Hurtigruten: the Churches

Is it really possible we've been home a month from our Norway trip...and I'm still working 100 mph processing all the images? Yes!

The main thing is to preserve this memory for Astrid and me, but to have you share it is an extra bonus. So, THANK YOU. Tusen takk.

You know me and church architecture! So here goes, from the beginning to the end of the sea voyage:

Day 1: Kirkenes--Vardø--Båtsfjord--Berlevåg

There was only one church we saw our first day after boarding the MS Vesterålen in Kirkenes, Monday afternoon. It was in Vardø, the easternmost point of Norway.

It won't take you long to see how NON-European these churches are!
For one thing, they're almost all made out of wood and are very young. This one is from 1958, younger than Astrid and me both.

Because we had a full hour at port, from 4 - 5 p.m., we high-tailed it to the church and found it open.
Again, nothing like the cavernous cathedrals of Europe. More like the simple churches in which I grew up.

Day 2: Honningsvåg--Havøysund--Hammerfest--Øksfjord--Skjervøy--Tromsø

Our daily schedule was a faithful log of exactly where we were along the fjord coastline..and when. Most of the time we didn't know what to expect but because we didn't want to miss anything, we would always climb the 3 floors to the top deck.

From 8:15 - 8:30 a.m. Tuesday we were in Havøysund (population in 2006: 1,125) and caught this precious Havøysund Church, built in 1960, from the top deck.

That was before we ate breakfast. Before we ate lunch, we had 1-1/2 hours in Hammerfest (the world's most northerly town!) from 11:15 - 12:45, and had plenty of time to walk to the church...which, too, was open.

It was always fun to first see the church from the ship...and then up close, in person.
This is the Hammerfest Church, from 1961.

Instead of an altarpiece, it has a huge stained-glass painting.
Once again, we were not disappointed...two days in a row.

Look at this sweet little church in Øksfjord, which we passed at 3:30 p.m.
The population of the town in 2006: 510.

And then, at 7:45 p.m., after supper, Skjervøy...population of 2,881 in 2010...whose cruciform church was originally built in 1539 and then further extended in 1728.

Then that night, very late, we docked in Tromsø (population 67,305 in 2010) from 11:45p - 1:30 a.m. It's clearly a big city and would have been fun to see during the day.

Decisions, decisions.

We decided to NOT walk into town to see what we might see at night but to get as much sleep as possible ahead of time and set the alarm for 1:15 a.m., giving us enough time to get up on deck to take these pictures before leaving port...and then go back to bed!

The church on the left is the Tromsø Cathedral from 1861 (not in focus, sorry).
The church on the right is the Tromsdalen Church/Arctic Cathedral, a parish church, from 1965.

Day 3: Harstad--Risøyhamn--Sortland--Stokmarknes--Svolvaer--Stamsund

Harstad was our first port of call on Wednesday, from 8 - 8:30 a.m. (population 23,344 in 2010).

The Harstad Church, seen from the top deck, is from 1958.

This, too, is a church from Harstad but I haven't been able to place it yet.
It seems similar to this Trondenes Church but I'm not certain it is. If so, it is from 1434.

Between 12:30 - 1 p.m. we were in Sortland, population 9,509 in 2004.
This Sortland Church , probably the 5th or 6th to be built, was consecrated in 1901.
Notice the weathervane. Almost all churches we saw had one with a date like this.

Day 3 was our Lofoten Islands excursion (last post), from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. That's where we saw one last church of the day, which you may recognize:

This is the Vågan Church, or Lofoten Cathedral, from 1898, as seen through the rainy tour bus window.

Oh yes, this one, too, the Borge Church in Vestvågøy, 1987,
humorously referred to by the locals as the ski jump.

Day 4: Ørnes--Nesna--Sandnessjøen--Brønnøysund--Rørvik

Following our Arctic Circle Ceremony at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, we had a quick 15-minute stop at Nesna at 11 a.m. (population 1,822 in 2004). No time to get off the boat but wonderful views from top deck.

The Nesna Church was built in 1880.
I love seeing the settings of these churches along the coastline.
(click to enlarge)

We docked in Sandnessjøen for an hour, 12:30 - 1:30p.m. (population 5,716 in 2006).
This Sandnessjøen Church...I can't find more info yet....

...but this Alstahaug Church, from 1200, is the biggie, 45 minutes outside of Sandnessjøen.
This is when I wish we could have jumped off the boat for closer inspection!

We DID jump off the boat in Brønnøysund (population 4,506 in 2009) where we docked from 4:15 - 5 p.m., and raced off to the church there....

This is the Brønnøy Church from 1870, made mostly from stone.
"Brønn" comes from the old Norse word for "well" and "øy" means "island".
Too bad it wasn't open...but we wouldn't have had more time than to peek in.

Then later, after supper, from 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. we docked in Rørvik (population 2,609 in 2006), where Astrid got off the boat and took pictures for the both of us of the last church of the day....

This is the Rørvik Church from 1896.
The city of Rørvik even has their own gospel choir on YouTube!

Day 5: Trondheim--Kristiansund--Molde



Before breakfast on Friday, we docked in Trondheim (city of 175K people) from 6:45 - 10 a.m.--on a rainy, windy, blustery day. Who cares, right? Nothing was gonna stop us from THE church of the trip, the most important Gothic monument in Norway, and Northern Europe's most important Christian pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages: the Nidaros Cathedral.

But it wasn't right next door to the ship! In fact, we took a city bus in the rain to get there and then walked back as the weather cleared. The church opened at 9 a.m. but we knew we couldn't stay that long and still get back to the ship before departure. Was it worth it to go at all?

Yes, it was worth it for a church that was founded c. 1070!
We wouldn't have missed it for anything. Maybe next time we can go inside.

Within minutes of leaving the dock, this is what she looked like.

4 minutes later, there was a quick shower and the sun came out!

From 4:30 - 5 p.m. we were docked in Kristiansund (population 23,238 in 2010). It had rained again but when the sun came out, this was our treat:

This is the Nordlandet Church, built of granite in 1914.

Day 6: Torvik--Maløy--Florø--Bergen

This was our last day before disembarking our sea voyage at the Hurtigruten Terminal in Bergen. Would we see any more churches before docking? Yes.

We docked in Florø (population 8,448 in 2009) between 7:45 - 8:15 a.m., just before breakfast. We saw the church from the top deck first and knew we could make it up close and personal if we high-tailed it. We were the only crazy ones who did it, but we got our reward:

This is the Florø Church from 1882.

From Florø to Bergen, 6 hours later, there were no further stops and no church sightings...until we began to enter Bergen, population 261,500 in 2010.

From the top deck, we saw the tips of these two Bergen churches:
The top one is St. John's Church from 1888.
The bottom one is the New Church from 1621.

Once we were off the ship for good and had the rest of the day to sight-see around Bergen, we saw some more....

The Church of the Cross (left) is from 1181 and stood right outside our YMCA hotel.
See how seemingly close it's spire is (above right) to that of the Bergen Cathedral (below).

Bergen Cathedral was completed before 1181.

A cannonball from the 1665 Battle of Vågen between the English and Dutch fleets remains embedded in the cathedral's exterior wall (top row above). Blogger friend Charles say it falls out from time to time and they just glue it back in.

And finally, back to St. John's Church from the ground.

Whew! I'm exhausted. My eyes are ready to fall out on the floor. But it's done and what I wanted to gather together into one post as a memory of the churches we saw on Norway's western coastline.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for hanging in there with me!