FUN-photos: A&K Arctic Expedition

September 11, 2014 by  

On August 6th we flew from Amsterdam to Oslo. Our A&K trip started on the 7th with a city walking tour and a cocktail reception at the Polar Ship Fram Museum. It houses the original arctic expedition ship and considered the world´s strongest wooden ship. On June 24th 1893 the Fram set out on her first expedition to reach the North Pole. The expedition ended in 1896 and  in 1898 the 2nd expedition sailed to survey northern Greenland and to explore and survey the unknown northeastern coast. They were supposed to return in 1901 but were surrounded by ice that never melted and finally returned in September 1902. The Fram made 2 remarkable pioneering expeditions.

We boarded Le Boreal in Longyearbyen, Svalbard and spent the first 4 days on excursions cruising around the archipelago in search of polar bears and wild life. And we got lucky! We found a mother and her cub on 2 different days. From there we cruised to Greenland spending 3 days of excursions and landings and ended in Iceland for 2 day stops touring on land before disembarking in Reykjavik.

Then we spent 4 days in Reykjavik which included taking the Golden Circle tour and dipping in the world famous Blue Lagoon. The Golden Circle is a 300 km loop that covers three main attractions; Pingvellir National Park, the waterfall Gullfoss (Golden Falls) & the erupting geyser Strokkur. And lucky for us we got out of Reykjavik just before the Bardarbunga volcano erupted! We ended in London where we spent our last full day at the Tower of London.

This trip lasted 57 days and included 12 countries,  11 zodiac excursions, 7 airline flights, 3 cruises and 2 car rentals covering 1330 miles. We are so glad to be home, and in our opinion, the best place in the whole world!

Comments