Day 3 Norway: Alesund. Alesund is basically on the west coast of Norway. There are islands all around Norway, and so I selected this excursion to visit islands.
The mostly wooden town of Alesund burned in 1904; almost the entire town was destroyed; it was rebuilt by new law with stone, brick and mortar in Art Nouveau style.
It is the number one capital of dried and fresh codfish, the most important fishing port in Norway.
Subsea tunnels were added 1985-ish to aid moving between the islands. They were the longest in the world at that time. Our bus drove through several of these tunnels on our excursion. First after a brief tour of Alesund south side, we crossed through a tunnel to the north side (where the airport is located).
After that we turned across a bridge to next one, the island Giske (Gis Key), home of the original Vikings. After crossing Giske, we took yet another tunnel to get through to the island of Godoy (Gud day).
Lupines, looking a lot like their relative, bluebonnets but taller spikes of dark blue flowers planted to stabilize soil and are seen in all places.
Alnes at Godoy Island is the town in photos which has the lighthouse, 22 1/2 meters high, with 88 steps inside to the top.
At the cafe we were given cakes and coffee. These were like folded pancakes with jam inside. They came to us pre-folded.
When we arrived at the top inside the lighthouse, there were beautiful views.
We could see other lighthouses on nearby islands.
Houses were originally built on less fertile lands, and away from winds and sea.
A story from our guide (from my memory and sketchy notes, may not be accurate):
” A Dutch ship loaded with silver and gold, wrecked off coast near the lighthouse … Nobody knew where the ship had wrecked; I think it was in the 1970s. There were three young men, two Swedish and one from Alesund, out diving just for fun and they found the wreck and then they didn’t tell it to anybody. So they went back to Alesund and the next day they take a new trip out to the island prepared for picking up the gold and the silver. So they picked up 56,000 coins more than 6,000 coins were gold. Also the vessels and it was in the newspaper all over the world a long time ago. Then there were are certain laws. All of the treasure was divided between the divers. They got the 75%. The region, state, 15% and Holland got 10%. It was the greatest treasure ever found in Norwegian seas.“
Now back tracking, we again went undersea to the island Giske, which is named after a prominent family.
There are 800 people living there. It is home of the Viking families. There is an ancient mound burial place on Giske.
Another story, this about a Viking:
“So y’all have heard of heavy Rolf the walker, too heavy for horses. He was also unkind. Deported. Ended up in France. He was allowed to live in west area of France. He established Normandy and is called there, Rollo. Rolf the walker became a forefather to William the Conqueror.“
Read more of Rollo of Normandy here, slightly different description.
The 900-year-old church on Giske is small and lovely in its setting, Norman in style, built from marble of unknown origin. After falling into disrepair, in 1756 was purchased by Hans Holtermann, who arranged an extensive renovation. (Read more here)
A story from the church guide, summarized:
“They found a young man in the village who was unusual in that he learned to read and write at a young age. He also mastered the art of wood carving. At the age of 22, he was asked to carve the altar piece for the church. He did so. It is absolutely beautiful. At this church he also carved statuary surrounding and up to the pulpit. He became known as Altarpiece Jakob because he carved many other altar pieces and works for churches in his life. All of his works were based on the words of the Bible.” (Full name Jakob Sorenson Giskegaard)
He also, 50 years later, painted the Giske alterpiece and apparently other alterpieces and other carvings.
Exiting the island we drove rather hurriedly past the burial mound (I missed getting a photo, but it was a low mound, and then back to Alesund.