The amphitheatre was fabulous; not massive, but sunk down below the surrounding circus and street level, with a lovely view of the sea. It must have been quite a place to visit in the second century. It was, however, a huge heat trap, eliminating any offshore breeze that might have cooled elsewhere in the city and we had to seek out a place selling cold drinks in the shade immediately after visiting.

One of the first things we noticed in the city were the statues; there were quite a few and they were quite varied.

Architecture in the city was quite varied too.

I do like to take photos of street art when I see it on my travels and although Tarragona did not offer up many examples the ones I shot were of pretty reasonable quality.

The scenery along the shoreline of Tarragona was beautiful, affording views out over the railway line, amphitheatre, and sea, as well as granting us some small amount of breeze to combat the bone-penetrating heat of the day.

On a couple of nights we dined at the restaurant next door. The first night’s meal was something specially made for the tourists – dried cod, cured shark, pickled herring, lamb testicles, lamb blood pudding, guillemot, foal, and minke whale, all washed down with Black Death schnapps – and it was… okay. Guillemot I would eat again. Minke whale I would not.

I didn’t have my proper camera on me when we went to the restaurant but we were quite amazed to see (considering we were in a bright parking lot next to the hotel and main road) the aurora bright in the sky above us. I managed to capture a shot on my phone which surprised even me.

Some of the more eye-catching sculptures were fashioned by Sophie Ryder.

In addition to a number of school classes exploring the park at the same time the other noticeable group of lifeforms were the sheep. We were acutely aware of where we were standing and did a pretty decent job of not treading in too many sheep droppings as I recall.

While it was still early in the year there was a little bit of nature on show to catch my attention as well.

A little bit of history of the Summer Palace because everyone likes a little bit of history just before they see all the pretty pictures and get some good old-fashioned wanderlust coursing through their veins.

The Summer Palace can date its origins back to the middle of the twelfth century although at that time it was simply the site of some minor palaces and temples taking advantage of the natural springs and lakes nearby for pleasing views. It wasn’t until the Qing dynasty and late into the eighteenth century that serious expansion of the lakes to improve water supply to the city took place and the transformation of the area into a collection of imperial gardens, palaces, and temples as the Summer Palace was completed. The design of the palace grounds was grounded in Chinese mythology with dragons and mountains represented, but maintenance of the complex was high and it soon fell into disrepair.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century French and British forces looted the palace during the Second Opium War. The nearby Old Summer Palace was burned down at this time on the orders of Lord Elgin (son of the other Lord Elgin, famous (infamous if you’re Greek) for his appropriation of the Elgin Marbles for the British government) in retaliation for the Chinese torturing and murdering European and Indian prisoners. The twentieth century saw the Boxer Rebellion cause serious damage to the palace (although it was restored soon after) and, after the Last Emperor (you might have seen him in the movie of the same name) abdicated, the Summer Palace became first private property and then a public park. For a short period after the Second World War the Summer Palace housed the Central Party School for the Communist Party.

The history lesson is over.

We arrived on the eastern side of the Summer Palace and our visit of a few hours was only enough to take in a very small section of the area. You could easily spend over half a day here if you were staying in Beijing. We started off with a visit to the Renshoudian. Also known as the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity this was a collection of buildings – temple, palace, halls with ancient artifacts – around a courtyard garden area filled with bronze sculptures and large rocks called Taihu Stones.

The Taihu Stones and their distinctive shapes are formed by the action of pebbles constantly rubbing on larger rocks through rushing water action creating holes in the larger structure, and were considered lucky. Many were brought to the Summer Palace at great expense.

A prominent bronze sculpture caught many of the tourists’ attentions. This was a Qilin. Often translated as “unicorn” the Qilin clearly isn’t one because I’ve got the ability to count horns and can reach the number two with consummate ease.

You’d be hard-pressed to tour an ancient Chinese site and not see some motif or relief work representing dragons and we weren’t disappointed with some of the stone decorations on show in this first section of the Summer Palace that we visited.

From the Renshoudian we headed roughly southwest towards the lake that makes up most of the Summer Palace landscape. This took us through the Wenchang Pavilion, constructed like a huge city gate and with a nearby hall containing more artifacts.

