Voyage North - photo essay (23) wood in monochrome

After processing the Fantoft photos I realised that the orangey tint of the new wood was detracting, for me, from the ancient style of the building . . . so I reprocessed some of the images in monochrome:

Voyage North - photo essay (22) Fantoft Stave Church, Bergen

A Stave Church is a type of wooden building, dating from Mediaeval times, once common throughout north-western Europe but now found almost exclusively in Norway. The name derives from the post ('stave') and lintel construction. Many of those remaining carry carvings and decoration showing distinct pre-Christian Norse influences.

Fantoft Stave Church is a faithful reconstruction of a twelfth century building. The original was moved to Fantoft, now a suburb of Bergen, and put back together there in the nineteenth century, but was burnt down in an arson attack in 1992. It is now purely a heritage site but some of the other stave churches are still used for Christian services.

the leper window from outside

the leper window from inside

Voyage North - photo essay (21) Bergen

Bergen was our final stop before returning home.

arriving in the port at Bergen

pattern formed by harbourside buildings

the small boats quay in the town - serendipitous reflection in a puddle . . . with passing spaniel!

Bryggen - the old part of the city - facing the quayside

narrow alley inside Bryggen 

Bryggen (meaning 'the dock') is the most photographed part of the city - a complex of picturesque old buildings and narrow alleys. Its origin was as series of Hanseatic commercial buildings. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Voyage North - photo essay (20) Geirangerfjord in monochrome

We left Geiranger late in the afternoon. We were now much further south, so it got dark in the evenings again; the high, steep walls of the fjord cast deep shadows; and the cloud was coming down again. When I reviewed my photos after coming home I decided that the scenery and waterfalls of the fjord were much more suited to monochrome.

Voyage North - photo essay (19) weighing anchor from Geirangerfjord

I wrote in the previous post that we used the lifeboats as tender boats to go ashore to Geiranger village. Before we could leave, the lifeboats had to be winched ashore and secured and so did the stairways and landing platforms. This operation was watched with great interest by many passengers, not all of them holding cameras!

Voyage North - photo essay (18) Geiranger

The village of Geiranger lies at the top of Geirangerfjord - the 'most beautiful', 'most photographed' fjord in Norway. The postcard photos typically show it bathed in sunshine . . . that wasn't the weather that we had!

approaching Geiranger village

In this next photo you can see two ships moored, one (the larger) on the pier and the smaller at anchor. The latter is the ship that I was on, so we had to be ferried ashore in a tender boat shuttle - two lifeboats are used for this, one on each side of the ship. Marco Polo is a ship of venerable age but in good running order. Many of us were distressed to see the larger American cruise ship - a much newer vessel - spewing polluting blue smoke (which be clearly seen in this mage) into the fjord.

Voyage North - photo essay (17) Tromsø botanic garden

The University of Tromsø includes the Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden. It is the world's northernmost botanic garden (one of Tromsø's many 'northernmosts'!). It contains plants from both high altitudes and high latitudes throughout the world. Its homepage (click on UK flag icon for the English version) is here.

Voyage North - photo essay (16) approaching Tromsø

Tromsø lies north of the Arctic Circle and is known, variously, as 'the Paris of the North', the Arctic Capital, location of 'the world's most northerly . . . [almost anything!]'.

This next photo shows the famous Tromsø bridge and, on the other side, the striking building known as the Arctic Cathedral:

The glass pavilion in this photo is part of the Polaria Museum. The brightly coloured building adjacent is known as the Graffiti Building and is a refurbished cold store - now also part of the museum complex:

In the image below, to the left of the glass pavilion, is a striking modern white building (partly visible above through the glass), which looks (from the side) like piled-up slabs of ice. It is also part of the Polaria Museum:

Side view of the white building showing the slabs:

(not my photo)

Voyage North - photo essay (15) at sea

Heading south from Svalbard towards Tromsø.

A fulmar skimming the sea surface and casting a shadow over reflections of late sunlight (very grainy!)

sun dipping towards the horizon - it won't set, but curve up again after midnight

minke whale in lower left corner

late sun showing crepuscular rays

Crepuscular rays explained; also here.

Voyage North - photo essay (14) leaving Svalbard

Everything I wrote previously about cameras and the conditions for photography applies strongly to the images below!

leaving Advent Fjord

row of four glaciers in western Svalbard

closer view of the first three (from the left)

close-up (grainy!) of the first

even closer, even grainier

grainy close-up of the third

a weather front suddenly comes across the mountain range

 

and the light changes on the first glacier and its mountains

a wider view