P&O Aurora Norwegian Excursions

September 2024. My parents in law have been wanting to go on a cruise for a while now but didn’t feel like going on their own so they tagged along with Sam and I. My father in law’s ultimate destination would be the Norwegian Fjords, combined with the new that soon-ish cruises to the Fjords would be limited (and thus price sky-rocketing) we decided to cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. Considering I have to take time off at work outside of major school holidays we were looking at September-October, combined with my wish to cruise for longer than a week we ended up with a P&O cruise out of Southampton.

Our First stop was the city of Haugesund. The docks looked a bit industrial as the ship docked right next to a factory of oil rigs. Due to the inclement weather we opted out of walking to the city centre and instead chose to travel on the rather expensive shuttle bus across the iconic Risoy bru bridge to the city centre.

Once we got off the bus in front of the church we started our stroll across the tiny town centre. Our first objective of the day was acquiring an umbrella. After buying them, the weather cleared up and the sun broke through without needing to open our newly bought umbrellas. The city centre is a fairly typical northern European city centre with a central pedestrianised shopping street and a big square in front of the city hall.

We strolled around the town and visited some shops. Once we finished our tour of the town we decided to walk back to the ship across the iconic bridge, feeling much less steep than it looked.

The second stop was in Skjolden. This felt much more like what we would expect the Norwegian fjords to look like. The ship docked a bit outside the city centre, but we could follow a nice walking path along the fjord towards the centre.

The town was quaint with wooden houses and the replica of a Viking ship on display. There was also a piece of modern art overlooking the spectacular scenery of the fjord.

Next up was Ålesund, a bigger city. Here we docked near the ‘bustling’ city centre (for a Sunday). Once again we opted out of a proper excursion and once again walked around town on our own. Here we did visit the Art Nouveau Museum.

Located in a time capsule of a Art Nouveau pharmacy, showcasing some of the arts and crafts of the town and talking about why the city was known as the Art Nouveau City. Adjacent and included in our entrance fee was also the modern art museum which we briefly visited.

One of the biggest cities on our trip, Trondheim, was next. Originally we booked a city tour in a historic tram, but as they just tore up the tram line this was replaced by a bus tour on the last minute.

The tour first took us up the mountain for a panoramic view over the city. Subsequently it drove us around town and the university district to showcase some of the typical Trondheim sights before dropping us off at the famous Nidros cathedral.

Opting to not visit the cathedral we strolled around the city centre on our own. Walking the main street and the old industrial area.

Åndalsnes was another stop where we booked a tour. Here we booked a trip by train on the Rauma line. I originally expected this to be a go and return trip on the train.

But it turned out to be departing on the bus stopping at some sights and waterfalls on the way before boarding the train at Bjorli station for our trip back down towards Åndalsnes. We saw some very spectacular scenery on the route. Our train was one of the normal scheduled SJ train services operated by a Talent DMU.

The other option would have been the Golden Train, this was a diesel locomotive hauled rake of former Deutsche Bahn Intercity coaches, and would have been a simple go and return trip on the train. Next time I would book the golden train as this is more the experience I was hoping to get.

Our next stop in Nordfjordeid was once again a rather rural town with quaint wooden houses. Here they also had a Viking museum housed in a modern building. We visited the museum and found a replica of a drakkar inside, some typical museum exhibits and a virtual reality experience in which you could walk through a Viking village.

In Eidfjord we stopped in an even quieter village, but here we walked to a lake a bit further and on the way back passed an ancient Viking burial ground.

We ended our trip with a stop in the bigger city of Stavanger. Once again we walked around town on our pace. Bring a bigger city we encountered some bigger buildings and lots of shops.