We didn’t stop at the pavilion as Kunming Lake was our destination. It’s possible to hire boats for personal use, either pedal or electric-powered ones, but there are larger vessels that can take groups of tourists on circuits of the lake too and it was the latter option that our Princess Cruises-organised tour directed us to.

A quick apology here for the state of the photographs of Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace. Beijing is well-known for its smog, although our 2008 visit to China not long after the Olympics meant that pollution levels were pretty low during our three days there. However, with this being November and the sun setting reasonably early in the evening and there still being some smog, even if it wasn’t particularly noticeable to us at the time, a lot of the pictures taken before and during our boat ride around the lake ended up shooting into the low sun coming through smog and reflecting off water. The result is what you’ll see below for a lot of shots: washed-out colours heavily leaning towards the yellow and orange hues, and very little dark detail. As the saying goes, it is what it is.

We boarded a boat not far from Wenchang Pavilion on the east side of Kunming Lake. Looking to the north we could see a large buddhist temple. South there was a long bridge with numerous arches, and we would soon be sailing past both of them.

Our pleasant, gentle circuit of the shallow, artificial lake took place in an anti-clockwise direction so the first sight we passed was the towering complex on the northern shore. This was Foxiang Ge (Tower of Buddhist Incense, or Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha). This building was one of those burned down by Anglo-French forces but later rebuilt and presently comprises three, eight-sided storeys on a twenty-metre-deep stone base. The temple houses a statue of the thousand-handed Guanshiyin Buddha.

West of the buddhist temple was a very unusual sight. This was the Marble Boat (also known as the Boat of Purity and Ease). Serving as a tea house with fabulous views over Kunming Lake now, this was originally a wooden structure on a stone base but like much in the area was destroyed by arson during the Second Opium War. Its reconstruction took place under the instruction of Empress Dowager Cixi and was likely through funds originally earmarked for rebuilding the navy. Despite its appearance and name, the Marble Boat is still made from wood but is now painted convincingly to resemble stone. It incorporates clever drainage systems that funnel rainwater through hollow columns.

The lake with three islands is important symbology in China and as we continued our scenic boat ride around the lake we saw numerous bridges connecting those islands. Interestingly, each bridge was very different in design. Of the smaller bridges that we saw the one that stood out most was Yudai, known as the Jade Belt Bridge. Made from marble, its shape is designed to resemble the simple bridges of the southern Chinese countryside but its unusually high clearance was a deliberate feature to allow the Qianlong Emperor to pass under it on his dragon boat.

The largest of the bridges on Kunming Lake is visible from pretty much any point along the lake’s shoreline. Shiqi Kong Qiao gets its name from its design, the literal translation being Seventeen-Arch Bridge. The bridge is one hundred and fifty metres long, making it the longest bridge in any Chinese imperial garden, and it connects the mainland to Nanhu Island. The railings on the bridge incorporate five hundred stone lions in different poses. A variety of halls, temples, and towers dotted the small island, each filling a scenic location on the landmass in which to enjoy the views of the Summer Palace in every direction, and as we gently motored past Nanhu on its north side we passed Hanxu Hall which directly faces the Buddhist tower on the shore of the lake.

Stepping ashore we had time to see one more interesting item before departing. The Kunlun Stone Tablet is inscribed with a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor and describes how the shores of the lakes changed during his years of coming to the Summer Palace and especially enjoying his time on and around Kunming Lake.

And that brought our time visiting the Summer Palace in Beijing to a close with just a short wait outside the main entrance while we waited for our bus to find us. It was a short visit of only a couple of hours that really barely scratched the surface of what there is to see at this tourist spot. If I were returning now then I’d like to have spent more time in the buildings looking at the artifacts on display and a look inside the imposing Buddhist temple would be a must too, but as a taster of what to see and as part of a combination of historical trips in one day in the pre-cruise package hosted by Princess Cruises then this was a fantastic trip.

We would have just one more day in Beijing before our cruise on Diamond Princess but it would be a very full one indeed.

• pretty cheap as cruises go,
• we were familiar with the ship layout having cruised on Grand-class ships before so were intrigued to see what differences the decor would make,
• with an upcoming cruise on Princess in June and an arrangement where P&O cruises count towards Princess loyalty (but not vice versa) this would allow us to advance a level before that and gain a few perks.

