Midsummer in the Scottish Islands and Norwegian Fjords
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LAUN OFFER - CHSAV E £500 PER PERSON MIdSuMMEr IN ThE SCoTTISh ISlANdS ANd NorwEgIAN FjordS A journey from Scotland to the land of the Midnight Sun aboard the Sea Explorer 17th to 29th June 2016 Orkney Islands Lofoten Islands Ostrov Kolguyav orway is, by anyone’s standards, one of our VIEw Tromso Whenever we are able to fit “ Trollfjorden Europe’s most beautiful and awe-inspiring K OLA N Norway into our schedules we do Lofoten islands PENINSULA so and are pleased to celebrate NORWEGIAN Torghatten WHITE countries. Its unhampered landscape and pristine SEA our 25th anniversary year in SEA Bronnoysund Arkhangel’sk Svartissen Se Oulu verna wilderness promises to delight those with a love NORWAY ya Dvina 2016 with another cruise in Runde Alesund FINLAND the region. It is certainly Nordfjord for the natural world. Olden Sunnfjord L.Onega one of our most popular Sognefjord Bygstad Sukhona Lerwick St Kilda Flam L.Ladoga destinations AandTLANTIC is perfect Helsinki Naerofjorden Sankt-Peterburg RUSSIA Join us as we voyage along the western coast of Orkney Hardangerfjord for exploration aboard a olga OCEAN Rosendal Tallinn V small ship. Each time we Oban ESTONIA Nizhniy Novgorod this remarkable country which is punctuated by Tver’ SCOTLAND have developed the itinerary LATVIA Dauga Moscow Riga va seemingly endless beaches, bustling coastal towns, Aarhus and now believe we have the Isle of IRELAND Man DENMARK Dublin IRISH SEA Copenhagen LITHUANIA Nem unas Manchester Vilnius perfect mix of fjords, small towns,Cork Dnepr fjords of cinematic grandeur and thriving fishing Se UNITED KINGDOM RUSSIA v er Birmingham Gdansk Minsk WALES n history and wildlife. Mid-summer isCardi ff Hamburg Don ENGLAND Amsterdam London E l b e BELARUS communities. our summer voyage sets sail from Vistula The Hague Poznan Thames ipyat the perfect time for our exploration Rosendal and enjoy Berlina ride on Pr Desna NETHERLANDSMeuse B u g Rhine Dortmund Warsaw ENGLISH CHANNEL BELGIUM Brussels O d r oban on Scotland’s west coast and before we with longer days for exploration the dramatic railwayLeipzig in Flam.POLAND Our Khar’kov Le Havre GERMANY a Kiyev Seine Frankfurt and the added benefit of after shipParis alsoLUXEMBOURG lets us experiencePrague the V i s t u l a Dnepr reach the wonderous landscapes of Norway we Krakow L’vov CZECH St. Nazaire Nantes Strasbourg REPUBLIC Dnestr dinner walks. During our voyage majesticLoire fjords and allows us to UKRAINE SLOVAK Rostov-na-Donu Donau C Munich Vienna REPUBLIC A FRANCE Bratislava R have the added advantage of spending time on you will see the archeological sites survey the wondrous scenery from P A MOLDOVA Zurich Pr LIECHTENSTEIN AUSTRIA Budapest T ut SEA OF H B a y of S Graz AZOV SWITZERLAND I Bordeaux P HUNGAR Y A Odessa of Orkney and Shetland Islands,Bisca y Garonne the comfortLyon of the Sea Explorer. N remote and idyllic St Kilda and visiting the ancient MASSIF L S SLOVENIA Milan Ljubljana Zagreb Bilbao CENTRAL A ROMANIA visit the small Norweigan towns SomeRhône destinations are simply best Sevastopol’ P Po Porto Y Toulouse CROATIA Bucharest R Bologna ruins on the orkney Islands and the Shetland E Nice I T A L Y Duero BOSNIA- Belgrade BLA CK SEA of Bygstad (wherePO RweTUGAL made the N Andorra laexplored Vella by shipA SAN-and NorwayHERZEGOVINA is E Marseilles MONACO ADRIA Danube Ebro MARINO E ANDORRA P Sarajevo S P Tajo Madrid T I C S E A BULGARIA first ever cruise call in 2011) and certainly Corsicaone of these.Tiber YUGOSLAVIA capital, Lerwick. Lisbon E ” Sofiya Barcelona Elba Ajaccio N Guadiana SPAIN Rome N Skopje Istanbul Valencia BALEARIC IS. Tirane MACEDONIA Palma Minorca Guadalquivir Sardinia Ankara Seville Majorca TYRRHENIAN Naples Ibiza Taranto ALBANIA Thessaloniki mak Murcia SEA Golf Kizil Ir Str Tar o di A E G E A N S E A Puffin ait of Gibr Gibraltar Malaga Cagliari anto we have been operating cruises to Norway and altar Cartagena M E GREECE Tangier Cueta D I TURKEY T E Gediz Algiers R Palermo Messina S Melilla IONIAN Izmir O Oran R R the Scottish Islands for many years and know this ’Annaba A SEA Athens T O Adana Rabat Bizerte Antalya S N Sicily Casablanca A L Kalamai T Tunis E Siracusa A A MOROCCO N Rhodes E SYRIA to be an itinerary that is perfectly suited to small Y N Nicosia O M R I E N Khania A H A Iráklion S TUNISIA MALTA CYPRUS Limassol A S T L ALGERIA A Crete LEBANON ship cruising especially aboard a vessel with the Beirut self-sufficient qualities of the Sea Explorer.w ith our fleet of Zodiacs we are able to make calls into some of the remote and uninhabited islands that surround the Scottish coast, land on remote beaches and cruise close to shorelines and cliffs