The View From My Beer
Today there was no Norwegian beer on tap, so I had to settle for the closest alternative, being Calsberg. Unfortunately I am not visiting Denmark any time soon, so now is a good time to break the rule of using a local beer, given I am about 500km to the north.
Haugesund
The first stop on my 14-day cruise to Norway & Iceland. My second cruise to Norway starts with a port I have not visited on my first cruise. Haugesund is in the south of Norway. It is a coastal city of about 35,000 people. The area is considered to be the place where Norway first united as a country. It is the home of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway.
My Walk
Before getting off the ship, I had established that my best option was likely to be a popular trail out of town that took in some coastal scenery. After that I would scout the city to enjoy a nice cold beer and take the obligatory photo. A view from my beer requires two things – a beer and a view!
Haugesund
The port of Haugesand was on an island, requiring a short 1 km walk across a bridge into town. I enjoyed being reunited with many of the typical Norwegian things from my first cruise, only this time the weather was distinctly better. So gone was the beanie and jacket and instead a hat from shade, shorts, and a t-shirt.
Kyststien
After passing through town I found signposts that pointed out the trail to Kyststien. The walk was similar to some of the coastal walks I had done in the UK and Norway. Lots of pretty flowers and some rugged coastline that created plenty of photo spots.
Return to Haugesund
On the walk back into town I took the opprtunity to visit Haraldshaugen, a monument that commemorates 1,000 years of Norways unification as a sngle country under the rule of King Harald Fairhair. Perhaps the most scenic part of town runs along the waterfront where there is a series of bars providing the perfect venue fro today’s view from my beer.
On the trip back to the ship, I noticed a few things I must have missed earlier in the day that provided a reminder of the connection between Haugesund and the North Sea. The first was an engineering yard that had pretty every shape of pipe imaginable that could be used on an off-shore oil rig. RThe second was a barge filled with container-sized living units. My best guess is these are used by maintenance workers when they visit North Sea oil rigs for major maintenance projects.
You might also like
Leave a reply