CRUISES: Hurtigruten and Norway’s Soul in Winter

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

You can explore Europe the easy way or the hard way. The hard way works well when you are young: a backpack that holds everything, a guide book preferably one that was written by college students; a rail pass that takes you anywhere, a deep curiosity never-ending about the world and the currency that has permanent value -- unlimited time. Ah, the good old days! The hard way is harder when you are older, when you have not a backpack but a bad back -- and time is short.

That’s when tour operators like Trafalgar and Tauck found a way to demonstrate to tourists the benefit of their European adventures – by luxury coach. But then along came Viking and Uniworld to tell travelers they can journey to the very center of this continent through its rivers and French Country Waterways by its canals. Joining this concept -- that you can see a country’s heart from within its borders, a cruise line once called Norwegian Coastal Voyage now named Hurtigruten, believes it can show you more than the heart but, in the case of Norway, its very soul.

Those special places poet Robert Browning once wrote about: “All the heart and the soul and the senses, for ever in joy!”

The landscape Hurtigruten shows you lets the cruise line label its passage up this captivating coast “The World’s Most Beautiful Voyage.” No argument. It may also be the world’s most different cruise. Initially in 1893 the ships were not really cruise ships, they were mail boats and they won the affection of the communities struggling to survive in winter along Norway’s sometimes bleak shorelines. In the earliest part of that century it took three weeks in summer and five months in winter for a letter to arrive from the southern part of Norway to the northern places (1645 miles distant as the crow flies. Kirkenes, the most northern point on the Hurtigruten cruise, claims to be closer to the North Pole than to Oslo, its capital).

Hurtigruten has 11 ships sailing the 34 ports along the coast of Norway on a daily basis. Each day one ship leaves Bergen and goes north; the same day another ship finishes its run north, reaches Kirkenes and turns round south. It’s a slickly done, highly organized protocol and runs like a Swiss watch.

On board our ship, the MS Trollfjord, we talk to our cabin attendant, an attractive and very self-possessed young woman who has worked for the company for two and a half years. “Best job I ever had,” she says in fairly fluent English, her arms in the air and a smile across her face. “This is a very stable crew with no turnover. There’s no fighting or even grumbling here. And what is important to us is how we are appreciated by the local people. They tell us, when we take time in a port, how special we are to them.’’

A Norwegian passenger who has heard part of this and seems to know the cabin attendant, tells us he has sailed with Hurtigruten many, many times and adds to her story. “On the Hurtigruten cruises everything is about the destination and meeting local people,” he says. “I’ve been on Alaska cruises where huge numbers of tourists descend on a port. There you never meet locals. Here only small numbers leave the ship. We have only 800 passengers on board! And you don’t need a map.”

This is a passionate Norwegian booster. He mentions the informality of our travel with no dressing up and the economic impact on the communities by the ship’s visit. “That’s true of the Hurtigruten trips to Greenland as well,” he says. ”The locals claim our ships come as a friend and leave as a friend.” That’s not seen with all cruise lines, he points out. Then he says, “We really have a beautiful country. We are proud of what you can see on this voyage. We like to say, ‘You don’t come back with T-Shirts. You come back with bragging rights!’”

Understood.

Norway became free from its 400 years under Denmark only in 1814; and its 90 year-long union with Sweden did not end until 1905 although it had become one kingdom under the Vikings as far back as 900AD. It’s a young country proud of its achievements from inventions like the cross country ski, the paper clip and the cheese slicer to the accomplishment of becoming the world’s second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia. The oil discovered in the North Sea in the 1970s has made Norway rich, able to create an immense future for its people and the means to pursue the elaborate government programs that took after them cradle to the grave.

Two Norwegians on board chatting to us at lunch felt their country’s fortunate situation was partly because being a peaceful country for the last century made growth possible. They explained that they have a large country with so much space it made the people appreciate nature and outdoor activities. “Also,” the woman said, “With only five million people we won’t destroy our natural resources.”

Her husband said, “I would like to clarify something about Norwegians, this silly notion we are born with skis on our feet and eat fish seven days a week. I was three years old before I learned to ski and we eat fish only four times a day!” All this said by both Norwegians in faultless English.

Norwegians seem to have the best sense of humor in Scandinavia. We were walking around the famous Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, the one time capital of the country. The guide was explaining that when King Olav II was killed in battle in 1030, his gravesite seemed to bring magical powers to the land. He was dug up and brought in from the battle site, reburied and finally a magnificent cathedral built over his grave. He became St. Olav, the patron saint of Norway. Pilgrims came from all over the world to worship his bones “to walk over Norway’s mountains then contemplate something greater.” The four sites for holy pilgrimage were Rome, Spain and Jerusalem -- and Trondheim, the most northern holy place in the Middle Ages.

After the Reformation the worshiping of relics was forbidden and pilgrimages stopped -- to a degree. Says our guide, “But the pilgrims return. We call them tourists,” and she sweeps her hand over our group.