crowded with birdlife. Keeping a flexible schedule, our experienced Captain and Expedition Team are able to make the most of each day based on the weather and wildlife sightings. Lofoten cathedral Naeroyfjorden ThE ITINErAry Day 1 Oban, Scotland. Embark the remarkable dwellings revealed idyllic scenery and farms on the these 20 kilometres, crossing back Sea Explorer this afternoon and from beneath the sand dunes by way and viewing the magnificent and forth across rivers and through sail this evening. A transfer will be storms only 150 years ago. Time Langfoss waterfall. When we arrive 20 tunnels. To allow you to view the available from Glasgow Central permitting we will also visit Birsay, at the small village of Sunndal we magnificent scenery the train will Station and Glasgow Airport at a the ancient centre of Viking power will walk to Bondhus Lake which proceed slowly and even stop at fixed time. and explore St Magnus Church is surrounded by a fascinating the Kjosfossen waterfall where you which dates back over 900 years. landscape of fjords and mountains. may leave the train to take a closer Day 2 St Kilda. Arrive at first After lunch onboard we have free look or take some pictures. At light in St Kilda, a remarkable Day 4 Lerwick. After breakfast, time to explore the town, maybe Vatnahalsen you will leave the train uninhabited archipelago some fifty discover the Shetland capital visit the 12th century Kvinnherad and walk from the station to the miles beyond the Outer Hebrides. and begin your exploration of church or see the gardens at Mountain Hotel. Here there will be The largest island, Hirta, once this historic port with a tour Barony Rosendal. time to relax and take a walk before supported a population of over that wanders through its narrow re-boarding the train back to Flam. 200, but the last islanders left in stone lanes. We will visit the Day 6 Sognefjorden & After lunch onboard the afternoon the 1930s. The Medieval village excellent Shetland Museum, Naerofjorden. We spend the day is free to spend time relaxing in the has been restored by the National containing historical artefacts enjoying spectacular fjord scenery village before we sail back along Trust for Scotland and offers a from the Neolithic period, Viking from aboard the Sea Explorer. the scenic fjords this evening. With marvellous link with the past. The memorabilia through to the Sognefjorden, Norway’s longest the long evenings this is a perfect islands are an important breeding whaling era. Return to the ship for and deepest fjord extends more time to relax on deck after dinner ground for many seabirds including lunch and enjoy an afternoon at than 200 kilometres inland and and watch the world go by. Atlantic puffins and northern sea as we cross to Norway. Maybe is surrounded by three national fulmars. Later, cruise past two of join a lecture or relax in the lounge. parks. Here we will see thundering Day 8 Sunnfjord & Bygstad. the largest gannetries in the world waterfalls, glacier arms stretching Sunnfjord lies at the heart of at Stac Lee, Stac an Armin and down into green valleys and western Norway with its starkly Auerlandsfjord Boreray. many small farms clinging to the contrasting fjord scenery, half way mountainside. We will continue to between Bergen and Alesund. Day 3 Orkney. After a morning at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Its little known fjord arms and sea we arrive at the Orkney capital Naerofjorden, one of the many fjord gentler landscape in harmony with of Kirkwall from where we will head arms of Sognefjord and considered powerful and diverse watercourses into the west of Mainland, Orkney’s one of the most dramatic. If time have left their impression on largest island. We will pass through and weather permits we will drop the landscape and settlement. gentle rolling landscape and into the Zodiacs to find a suitable Today’s tour will take us through the Neolithic Heartland of Orkney; landing to explore. This evening we this beautiful environment with an area designated as a World will moor at the village of Flam. its magnificent waterfalls and Heritage Site due to its wealth Day 5 Hardangerfjord & Rosendal, mountains. We will visit Sunnfjord of pre-historic archaeology. We Norway. Our first call in Norway is Day 7 Flam. This morning we Museum, which provides an insight will see the Standing Stones of Hardangerfjord, the third largest will embark on one of the most into how life was in Sunnfjord Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar; a fjord in the world, where we dock dramatic train rides in Europe. settlements in the mid-1800s, huge ceremonial circle of stones at Rosendal. We will drive along The Flam Railway is only 20 before taking a scenic drive to dating back almost 5000 years.