I'm a little late on this blog, but for once I think I have a legitimate excuse for my tardiness.........Hurricane Idalia! We arrived in Boston on Saturday, August 26, and flew back to Florida that same day. We knew from the news and communication with family and friends that something was churning down south of Florida that looked like it had the potential to develop into a major hurricane as it moved north.
As it started to gain strength on Sunday it became apparent that this storm was unfortunately living up to and possibly exceeding predictions. Evacuation orders for Anna Maria Island (where Beth's mothers' home is located) were issued Monday. So less than 48 hours after unpacking, we packed up some clothes and a bit of food and headed south to Beth's sister, Debbie's house in Port Charlotte.
Idalia passed by Anna Maria Island about 150 miles offshore. In spite of the distance, storm surge resulted in the flooding of some homes and businesses on the island. Fortunately for us, Beth's moms house was unscathed. The power and destructive potential of these hurricanes is scary. Idalia wreaked havoc in the Big Bend area of Florida causing billions of dollars in damages, but thankfully due to people taking the warnings seriously, there seems to be minimal injuries or loss of life!
So here I am, a bit behind again but this time with an excuse!
Back at the beginning of the summer we were looking for a way to escape the heat and humidity of the Florida summer. We had just returned from an Alaskan cruise and had a great time, so we started looking for cruise options. Beth shared with me a seventeen-day cruise from Boston to Rotterdam. It looked interesting and then I noticed that there was an eighteen-day return cruise from Rotterdam back to Boston. The cruises were marketed as the "Voyage of the Vikings". My feeling was that in the true Viking spirit, we needed to be fully committed so I suggested we do the round-trip voyage...........it took less than a nanosecond to convince Beth...........we were all in!
The cruise was on Holland America Lines Zuiderdam, which has a passenger capacity of around 2,000 and a crew of around 800. For our taste, it's a nice size ship, not one of those huge things that so many of the cruise lines are sailing these days, but also not too small. We had cruised on Holland America several times previously and always enjoyed the service, amenities, entertainment and food. Additionally, we enjoyed the demographic of the Holland America passengers. It's an older group and very active group. While we're not exactly spring chickens, we do bring down the average age of the passengers just slightly. Although they may be slightly older, many of them have incredible stories of travels throughout their lives that they love to share. A significant percentage of them have been to Antarctica (the only continent we haven't visited) and have done around the world cruises and/or cruises that are 70+ days in length, most of them more than once. We consider ourselves pretty well traveled until we get on a Holland America ship!
We met so many fantastic people ranging in age from their 20's to their early 90's. One lady we visited with frequently was a 93 year old solo traveler who we would see exploring out and about in the ports. We loved getting to know our regular hot tub friends Marshall and Chloey who are in their early/middle 20's. We enjoyed our New York Times Crossword Puzzle friends (Arthur and Elizabeth). Also, after talking with another couple (Jim and Marilyn) we discovered that we almost rented their house a few years earlier!
We flew from Florida to Boston on Friday, July 21 and enjoyed one day exploring Boston before boarding the ship. While we're not big fans of large cities anymore, Boston doesn't seem real large and is a wonderfully walkable city that we hadn't been in for a few years. We had a great time exploring the historic downtown and north end, as well as the Boston Common and Public Gardens Park.
One of the things that attracted us to the Voyage of the Vikings was the itinerary. There was a good mix of ports that varied in size from large cities, such as Belfast and Rotterdam right down to villages in Greenland with less than 1,500 residents. Additionally, there were sea days and two scenic cruising days in the Greenland Prince Christian Sound (one each direction). This made for a nice mix of active days and less active (recovery) days. I won't blog about some of the sea days, but I'll share a bit of information on every port of call from Boston to Rotterdam in this blog. The next one will be about the return journey from Rotterdam to Boston.
Our Voyage of the Vikings cruise left Boston at around 10:00 PM on July 22. While I can't find any evidence of Vikings ever visiting Boston, you gotta start somewhere and Boston is a nice place to start. Once we got going we did spend plenty of time exploring many places where the Vikings explored, plundered and pillaged back from the ninth until the eleventh century.
Bar Harbor, Maine (Sunday, July 23)
I'm not sure of the exact distance by water from Boston to Bar Harbor, but I can tell you it isn't far. We made our way overnight at a very leisurely pace. I believe that if I'd have had a canoe I could have gotten there faster, but then again, we weren't in any hurry...........the adventure was just beginning.