We had a balcony room, A610. Identical layout to a Princess standard balcony room with slightly different colours used inside, as you’d expect. Differences included the UK plug sockets, a kettle to make your own tea and coffee, and a bowl of sweets. Fully intending to steal the sweets before disembarking we discovered the bowl was emptied before heading to bed on the second night. A couple of bottles of water were provided free while a larger bottle of water and a stocked mini-fridge would incur additional charges if used.

The view from the balcony was what we expected: we weren’t overlooked on our deck but could see down onto the deluxe balconies (mini-suites on Princess) below; the balcony was a good size allowing the chairs to be moved and positioned easily (as opposed to Royal-class ships operated by P&O or Princess).

Dropping our carry-on luggage in the room we then headed off to orient ourselves and see what the ship had to offer. One of the first things we discovered was that the ship’s deck was dotted with various pieces of art sculptures by Andrew Sinclair.

The rest of the top deck was very familiar to us – swimming pools where you’d expect them, for instance – and a band was performing live as part of the pre-sailaway party.

Inside the Azura things were less familiar on account of the names, functionality, but mostly decor of the various spaces. The atrium, for instance, felt very enclosed on account of its dark colours and bold, black columns. There was definitely the sense that you were in a flashy, modern hotel in some big city rather than a luxurious ship. Some seating at the bottom of the atrium did look appealing, though.

Malabar was Azura’s equivalent of Explorer’s on Princess. The decor here was pretty decent but we can’t comment on the venue itself as the trip was too short to experience any event in it.

Manhattan was the larger venue on the same deck, equivalent to Vista on Princess. There were plenty of New York-style and deco references in fitting with the name of the place and a cabinet with some interesting shoes on display which caught my wife’s eye. We very briefly wandered down to Manhattan on the first evening and very quickly left again as it was very noisy and fully-packed. The short cruise encouraged a bit of a party atmosphere on board and it felt like most of the ship was present. While it might have been fun and probably great for people-watching we suspected getting a drink would prove to be nearly impossible and we’re fond of the odd drink.

The Planet Bar would prove to be the place where we spent the ends of both evenings on board Azura. Equivalent to Skywalkers on Princess this was more of a quiet, live music venue than a disco with its strangely compelling feature being the wall-mounted screens showcasing various vistas from around the world.

A few more interior shots of the cruise ship Azura.

There wasn’t a lot to see in Cambrils although we didn’t look too hard; we were mostly keen to seek out something cool to drink by the time we got there.

The beach views along that stretch of coastline were all lovely; open, sandy beaches and gorgeous-looking sea to the horizon.

There were a few examples of some interesting-looking artwork along the beach area too.

Tiananmen Square dates from the seventeenth century and was built around the location of the Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) which was ironically destroyed in fighting during the transition phase of the Minq to Qing dynasties. The area’s present-day form of a public square housing a monument and surrounded by important buildings is thanks to Mao Zedong whose mausoleum is also found in the square and who envisaged the largest square in the world. It’s not that these days but it’s still an impressively large and open space in the middle of Beijing directly to the south of the Forbidden City and, if you’re Chinese, it’s famous for nothing at all of any significance occurring in June 1989.

Not only was Tiananmen Square the first of the day’s sightseeing stops, it was also the shortest of our organised activities. If you were to visit Beijing on your own then the buildings surrounding the square could easily occupy a significant portion of your day, I’d imagine. Sadly, our excursion only included a fleeting visit and we didn’t get a chance to see them, nor did we get a chance to pay a visit to Mao Zedong’s mausoleum, the reason for many Chinese people to visit the square, and our time was spent mostly just taking photos and enjoying the experience of simply being there.

Our bus from the hotel dropped us off at Guangchang East Side Road and our guide led us across the street into the square where a few of the buildings were quickly identified and we were given a short period to wander off on our own with a meeting time and place explained. There were plenty of people about but not, it has to be said, anywhere near as many as there could be. The time of morning and this being a November played a part here certainly and our guide had explained that on a typical day when busloads of visitors would arrive from all over China and the rest of the world, the queue to view inside the mausoleum alone would be hours-long.

Eyes were immediately drawn to the large monument roughly in the centre of Tiananmen Square. This was the Monument to the People’s Heroes and, as it stated on the plaque facing it, it was constructed between 1952 and 1958 from granite and white marble.

On the north side of the square the view was taken up by the distinctive red walls of the Forbidden City where we’d next be exploring. The portrait of Mao was hard to miss.

