he and his wife Nina are buried.
Close to Troldhaugen you will find the rebuilt Fantoft Stave Church.
Don’t miss the Old Bergen Museum, an open air museum with more than 40 wooden houses representing
Bergen architecture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its two delightful eighteenth-
century manors now turned into museums: Damsgård Manor, a unique example of wooden rococo architecture,
and Alvøen Country Mansion, the nucleus of the old industrial village of Alvøen.
Photos: Nina Aldin Thune
Overnight: Scandic Neptun Hotel BD
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June 18 – Cruise departs this evening.
Full day free to continue exploring this interesting city.
You board the MS Finnmarken this evening. BD
June 19: Maloy-Torvik-Alesund-Molde-Kristiansund
When you awake, the ship will be crossing the open Stadthavet and heading for Torvik.
En route, you'll stop in the beautiful Art Nouveau town of Ålesund and at Geiranger in
the Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to see the beautiful Brudesloret, Friaren,
and the Seven Sisters waterfalls.
After a call at Molde, whose magnificent view of the Romsdal Alps made it a favorite vacation
spot of Henrik Ibsen, the ship will carefully navigate the Hustadvika, a belt of islets and skerries,
before docking at Kristiansund. BLD
Available excursions:
H-AES2B Geiranger Panorama 2 € 151
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June 20: Trondheim-Rørvik
The ship arrives early this morning in ancient Trondheim, where you'll have time to explore
this jewel of a city, Norway's first capital.
The first Viking sale of goods from "the new found land" took place here about 1000 AD when
timber from Leiv Eriksson's Vinland estate was sold to a Bremen merchant.
Walk the charming streets, sit by the peaceful harbour, or cross the old city bridge
to see the restored wooden buildings in Bakklandet and the great gothic cathedral of Nidaros,
where the new kings of old Norway once received their official blessing.
From Trondheim, the ship sails on to Rørvik, where the southbound and northbound coastal ships meet. BLD
Available excursions:
H-TRD3A Nidaros Cathedral & Ringve Museum € 54
H-TRD3C Sverresborg, Trøndelag Folk Museum € 37
H-TRD3D Trondheim City Walk € 23
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June 21: Ørnes-Bodø-Stamsund-Svolvær
Today you'll cross the Arctic Circle. Of course you can't actually see the line, but on your portside,
the globe on the island of Vikingen serves as a marker.
There are spectacular sites ahead: islands and skerries with majestic rock formations, whose
origins are the stuff of legend. After Bodø, the ship heads out to open sea for the Lofoten Islands
with their picturesque cabins on stilts and weathered wooden racks with drying cod.
In the evening, she'll navigate the narrow Raftsund Strait, passing the looming crags
of the Trollfjord. BLD
Available excursions:
H-ORS4A Glacier Adventure, Svartisen € 149
H-BOO4D RIB Safari, Saltstraumen € 112
H-STU4F Lofotr Viking Feast Summer € 99
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June 22: Harstad-Finnsnes-Tromsø-Skjervøy
This morning you'll pass the medieval Trondenes church before calling at Harstad for breakfast.
Afterward, you'll sail across the Vågsfjord past the great island of Senja with its diverse
countryside of farmland, pine trees, and plunging peaks.
Later you'll stop at Tromsø, the "Paris of the North".
In the 19th century, Russian, British,
Dutch, and German ships called here before heading off on Arctic expeditions for hunting whales,
walruses and seals. BLD
Available excursions:
5A The Arctic Capital Tromsø € 54
5C Scenery & Huskies € 54
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June 23: Hammerfest-Havøysund –
Honningsvåg-Kjøllefjord-Mehamn-
Berlevåg-Kirkenes
Finnmark's landscape is austere in its beauty, but teeming with wildlife.
Watch for rookeries of puffins and gannets along the cliffs and pods of orca hunting for herring.
After calling at Honningsvåg, the capital of the North Cape, the ship heads east toward the pretty
fishing villages of Kjøllefjord, Mehamn, and Berlevåg. BLD
Available excursions:
6A The North Cape € 99
6B Bird-watching Safari € 131
6C A Taste of Lapland € 81
June 24 – Cruise ends in Kirkenes.
Arrive at Kirkenes, the journey's northern terminus and turning point.
Fly to Oslo.
Overnight at Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel.
June 25: Depart for Canada
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