Port 72 Kristiansand, Norway
Hei, god morgen! (Hi, good morning!)
We have a beautiful 11 AM arrival in our first Norway port on May 15th, 2022! The jets are playing tick-tack-toe in the sky again!
There is a very cute village on the hillside! I hope we see more scenes like this!
We don’t have an excursion, so we head out to see what we can see! We know we want to see the Posebyen section of town with very old wooden houses, and some street art that is supposed to be around town.
We are greeted on the pier by a local. We stop for a quick chat and a photo!
He looks like he wants to join us – he’s trying to get to Oslo.
His brother’s picture is on a stack of containers at the end of the pier!
This is the Kilden Performing Arts Center, just across the channel from the pier. The roof design is very interesting, like waves of water!
The harbor is really sweet, and a lot of locals are sitting on the steps around it enjoying ice cream and gelato from a very popular shop at the left of this photo! This seems to be the gathering place!
The fish market is just around the corner, but it is already closed.
This is the Port Authority for Kristiansand Harbor. I love the bowsprit with a figurehead coming out of the wall more than the beautiful anchor!
This monument stands in front of the Radisson Blu Caledonia Hotel.
We find our first piece of street art, and OMG! This is bizarre! A two-headed “dragonfly” and two strange mechanical figures.
This is “Lek” – a sculpture in the park!
A little farther down the waterfront is this lovely water feature! There are three main structures, and lots of bubbling fountains!
We arrive at the Christianholm Fortress.
Several folks from the ship were already here when we arrived. Several cannon are pointed into the harbor. We are told the circular building is absolutely empty, so don’t waste our time.
This is Berndt Balchen standing on a wing! He was a Norweigian pioneer polar aviator who became an American citizen and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
We found our wooden houses! These are the few that were painted in colors.
Most of the others, many streets of them, were simply white!
This sedate square is lined with a variety of buildings. But the fountain…
…from a different angle comes to life!
At the far eastern end of the square is the statue of Haakon VII, once the King of Norway!
I found this utility manhole cover with a lovely set of buildings portrayed on it!
On the west corner of the square is this beautiful church. It is barely visible from the square due to renovation scaffolding. But it is open!
The interior is soft and warm with medium-toned woods and low-hanging chandeliers.
The organ pipes are beatifully framed in the natural wood of the ceiling structure!
And this lovely ship model hangs from the beams! It is interesting that so many churches have ship models in them!
Out on the streets we find more of the street art. Here are a few examples:
“They’re grrrrrrreat!”
In front of a store I discover this fella! It appears to be a large monkey, perhaps gorilla, in an Apollo-era spacesuit!
Of course I needed to have my picture taken with him! (Yes, bad assumption that it is a male.)
We have one more task to perform. We discovered a snail in a bunch of flowers Joy bought in Spain. We tried to keep it alive in the flower vase, but it didn’t survive. So we wanted to have a little burial for it.
We found a bed of tulips underneath this statue that seemed perfect!
Joy performed the ceremony. Then we continued our walk.
We found a few more statues. This pony bears pseudo-hieroglyphs on both sides!
These three appear to be having a very concerning discussion!
ON the way back to the ship, we see this on the back side of the moose painting. Something human with a tail?
Then it’s time to push off again!
We’re well gone long before the sun sets!
We bid “hadet” to Kristiansand! Next port of call – Oslo, Norway!
