Canadian World Traveller Winter 2018-19 Issue

On Top of the World with Viking
Part II: We Set Sail
Article and photography by Michael Morcos
extravagant - private planes to view the surrounding
landscape.
Beautiful Bergen
Jet-lag was not enough to deter us from discovering
this little Norwegian jewel. As
Norway’s second largest city, Bergen is a popular
tourist destination and there are many
reasons why. It is charming, clean, and friendly,
and has some of the best looking historical
architecture we would see on our cruise
through the north. The iconic view of the historic
Bryggen wharf is a site to behold. For
years I have seen colorful pictures of this and
finally had the chance to visit this district and
its many small alleyways.
Geiranger and the Fjords
Our first day and our first port of call would be
a highlight of our trip, and getting to
Geiranger was as fantastic as being there. We
would pass through what would be the best
Fjords of our cruise and on this foggy day the
landscape was perfectly mysterious with towering
cliffs and breathtaking waterfalls.
In this part two of our wonderful Viking
cruise, we set sail. Heading straight north
from our base in Bergen, we hugged the
coast to the European lands-end in
Honningsvåg, Norway. From this land of the
midnight sun we navigate our way south to the
mystical land known as the Shetland and
Orkney Islands just before we end our journey
in London.
This memorable cruise would be fascinating,
educational, relaxing and with calm seas,
totally enjoyable thanks to the great efforts of
the Viking management and crew. It is a cruise
where everything works as it should. The
Viking Sea was beautiful, luxurious and comfortable,
and the service was impeccable.
On land, we would participate in all the Viking
shore excursions. There was one included in
every port of call and they were well planned,
easy going, lots of fun and a great way to
meet other like-minded Viking guests to say
the least.
Knowledgeable local guides brought the different
destinations to life and you can be sure
that they covered the most important attractions
and topics. So easy were these outings
that the only stress was keeping an eye on time
and getting to the luxury coaches for scheduled
departures.
A note about booking these optional excursions:
some of the more popular tours fill up
fast and priority is given to guests with a category
of Deluxe Veranda suite or higher. It is for
this reason that once you are confirmed as a
guest, reservations for tours should be done
right away on their well-designed and user
friendly login guest website.
Besides the included excursions, Viking offered
a host of optional outings. At a small cost,
guests had at their disposal the best of the best
at the tip of their fingers including historical
tours, gastronomical tours, cultural encounters
with locals, fishing trips, biking and hiking
through mountains, right up to the most
Here we opted for an extra excursion that
included an adventure that brought us up
through snaking roads to a farm on a plateau.
Getting there was made easier with the aid of
electronic bicycles and although you still had
to make a big effort, it was nothing compared
to a regular bike. Geiranger is an outdoors
persons dream, there were numerous hiking
trails, or kayaking the fjords options and anywhere
you go it was like being in a postcard.
Molde
In Molde we would have yet another amazing
day, this time we would kayak the sea with a
professional outdoorsman. That is right, our
young guide was actually studying to be just
that, going to school and soon to graduate
which made me wonder but then again this is
Norway and most of its citizens have a close
connection to the land.
Our Kayaking was in contrast to our visit to a
newly constructed heritage village. Wooden
buildings were brought in from numerous
Norwegian places and with the addition of
craftsmen from the many ages and characters
in period clothing, this was a great look at how
the people lived and survived in what could be
a harsh land.
Photo: Viking