January 7 – Ålesund

Days are very short this time of year in Norway.  We have only about 5 ½ hours of daylight.  But the light is nice while it lasts.  Our first stop today is Ålesund…and the route into the harbor is lovely. 

Our shore excursion is a two hour boat ride through the fjords.  We are traveling on through the Heissafjorden, across the Storfjorden and down the Hjörundfjorden.  Besides getting waterfront views of the town...

we saw many boathouses

and gorgeous mountains surrounding the fjords. 

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More Fjords
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Our destination was the the little town of Sæbo.

There we boarded a bus to go to our visit and lunch at the Rekkedal Guesthouse. 

There was an old wooden building from the 1590’s,

some storage buildings from the 1840’s,

the old farmhouse from the 1870’s that had a lot of old furnishings,

a barn from the 1880’s,

The Door to the Barn Dining Room

and a mill from the 1600’s. 

The operation is no longer a working farm.  They have a few guest rooms for rent but it looks like they do mostly meetings.  The barn is set up to feed large gatherings.  The food was all local and very good.

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More Farm Visit
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Then it was the bus ride back to the dock and the two hour ride back to the boat. 

By the time we got back to the boat it was dark and the boat pulled away shortly after we were on board.

We went to the evening presentation on the next day’s activities, had a very nice meal and didn’t stay up too late.