Bar Harbor is a quaint seaside town that we had enjoyed visiting in the past. It is the gateway to Acadia National Park which annually hosts more than four million visitors. While all four million weren't at the park the day of our visit, a good chunk of them were enjoying a beautiful, sunny Sunday exploring the rugged 41 miles of coastline and numerous trails that run through the 35,000 acre park.
If you plan to visit Acadia, please note that the summers are very busy, and parking is somewhat limited. There are free shuttles that run from downtown Bar Harbor to the park (Sponsored by LL Bean). There are several routes, however, the one most recommended seems to be Route 3 (Sand Beach Route). The driver suggested that if we wanted to hike along the shore to exit the bus at the Otter Cliff stop and then walk back along the coastal trail (approximately 2 miles) to Sand Beach. We took his advice and had both a great hike and plenty of seating available on the bus for our return ride into downtown Bar Harbor. If you're looking for another nice walk the Shore Path Trail from downtown is an incredibly scenic trail that is approximately one mile in length.
Sydney, Nova Scotia (Tuesday, July 25)
When we arrived in Sydney, we noticed one thing real fast.........it was hot! Sydney is located 2,160 miles north of Anna Maria Island. A quick check of the Weather Channel app showed that it was a measly 2 degrees cooler in Sydney than Anna Maria. We knew there would be cooler days ahead, so we weren't overly concerned. Sydney has a population of approximately 30,000 people. It was incorporated as a city in 1904, however, the good citizens of Sydney decided in 1995 they had had enough and unincorporated. It's now a "community" and it proudly boasts being home to the World's Largest Fiddle. We fiddled around for several hours, enjoying the boardwalk and strolling through Wentworth Park. It was a nice day in a nice and pretty laid-back Canadian community.
Corner Brook, Newfoundland (Wednesday, July 26)
We found it.............cooler weather..........with a soaking rain mixed in!
One of the challenges in many ports around the world is that there are often too many cruise ships. It's not unusual in some places for there to be five or six cruise ships in port on the same day, which can be a bit overwhelming for local residents and other visitors. It frequently creates a "can't live with them, can't live without them" scenario. That's not the case in Corner Brook!
According to the information we saw in the port, Corner Brook averages about 5 cruise ships a month during their summer/fall season. Everyone we met during our time there was extremely friendly and appreciative of our visit. The city has developed a really nice trail system (Corner Brook Stream Trail Network) that was easy to access and very enjoyable. After a few hours on the trails we headed back to town just as the heavens opened up with a heavy downpour. It had been so hot and dry in Florida during July that it actually felt refreshing. It spite of the rain, we took a small "tourist train" tour of the city that set us back a whopping $2 per person.
I was so impressed with the friendliness of everyone we met in Corner Brook that as we were leaving I emailed the Mayor to let him know. I received a nice thank you along with a request for me to share the good news about Corner Brook with others..............consider it done Mayor Parsons!
Paamiut, Greenland (Saturday, July 29)
After a couple of relaxing "sea days" we arrived in Paamiut, Greenland (population 1308). With a total population of approximately 56,000 and a land mass of over 836,000 square miles, Greenland is the least densely populated country in the world. The largest city in Greenland is Nuuk which has a population of less than 20,000!
According to legend, those Vikings were pretty clever. Most of Greenland is uninhabitable and covered with ice. Iceland, on the other hand, has a more welcoming environment and an abundance of natural resources. When the Vikings discovered this, they cleverly named them the opposite of what the land was really like and kept the secret for themselves for as long as they could.
While the Vikings may not have liked Greenland as much as Iceland, centuries later it's a fascinating place to visit. We arrived early in the morning to the small, colorful fishing village of Paamiut, which was founded as a whaling and fishing village in 1782. Not only was Paamiut small, but it was also quite sleepy. We were greeted by a few friendly locals, while the rest of the village seemed to remain tucked in their beds for a few more hours.
We enjoyed walking around the village for several hours. Taking in the sights, enjoying the serenity and imagining what it would be like to live in such a remote place.
Nanortalik, Greenland (Sunday, July 30)
With a population of around 1,000, Nanortalik is slightly smaller than Paamiut. It is also the southernmost village in Greenland. Fishing is the main industry of all the small coastal villages of Greenland, although I'm sure the cruise ships that visit contribute to the economy. In addition to the colorful houses and buildings, much of Nanortalik was covered with wildflowers. It was about 45 degrees, which felt wonderful and was the relief from the heat that we were looking for on this adventure. Again, as we walked around the village and along a couple of small trails. We enjoyed the sights and serenity........this time, thanks to a breeze we were bug free!
