Molde, Norway

I fell in love in Molde. I didn’t fall in love with a person (though that would have been nice); I fell in love with Norway. If Norway isn’t on your bucket list, add it! Everyone needs to see Norway at least once. 

I like to call Molde our “bonus port” because nobody knew we were stopping there until four days before we arrived when we had to cancel a few ports (fog and icebergs, not a good combination). Surprise! I saw no reason to complain (though people still did) because Molde was beautiful. My mom woke up early to see the sail-in; I had big plans to wake up early but after a couple of unexpected sea days and several nights in a row setting the clocks an hour forward I just couldn’t do it; I knew I would be useless at work and I knew I would just get the pictures from my mom.

Because we didn’t have much time to plan for Molde, my parents and I had no idea what we were going to do when we stepped off the ship. We headed towards the town hall and the main church (when in doubt in Europe, visit a church) but we arrived just before six bus loads of tour groups walked in. We didn’t stay long. 

Just across the street from the church was a beautiful city garden where we met a very intoxicated, yet very friendly, local. He pulled a coin out of my mom’s ear then let her keep it. Oh, that was interesting.

 

We left the garden and walked through the town. When I say walked I actually mean hiked because most of Norway is built on the side of a mountain; I now understand why Scandinavians are all so slender. We wandered through a local cemetery (I love cemeteries, there are so many stories to be told and discovered) and found a “museum” set up as a historic village.

 Those working at the museum were all dressed in the traditional costume and we spoke to this really cute little girl. 

I would bet she was thirteen or fourteen and she really tried to answer our question but a few things were lost in translation (I’m not criticizing; I don’t know a word of Norwegian). We were going to explore the village, but the six busloads of tourists caught up with us again, so we opted against it. We noticed an overlook near the village and decided to climb to it instead. The view was breathtaking.

After we headed back down the mountain towards the main street and found a pastry shop. I have no idea what we ate because nobody spoke much English so we just pointed to a few things that looked good. After enjoying our pastries, we made our way back to the ship. Molde may not have been a planned port, but it was a great introduction to a beautiful country.