Day 14 - Harstad, Norway

We arrived at Harstad, Norway about 9AM this morning, coming into the And fjord from the Norwegian Sea.  The fjords at this latitude are quite different from the Magdalene fjord we visited a few days ago.  Although we are still above the Arctic circle, we are much further south.  Harstad is 831.5 NM south of Longyearbyen, The mountains surrounding the fjord are mostly green, with only a few traces of snow.

Puppets made made Trastad residents

 Our tour for today was called “Trastad Collections and the Rokenes Farm”.  We boarded the bus about 11AM, and had a nice ride through the countryside in what appeared to be a regular city bus.  The bus was completely full and some people were complaining because it was not the usual tour bus, but we were OK. The guide, Tore, was very good.  He was born and raised in the region, and gave us lots of good information about the towns, industries, and history.

Clay Figues by a Trastad Artist

 Our first stop was at Trastad.  In the 1960’s, this was a facility that cared for mentally challenged persons from all over Norway.  From what we saw, it appears that these people were not only well cared for, but were also encouraged to develop creatively. They were taught music and various forms of art and the museum displays some of the resulting art, as well as photos of the residents enjoying different creative endeavors.  There was one photo of a man playing the piano, and another of what appeared to be a rock and roll quartet.  In both photos, the participant’s faces appeared joyous.

Kathy's World

The art on display was also amazing. There were clay sculptures, pottery, and paintings.  One exhibit called Kathy’s world, was made up of a small clay town, with clay figures.  Our guide said that “Kathy” created the town and would put on plays with the figures.   

     

From there we went to Hemmestad Wharf.  This museum has boats, fishing gear, household items, and a recreated store, all showing what it would have been like here 200 years ago.  We also have anise view of the fjord from the dock there.

Our third stop was supposed to be at a scenic lookout, but the fog had rolled in covering the water there, so no view.  

Our last stop was at the Rokenes Farm.  I had been expecting a farm museum here, but I hadn’t read the brochure correctly. This was a farm, run by 10 generations of the family since 1673, but in the last 10 years it was converted from a traditional farm to a guest house and restaurant.  Our stop there was to enjoy coffee and Kvaefjord cake, which is Norway’s National cake.  It was very good.  We also got to take more photos of the beautiful scenery.

Panoramic View From Rokenes Farm

We leave port at 5PM and will have another day at sea tomorrow.  Tonight we have a reservation at Prime 7, the specialty steak restaurant on board. Since all we had for lunch was cake and coffee, we are especially looking forward to it.

By the way, we did get to the show last night, but it was disappointing. They had both the regular singers and the dancers singing various Beatles songs solo while passengers danced in an area in front of the stage that had been cleared as a dance floor.  The first problem was that most of the Beatles songs they selected were known for their harmonies, yet all of them were done as solos.  They also put some to a country beat so the dancers could lead the crowd in a line dance.  That is so wrong!  Finally, all but one of the singers could not hit the notes, so it wasn’t much better than karaoke. We left about half way through the show and Ray has promised we’ll try again if they have a more traditional show.  Oh well, we knew that Regent is known for it’s high quality service and great itineraries, not for it’s on board entertainment. With ships holding only 700 passengers they can only have one show a night, and I'm guessing they don't get first pick of performers.