London and 14-Day Arctic Circle Crossing: Edinburgh Evening Stay Holland America Cruise: Day 16 Haugesund, Norway- on our own May 27, 2025

My husband K woke at 6:30 and left the cabin to roam about and watch our sailing in to Haugesund. I got up at 8:15 and heard that headwinds had delayed our arrival. When our daughter J came at 9, we went to the veranda to check out our approach. We could see Sørhaugøy lighthouse and some of the port. The weather looked lousy.

 

At 9:10, we went off to breakfast.

As we sat there, we could see it just pouring. 

We had no excursion planned for today, but had thought about doing the on/off bus. We tried to sign up for tickets while we sat there, but they were sold out.

We could see the giant yellow thing that we saw from the veranda was now right off our stern. We walked out that part of the Lido deck and saw it. I looked up what it was.

 

 

We went to our cabin at 10:12 to decide on a plan of attack for the day. We already knew that this was the port where I had to turn in my Global Blue forms to get my VAT refund. We'd planned on my going down to take care of that before setting off to see the sights. That was because I had to take all the items that were on the forms with me and we didn't want to drag them around all day. We decided we still had to go with that plan.

Since there was so much rain, I grabbed the ship umbrella, when I left the cabin at 10:30. It turned out that that umbrella was not in great shape. But, I got in to the building, which was also a souvenir shop and ticket sales spot for the on/off bus and shuttle buses. I got to the front of the line and the girl looked over the forms and told me that I had to go fill in my credit card number for the refund. So, I found a flat space near the puzzles and filled them out, kicking myself for not thinking of that when I'd dealt with the forms upstairs. I went back to the counter and successfully turned them in. She never asked to see any of the merchandise, which is not surprising, because they rarely do.

When I got back on the ship at 11:05, I went to the concierge to see about trading the dying umbrella for a good one. Unfortunately, there were no umbrellas left on the ship. (J's closet didn't even have one.)

I went back to the room at 11:10 and dried out a bit, as I emptied the bag of the souvenirs again.

At 11:45, the three of us were off the ship. We'd already nixed our plan to walk over the huge bridge into town, due to the wind and rain. So, we headed for the ticket counter, and, using cash, at 11:58,we bought three shuttle tickets for 120 kr each, which was about $1.20. 

Luckily, there was a shuttle out there and we boarded. It was pouring at 49°, but felt like 44°. We were on the road at noon and got off at 12:07 down the street from Vår Freiser Kirke (Our Savior's Church). It is a Church of Norway (i.e., Lutheran) church. We memorized it, because this would be the pick up point, when we were ready to go back.

We did not head for the church, but rather down the street a bit to one of the shops on J's list for the day, Singer Bernina Sysenter. I knew I liked the place as soon as I saw the planter out front.

Just inside the door were some cross stitch kits, but they were from Denmark. There was fabric and some yarn, but what really grabbed our attention were the kits for their native costume. We got to talking to the clerk and she confirmed that grandparents started saving for the outfits upon the birth of the child. Even though the store sold the fancy Bernina sewing machines, which are available in the states, there is great pride in doing the needlework by hand. Boys and girls even go to sewing classes. They had kits for beautiful headbands, but I don't know that my granddaughter could ever wear one. She was kind enough to let me photograph the display outfit.

As we bought some fabric, J told her about Woobles and the clerk was intrigued enough to make note of them.

On our way to the yarn store next door, Garnkroa, for J, we saw the windows of the both stores had costumes in them.

  

By 1:22, we were passing this fountain that flowed downhill from the Fiskerne (Fishermen) statue.

We went into the oldest shop in town, which was supposed to have fabric, but it was really homegoods.

Along Haraldsgata, we ran into some nice statues of animals, as well as real flowers.

Other than us, there were not very many folks in the pedestrian zone.

By 2, we decided we needed a snack. So, we went to the Haugli Bakeri (Bakery), which had a nice interior area. We got a Kanelsnurr for Kr49 and a brownie for Kr43. Tea for freezing K and a fruit drink for J and me to share came to Kr113, and thus we used up the rest of our bills.

 

The tables and other spots were decorated with quite elaborate flower arrangements made from Perler Beads. I've only ever seen them in flat designs.

 

We decided to hike up the road to see a glassblower. Along the way, we saw this great manhole cover and this elementary school (Breidablikk Barneskole) absolutely built into the rock.

 

The glassblower was at Kirkegata 13, which I figured was Church Street. His stuff was nice, but we didn't really feel the need to buy anything and no one was in the "showroom" anyway. We were there by 2:40 and left within 5 minutes.

2:50 found us at Boots looking for Dramamine for K, who was feeling a bit seasick, he thought. I had to ask for help and wound up with a substitute.

There was now sun and wind- and people! As we neared the shuttle stop, I could get a shot of the first two shops we'd visited.

 

By 3, we were on our way to the port. The view out the windows was much better now. We had great views of the Risøy broen (bridge) and the Smedasundet waterway we were crossing. Look at how all those houses in the fourth picture have the same fish scale roof tiles.

 

   

When we reached the port at 3:15, we decided to take a selfie in front of the selfie spot beach chair, but others on the shuttle offered to take it for us. It was still windy.

We took a few minutes in the shop where I'd dropped off the Global Blue forms and we'd bought the shuttle tickets. I thought these signs were clever.

When we got back onboard at 3:25, it was 51°, but felt like 46°. At least it was sunny.

At 4:30, J went to crocheting in the art room and K went to the port talk. I played games and did some cross stitch. Before heading out to meet them at the Dining Room for dinner at 5, I got this shot of the ⁨HVDC offshore wind convertor platform DolWin from our balcony.

At dinner, I had a Strongbow Cider, while J had Sparkling Berry Lemonade, and K had a Chateau Smith Cabernet. 

For appetizers, we got chicken empanada, vegan crostini with tomato and basil, and double-baked potato soup. All were tasty.

  

Our main courses were breaded chicken breast with sauteed mushrooms, rigatoni with chicken meatballs, and roasted spice-crusted prime rib with wild mushrooms. Also goo choices.

  

Desserts were a  pear crisp that was light on the pear, stroopwafel cheesecake, and blueberry pie.

  

Around 6:30, J and I went to my cabin to do the crossword. K went to hear music and then used up more shipboard credit by getting a photo of his funky iris taken.

At 7:30, J and I went to see Tom Crosbie and she was impressed. This time, he worked with the London map book that cabbies have to memorize and he aced it. He also did some Trivial Pursuit and Rubik's cube.

At 8:23, we went to the Effy drawing. We didn't win, but got the charm of the day.

The phone registered 7,164 steps for 2.8 miles.