Out and About in Alesund

According to the Norwegians, Alesund translates to “thank you” in English. Perhaps this comes from Alesund being Norway’s capital of dried cod exporting or maybe it’s because thousands of tourists stop here each year and donate a few of their bucks. Either way, Alesund (pronounced: ole sun) is a beautiful little seaport town that has tons of character. Easy to see why this town is on the parking list for major cruise lines.

Alesund harbor

Founded back in 1601, Alesund was thought to be a good resource for coal. Mining operations didn’t start until much later and did pretty well for a while until operational costs and a few accidents drove up costs. Not to be deterred, money was secured from the Government in the form of subsidies so the mining not only continued, but grew. At that time Alesund had less than 500 residents, mostly all working in the mines, so life wasn’t exactly peachy.

Somewhere along the 1800’s the coal mining slowed and research became the new thing. Alesund was a staging point for Arctic explorations of which a great many failed. Later in the 1950’s Alesund became popular for its herring fishing, and even later a different kind of oil made its way into Alesund history, North Atlantic crude! But the people of Alesund weren’t offshore oil explorer types, they were chefs and ship builders! Today, besides tourism, Alesund’s cornerstone industry is offshore shipbuilding and transportation.

But I skipped over a significant event in Alesund, the 1904 fire. The fire of 1904 was so fierce that it quickly engulfed the entire city center, burning almost every structure to the ground and forcing over 10,000 people to evacuate their homes. Fortunately, or unfortunately, only one person perished in the fire. Ane Heen reportedly went back into her home for her purse and didn’t make it out.

Ironically, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany after hearing of the fire, sent 4 warships loaded with building materials to Alesund to aid in the rebuilding. He vacationed here often! The town was rebuilt with the help of 20 master builders and 30 Norwegian architects who drew their inspiration from the art nouveau fad in Europe. As such, almost all of Alesund’s city center buildings share this unique style.

Example of the art deco architecture

Enough about history and all that, we needed to walk around and explore. Most of all, we needed to find that all elusive of stores; that hidden paradise; the den of sin that resides in all cities, the liquor store! The wine is running low so time to find the government store and pick up a couple more bottles. While we’re at it, take in a few sites of the city.

Stopped for a quick fika (coffee break) at Wayne’s, Norway’s version of Starbucks. Good timing, started to rain again so we enjoyed a few minutes watching the 15-minute deluge. The vinmonoplet (liquor store) is just around the corner so after a coffee, pick up the wine then head back home for the evening. Tomorrow we’re off to Bergen, a more metropolitan city, about 6hrs from here. Not sure if we’ll drive the coast of inland, either way is sure to be beautiful. Till then…..hasta la manana.

Alesund canal side

Chocolate / caramel brownie and a cappuccino, that’s a fika!