To the east of Tiananmen Square, where our bus had dropped us off and where we’d be meeting again before moving on, was the National Museum of China with its distinctive facade. Sadly, the view of the building was somewhat spoiled by the cranes dominating the skyline behind it. Formerly the Revolutionary History Museum this is one of the most visited art museums in the world and is certainly a place we’d love to visit if we ever get a chance to return to Beijing.

The large building to the west of Tiananmen Square was the Great Hall of the People, used for legislative functions and ceremonial ones including celebrations and memorials. Both the Great Hall and the National Museum, as well as the expansion work on Tiananmen Square itself, were part of the Ten Great Buildings plan, itself part of Chairman Mao’s Great Leap Forward.

In the southern section of Tiananmen Square was the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, resting place of the embalmed body of the former Communisy Party Chairman (despite his wishes that be be cremated). Like everything else around the square it’s something we’d have loved to have spent time looking at but this pre-cruise visit to Beijing could only fit so much in. Sets of sculptures of revolutionary people were on either side of both the north and south entrances to the mausoleum.

Our free time generally involved an aimless, casual wander through the square, snapping photos and soaking in the experience of simply being in China, and keeping a close eye on the time, of course. We made sure we could always see the meeting spot so we’d know when people from our tour group were starting to gather but otherwise it was thrillingly relaxing to simply be mingling with hundreds of Chinese people, many in tour groups themselves, with lots of typical tourist activities taking place around us; pointing at buildings, peering at pamphlets, posing in front of structures for photos, etc.

It was as we were in the northern part of the square taking a few more photos of the wall on which Mao’s face was hanging that I suddenly felt a tap on my elbow. I found myself facing a pair of Chinese women, perhaps in their early twenties. In pretty good English the first one asked me if she could pose next to me for a photo to be taken by her friend. Now, we don’t like having our photos taken at all, and it’s why you will find it difficult to find any video or pictures of us on the internet (although they’re there, if you know where to look), but attractive Chinese women halfway around the world turn out to be my kryptonite when it comes to avoiding photographic capture and all I could do was smile and agree.

With small bows and thank yous the two women walked away and I turned to my wife who was also posing for a photo with a Chinese person. I then turned a little further and discovered a queue had formed of people who wanted pictures too. For the next few minutes we found ourselves the centre of attention in Tiananmen Square for people tired of grabbing shots of the surroundings and excited at snapping the elusive Western Tourist instead. This was 2008, of course, and I imagine things are not quite the same these days, but it was a fascinating experience if still a little unnerving to think that somewhere in China there may exist photographic evidence of our visit to Beijing and the fact that we won’t combust when posing for pictures in the possession of complete strangers.

It came time for us to gather at the meeting spot outside the national museum, something we did nice and early because we didn’t want to be the people holding everyone up back then, an attitude we retain to this day.

Once heads had been counted our guide then led us off for the next part of the day’s excursion in Beijing, a walk of just a hundred metres or so to the Forbidden City.

As it was November it was cold enough to give everything a sheen of ice so we were quite careful on our first evening there but had a reasonable walk along part of the Icelandic shoreline before heading inland. We had no plans to visit anything at that time, just take in the lay of the land, make a note of anything interesting, and grab some shots of the varied architecture.

Water featured heavily in the town with rivers, a lake, and a reservoir in addition to the Atlantic coast.

We noticed a few pieces of art and sculpture and there was obviously some sort of street art scene going on in the area too.

On the final day we would discover Hellisgerdi Park and its abundance of artwork.

By the ocean’s edge I was quite taken with a piece of brutal architecture but I couldn’t work out what its function was.

A processed image of something that may have been art or may have been functional or may have been both.

We entered through the Meridian Gate, the largest of the gates into and out of the Forbidden City. This gate comprises three central arches and two either side of them, with the centremost of the central arches being the largest and formerly reserved for the Emperor. They had big emperors back then, I’m guessing.

This brought us into the southern section of the Forbidden City, known as the Outer Court. The first area we found ourselves in was a large, open courtyard area with buildings left and right, a winding, artificial stream crossing the space spanned by ornately decorated bridges, and a gate with a large hall beyond it directly ahead. Naturally, this was a very popular tourist destination so the interior of the palace complex was filled with a throng of people, almost all of whom were Chinese, some undoubtedly local to the Beijing area but many, as we’d discovered on other trips, who would have come from all over China to visit the country’s capital’s historical sights.

