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Alesund - Part 4
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
The Venice of Norway, if such a thing exists, the beautiful canals and shops make this a landmark destination.
Today we arrived in Alesund. As this was the first port, we thought we’d do the right thing and take the tour with the ship. Doing so is usually the safest route, and as we’ve never really set foot in Norway I was easing on the side of caution. Vikings could be lurking anywhere.
The tour drove through Alesund for a little bit, which is all that it can do as Alesund is a small village, but then again it’s the fourth largest town in Norway. Most of Norway seems to be like that. The largest cities, are large, but then again, not unmanageably large.
The first stop was the Sunnmore Museum, which is an open-air set of buildings showing how the Norwegians lived over the past millennium or so. Not Viking Norwegians, but fishing and farming Norwegians. The most notable feature of this museum is the sod-covered homes. The Norwegians would cover their roofs with sod, which in turn would grow grass, to act as a means of insulation. I also felt that this worked as a very effective means of camouflage, but the tour guide insisted that was wrong. She also told us how the Norwegians used to put their goats on the roof to keep the grass growing in check.
After visiting Sunnmore museum, we went to the observation area on the mountain Aksla to look over the city. Nearly every picture of Alesund ever published has been taken from this mountain. It enables you to see the town from a bird's eye view, but also to see how it completely encompasses the islands around it, making it look like a Norwegian version of Venice, albeit much smaller.
But why are we looking at Alesund? Yes, it’s pretty, but what makes it notable? Nearly every town in Norway seems to have burnt down once in its history, but Alesund completely burnt down in 1904. The entire populace needed a place to stay and instead of living out in the cold all winter, they built the town up from scratch. With the town being built at the same time, it now is entirely Art Neouve in design.
We spent the day wandering around Alesund, and headed back to the Welcome Reception. It was there that we met Captain Corsaro the Sicilian. Corsaro, is where we get the word corsair, or more commonly used, Pirate. Yes, this man was made for the sea, but that is too much of a distraction from our adventure.
We said hello. We learned he was Sicilian, and then for the next twenty minutes we only spoke in Sicilian.
I should interject here that when Margherita re-read the story she insisted that we add that she had a bond with the Captain, a bond of being Sicilian. The Captain listed in his bio that he was Sicilian, not Italian, and was very proud of that fact. Every time they saw each other they would greet each other in Sicilian and compare things to Sicily, practically walking around with the Sicilian flag on their shoulders.
On a ship, there instantly develops a social structure of worth. Some guests will fight and kill a man simply to be invited to the captain’s table. Then, knowing the captain and being able to shake his hand, well, there are some guests who again would contemplate murder for such a thing.
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Captain Corsaro Pulling out of Port | |
We instantly became the envy of the ship. Not only were we talking to the Captain in Sicilian, nobody knew what the hell we were saying. The jealousy arose.
The captain invited us to go to the bridge, as he pulled out of Alesund.
Being on the bridge is a unique and odd experience. You have the greatest view and you get to see the man in action. But then again, you don’t want to distract him. One wrong move and the ship and the dock become much more intimate than is necessary. We stood back, let the Captain do his thing, and then he decided to involve Margherita.
Didn’t he know that this was a mistake? She’ll be talking about this for years.
"Would you like to ring the bell?"
Yes, she had the honor of sounding the horn. Three rings meant, we’re pulling out, stand aside. In her eyes, the entire destiny of the ship was hinged on her success or failure with ringing the bell.
I’d say she walked as proud as a peacock, but peacocks never ring the bell of the ship, as directed by a Sicilian Captain. She was quite happy.
SilverSea Cruises - Part 1
Copenhagen - Part 2
SilverSea at Sea - Part 3
Alesund - Part 4
Geiranger - Part 5
Trondheim - Part 6
Traveling the Fjords - Part 7
The North Cape - Part 8
Hammerfest - Part 9
Cruising the Fjords - Part 10
Cruising the Fjords - Part 11
Bergen - Part 12
Gudvagen and Flaam - Part 13
Cruising - Part 14
Copenhagen and Departure - Part 15
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