Ålesund

After leaving Honnigsvag we’ve spent two days at sea but this morning early we arrived in Alesund.

Ålesund is built on a row of islands extending out into the ocean, these islands are connected by underwater tunnels and ferries. Like many Norwegian towns, its buildings were primarily wooden. On the night of 3 January 1904 almost the entire town was destroyed by fire. Thankfully there were not many casualties(only one fatality), but 850 houses were burnt to the ground and only 230 remained standing. Despite the devastation, the fire marked a turning point for Ålesund, as the rebuild took only three years with the help of foreign aid – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was so shocked to hear of the fire that he sent four ships with people, materials and medicine to help the recovery efforts.

Young Norwegian designers and architects took up the challenge to rebuild the town and were inspired by the jugendstil movement popular in Germany and other parts of Europe at the time. The result turned the city into an art nouveau masterpiece.

The view of the city from Mount Aksla.

We took a hop on hop off bus ride around the city and 5 Kim’s out of town to the Sunnmore Open Air Museum.