The Forbidden City was constructed between 1406 and 1420 to be the state residence of the emperor from the Ming to the Qing dynasties (until 1924). The outer walls, themselves protected by a moat, are packed earth strengthened with bricks, but the interior buildings comprise enough wood to have the complex regarded as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Those buildings number just under a thousand, with the majority of them being in the northern section of the structure. The layout of the Forbidden City roughly follows a wide central route north to south with side-routes consisting of additional halls and palaces either side, and as has already been mentioned, there is an approximately even split between the more ceremonial southern section (the Outer Court) and the more residential Inner Court in the northern portion. With only a few hours allocated, our visit to the Forbidden City would mostly see us take a direct, central route from the southern gate to the northern one.

Crossing over one of the several bridges we approached the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Although not obvious to our eyes, this gate was a later addition to the Forbidden City with the original structure having burnt down in the late 1880s and the building now present having been reconstructed in 1894. Either side of the approach to the gate were bronze lion sculptures on white marble plinths. To the left was a female lion, identified by the lion cub under her left paw and representing abundant offspring for the emperor. To the right was a male lion which had a globe under its right paw symbolising ruling the world.

We passed through the gate and into the next courtyard area which led towards the largest hall in the Forbidden City and one of the largest wooden structures in China, the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Like all wooden buildings it is susceptible to fire and needed to be rebuilt in 1697.

Time to draw attention to something you might or might not have spotted and which you might or might not be interested in but about which I might or might not care whether you do. Official buildings – palaces, some temples, some government buildings – were permitted to decorate the sloping edges of their roofs with lines of figurines. At the front is a man riding a phoenix while at the rear is an imperial dragon, and in-between are a number of figures, with more important buildings having more figures. The maximum number of figures is nine but the only building in China to have ten, as you can see in the photo below, is the Hall of Supreme Harmony because it housed the emperor’s throne. The tenth figurine is unique in Chinese architecture. The colour of the roof tiles is also significant as yellow was reserved for the emperor, hence nearly all the tiles in the Forbidden City being that colour.

Around the great hall were bronze sculptures of turtles and cranes, both representing longevity. These were constructed with hollow interiors in order that incense could be burned for ceremonies, with the smoke rising from the creatures’ mouths.

A symbol that caught our eyes on more than one occasion was the swastika which in Asian countries still represents longevity and divinity but which, of course, in its right-facing, tilted variation has taken on a far more unpleasant meaning in the west.

We passed through the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Some photos were taken inside but with it being a lot darker than the exterior and flash photography not being allowed and us shuffling along with the crowd in a way that made it difficult to stop, they didn’t really come out well at all, and I’m far too much of a perfectionist to share their blurry noisiness with you.

Outside, as we gathered ahead of making our way through the northern section of the Forbidden City, I panned my camera around and snapped a shot which happened to be a Chinese girl talking to a boy of a similar age. Now, the thing about my camera is, it’s noisy. That mirror snapping back for the shot can be very loud in some situations and this was obviously one because the girl spun around at the sound and faced me. For one heart-stopping moment I thought I was about to start an international incident on our very first trip abroad together but to my utter joy she flashed me a big smile and adopted a pose instead. I swung the camera back up, snapped again, we both smiled at each other, I bowed because that’s the kind of thing you do when you’re flustered, and, yes, this still remains one of my most favourite memories of all the travelling we’ve done around the world.

The next major building we came to was the Palace of Heavenly Purity which indicated that we’d crossed the imaginary line between the northern and southern sections of the Forbidden City, meaning we were now in the Inner Court of the palace complex. This was the residence of the emperor for a long period and featured twenty seven beds that were slept in at random as a security measure.

Our tour of Beijing’s Forbidden City then veered off from the direct route south-to-north to pay a quick visit to some of the buildings to the west of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. This included the Hall of Mental Cultivation in which the emperor’s bedroom was located after the tradition of picking a different bed from twenty seven every night became too tedious to follow. The open courtyards of the southern section of the complex were nowhere to be seen in this part, with narrower alleys compressing the crowd around us more, but there were plenty of opportunities to see some close-up details of the architecture and design present.