Prince Christian Sound (Monday, July 31)
Prince Christian Sound is a 62-mile waterway in southern Greenland that was close to 4 billion years in the making. Without question, the wait was worth it! Prince Christian Sound is like a kaladiscope that is ever changing with icebergs, glaciers, cascading waterfalls and rugged mountain peaks reaching over 5,000 feet skyward.
At the beginning of our seven-hour scenic cruise through the sound we were greeted with fog, which made the scenery even more surreal. Gradually the fog lifted and for the rest of the journey we were treated to blue skies overhead as we made our way. It was one of those "have to pinch yourself" just to make sure it's real kind of days. We were disappointed as we passed by the last of the large icebergs at the exit of the sound, however, we were happy knowing that in just a few weeks we'd pass back through the sound on our return cruise to Boston.
Isafjordur, Iceland (August, 2)
Isafjordur is a village of 2,500 residents on the northwest side of Iceland. Isafjordur translates to "Ice Fjord". Although relatively small, it is the largest settlement in the Westfjords and is the home to most government and support services. It is frequently referred to as the unofficial capital of the Westfjords. At this late point in the season the fjord was ice free and the sail in was quite spectacular. The city is located in a valley with steep mountains as a backdrop. We learned that some of the homes in the valley are protected by "avalanche fences" while others are not. The ones that are not are prone to avalanches and can only be used during the summer months.
I'm not sure exactly how many there are, but Iceland is covered with what seems to be thousands of waterfalls. The Isafjordur area is certainly no exception. We enjoyed taking a excursion out of town to the Dynjandi waterfall, which is over 350 feet high with five smaller, but no less scenic waterfalls below it. After our tour we had plenty of time to roam around a bit before heading back to the Zuiderdam, anxious to see what adventures lied ahead.
Akureyri, Iceland (August 4)
With a population of around 20,000, Akureyri is the fifth largest municipality in Iceland and the largest outside the capital region of Reykjavik. One of the real bragging points of Akureyri, that we learned of from a local, is that it is practically crime free. Crime is so low that there are only five police officers in the entire city. Isn't it nice to know there are places like this that still exist?
The town had a very nice and busy pedestrian street with shops, bars and restaurants that all seemed to be doing a brisk business. It was Friday and there was an air of excitement in the atmosphere. Akureyri was hosting a big festival over the weekend.............hopefully those five police officers weren't too busy!
Lerwick, Shetland Islands Scotland (August 6)
One hundred twenty-three miles from the Scottish Mainland is Lerwick, the largest town and capital of the Shetland Islands. The Shetland Islands have been around for a while. Evidence shows they were first settled around 2500 BC. The most famous export of the Shetland Islands, you probably guessed it.......the small horse commonly known as the Shetland Pony.
There was an amazing coastal trail walk that was accessible right near the port. It took us along the rugged and rocky coastline for several miles. Although the path continued on, we turned around at the stone fortress known as Clickimin Broch that is over 2000 years old. We made our way back to the city center along the same trail for a while before cutting into the residential area, which took us past the city's school, hospital, town hall and public garden, all of which were quite impressive.
Rotterdam, Netherlands (August 8)
Rotterdam was the "turnaround point" of the Voyage of the Vikings. When we reached Rotterdam about 200 of our fellow passengers who had opted for the seventeen-day portion of the thirty-five-day cruise disembarked. We were joined by about the same number of new passengers who would be with us back to Boston.
As far as Holland America goes, Rotterdam is where it all began. First as a cargo shipping company, and later as a passenger line. We docked in downtown Rotterdam just a few blocks away from the impressive building that once served as Holland Americas headquarters (it's now a hotel and restaurant).
We disembarked shortly after our arrival and made our way through the city center to the central train station. Although it was early the city center was quite busy. We were pretty confident that we'd soon be meeting our demise. We just weren't sure if it was going to be from a car, bike, bus or streetcar. Somehow in spite of ourselves we survived the day, and what a day it was!
We took a short (10-15 minute) train ride from the city center to the city of Delft. Delft was smaller and quieter. There was an interesting difference between Delft and Rotterdam. Delft's buildings were old and very historic while Rotterdam is virtually a new city. The difference.........most of the original city of Rotterdam were destroyed during World War II. We enjoyed slowly exploring along some of the numerous canals that run through the city before taking the train back to Rotterdam.
Back in Rotterdam we continued our "Netherlands by Foot" tour. Our feet took us past the very modern Museum Rotterdam, Markethal (Central Market), City Hall, Cubed Houses and much more before we made our way back across the Erasmus Bridge to the Zuiderdam. By days end we had walked over fourteen miles. Thank goodness the next day was a "Sea Day"!
Coming Soon.................Voyage of the Vikings Part Two.......................Rotterdam to Boston