The final part of the Forbidden City we took a look at was the Imperial Garden. This was a compact space for the emperor’s family to relax in, with a number of pavilions dotted around and attractive plant-life as you can imagine (or, if you don’t fancy imagining it, as you can see below). Many of the trees in the garden are hundreds of years old and there are items that appear to be trees but which are really stone. The major pavilions represent the four seasons in one way or another.

We might have had more time to explore some of the Forbidden City buildings – maybe not; we perhaps just overran our time anyway – but at this point on our excursion we were asked by the tour guide to all gather together near one wall and not move. The reason for this was that one member of our group had gone missing; an older, American gentleman. Our tour guide and the missing man’s wife headed off together and we were quite some time waiting before they returned with him in tow. Getting turned around, especially in the maze of alleys in the Inner Court wouldn’t have been too difficult so we could understand this and felt some sympathy, although that sympathy would be stretched a little over the course of this trip to Asia as he managed to get lost again on the following day and twice more while actually on the cruise ship.

All together once more we made our way from the garden and through the northern gate, the Gate of Divine Might, which offered up a lovely view of Jingshan Park. Jingshan Park was originally private gardens for the emperor but was opened to the public in 1928; its main focal point is the hill which is artificial, having been made from the soil excavated to create moats and lakes elsewhere.

After a break for lunch in a nearby restaurant the final attraction on the full day’s tour of Beijing would be a ride to the Hutongs and a visit to a local’s house.

A very quick recap in case you can’t be bothered to read about the trip so far: when we booked this cruise with Princess (fairly close to cruise date) it was nearly five years after our first and only other cruise leaving us in the position of having to learn what it is to travel by cruise ship all over again. We’d decided very early on that we’d be booking excursions as much as possible because we’re generally nosey people with a keen interest in history and culture but for this very first port stop in the very first foreign country we’d visited since our honeymoon half a decade earlier nothing jumped out at us. Thus it was that our first visit of a few hours to Norway would be on foot and with no firm plan at all. In later years we would be far more disciplined in researching just what we might be able to do on our own if the need arose but with us being travelling noobs all over again we probably didn’t make the most of our day ashore. There will always be another time.

Princess provided free shuttle buses to allow those of us not on organised excursions to get from Crown Princess into the city. We were dropped off by the city’s octagonal lake, Lille Lungegårdsvannet, made a note of when the buses would be returning to the ship, tutted mildly at the still overcast and lightly spitting weather conditions, and mostly followed the direction of more seasoned travellers also departing the vehicle to do their own thing.

Heading roughly west we crossed over a road and passed through Julemarked Byparken, a small public park with a few sculptures and statues as well as a prominent pavilion. Just beyond that was a modern, pedestrianised area lined with various upmarket stores and punctuated by stone sculptures and water features. The main square of Bergen, Torgallmenningen, was just off this area and it was through this that we next walked.

At the northern end of Torgallmenningen was the Sailor’s Monument, a large sculpture honouring sailors from different eras of Norway’s past.

Continuing on a straight line past the monument to sailors we approached Bergen’s fish market area which is unsurprisingly right by the waterfront area. My wife loves the smell of fresh fish, she loves seafood; I like fish, I can’t stand seafood, and the smell of fresh fish turns my stomach. We were never going to really stop at the fish market area because it’s not like you can buy some fish and take it back aboard the cruise ship to keep for a week until you’re home. Instead, we wandered past it and hugged the road along where the boats were docked, including a small Viking vessel.

The area of Bergen just beyond the fish market and opposite the water was called Bryggen and it’s a UNESCO World Cultural Site. Bryggen was the area in which Bergen was first founded in the eleventh century before expansion but its look and feel date to the middle of the fourteenth century onwards when this part of the city became a trading post for the Hanseatic League. What are now generally shops and locations for local craftspeople to work in were formerly warehouses and merchant houses for the League. The colourful wooden buildings still bear the signs of their previous lives and the narrow alleys and open spaces within the buildings, either lined with wooden boardwalks or cobbles, made for a lovely little wander.

We’re the sort of people who like to spend money in the places we’re travelling, not just spend it getting to and from them, so we were pleased to find a local jewellery workshop in this part of Bergen and my wife bought a hefty, silver ring. My wife tried the ring on, said it was lovely, acknowledged that she understood the stone wasn’t a diamond (for the price we were paying: well, duh!), said she’d love it, and the man there smiled and said he’d polish the piece of jewellery for her. This triggered a loud and indignant “Well, you didn’t offer to polish mine!” from an American woman who’d just bought something too. I guess we just bring out the best in people.

Our no-plan-just-wander tour of Bergen saw us next heading eastwards in a loop to get back roughly to where we’d been dropped off. We weren’t short for time but we were definitely still in a finding-our-feet phase of travelling. These days we would plan things a lot more, have set ideas where we’d want to be, make sure to spend as much time in port as possible, but back then we wanted to be certain that we’d be safely aboard ship in plenty of time.

Our walking route took us past some fairly uninteresting buildings and streets until we came out on Vetrlidsallmeningen where we were greeted by the sight of a long queue of – we assume – passengers from our ship waiting to board the Fløibanen funicular train to the top of the hill overlooking Bergen. On a clear day I imagine the sight is something worth seeing but with the cloud still partially obscuring the hilltop (although the light rain had ceased by this time) we were very glad that we hadn’t paid to do this on our own or as an excursion offered by the cruise line.

We cut through the line of people waiting to board the funicular and found ourselves in another old part of the city of Bergen. Wooden buildings and cobbled streets dominated, although there was more of an overall whiteness to the buildings rather than the varied colours of the buildings that had belonged to the Hanseatic League. This was Lille Øvregaten in the district of Vågsbunnen and it was one of the oldest parts of Bergen. In medieval times this was where you could find inns, goldsmiths, tailors, and booksellers, and it was also the home of cobblers until they found their own street in the fourteenth century.

Korskirken (or the Holy Cross Church) caught our eyes, its stone structure most likely being designed to do precisely that amongst all the wooden buildings that surrounded it. Its name comes not from its shape (although it is cruciform) but because it once housed relics of the True Cross (the somewhat unlikely alleged remnants of the cross on which Jesus was crucified) although these were stolen by Denmark who’d skipped the bit about not doing that in the commandments. The church was damaged in fires in 1198, 1248, 1413, 1582, 1623, 1640, and 1702 so not the greatest of track records when all’s said and done.

We continued heading roughly east and southeast through various streets in Bergen on our walk back towards the lake near where we’d been first dropped. There was a little bit of street art to be seen but nothing terribly good with the majority of work falling firmly in that unthinking graffiti category instead. One interesting moment was stumbling upon a group being filmed for something; it involved holding up cards with words on them then everyone waving Danish flags. Your guess is as good as mine.

Not far from the lake we made a stop at a bar with outdoor seating (as the weather was quite pleasant now) just so we could say that we’d had a Norwegian beer in Norway. Well, we can say that we’ve done it but it wasn’t a particularly nice experience in Bergen because social smoking was a big thing there. In later years (travelling in Europe in particular) we’d run into this problem with smoking in public a lot. Is it asking too much for smokers to simply lower themselves into a Pit of Shame whenever they want to light up? Anyway, we drank up quickly and decided to have one last short wander around before making our way back to the shuttle bus.

We made a quick circuit of Lille Lungegårdsvannet. Interesting pieces of art in the vicinity included Dansk Pige (or Danish Girl) by Gerhard Henning, and the fabulous, abstract, steel sculpture by Knut Steen to memorialise King Olaf Kyrre.

We had a quick look at the modern shops along the pedestrianised area we’d walked through earlier in the day but there was nothing to grab our attention.

With the weather being a little more favourable I took a couple of minutes to grab some additional photos around Julemarked Byparken once more. As public parks go it’s a pretty small one. To the north of the centrally-located pavilion was a statue to Edvard Grieg which we’d noticed earlier but on this second pass through we spotted an abstract piece of work that was more interesting to look at. This was a sculpture to another Norwegian composer, albeit a far less familiar one I’ll warrant, Harald Sæverud.

We decided to call it a day in Bergen at this point so walked through the Festplassen, the open air area beside the lake which often hosts circuses, amusement parks, festivals, and a regular pre-Christmas candle party. Best not to think too much about what the average Norwegian does at a candle party.

That concluded our walk around Bergen. We didn’t have long to wait until the shuttle bus returned us to Crown Princess. We had successfully negotiated our first day ashore on a cruise in five years and had the luxury of knowing that everywhere else we’d stop in Norway would include an organised tour meaning the chances of us getting left behind in any port were practically none.