2022 Nordic Seas - Day 12 Molde

Today, our last in Norway, we are in Molde. It’s on the Molde Fjord, the 8th longest in Norway, with a depth of 550 meters (1,800 ft). It continues to astonish me, the depth of these fjords. They are found where past glaciers extended below the current sea level. Basically, the melted glaciers filled the channels they’d scraped out of the mountains. The Molde fjord is not as spectacular as those we saw last week, but shrouded in clouds, it is still lovely. 

Molde has been a port since the 15th century. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1916. (Fire seems to have figured in the destruction of all Norwegian cities.) The Norwegian government temporarily relocated to Molde after evacuating from Oslo during World War II. It was subsequently heavily damaged by German bombing and since has been completely rebuilt. 

Today local industry includes furniture manufacturing, textile mills and of course fishing exports. Tourists come for hiking, the gardens that give Molde the moniker “City of Roses”, and its jazz festival.

We’d planned a hike to Varden (about 1300 ft above sea level) to view the Molde Panorama with its 222 peaks. But weather karma was not with us today, with clouds covering even those peaks we could see from the ship, and rain predicted throughout the day. So on to plan B. 

Looking towards Varden, hidden somewhere in those clouds…

…and across the fjord towards the panorama

The Romsdal Museum, a collection of over 40 buildings showing Norway’s social and architectural development from the Viking Age to the end of the 19th century, was located only a couple miles from the ship. Since we hadn’t made it to the Folksmuseum in Oslo, this seemed like a good opportunity to see a similar collection. It was pouring heavy rain when we set out, but soon enough things began to clear up. Greg, of course,  grabbed a couple of caches along the way.

The Dom Kirkwood, or cathedral, of Molde opened in 1957. A spiral staircase snakes up the bell tower, visible from the outside (but just barely, in this photo). The simple double-nave church holds up to 1,000 people. A model of a masted ship pivots slowly over the main aisle, recalling Molde’s seafaring and ship-building heritage.

The Romsdal Museum is one of the most comprehensive and largest folk museums in Norway. Historic buildings have been collected here from around the country. The oldest house dates from around 1530. The majority of the buildings were homes and are furnished as they would have been when built. The oldest home had only animal-skin covered benches around the perimeter and a fire pit in the middle. People may have stayed in the barn with their animals to keep warm in the winter. Later homes had storage areas, sleeping lofts, beds and cradles, workshops, etc. Clothing production progressed from spinning wheels and small hand looms to sewing machines. We enjoyed walking around the green grounds and talking with the living history workers. 

Greg tried out some stilts

And I found this very good boy.  I was overdue for a cat fix, so didn’t mind at all when he left paw prints on my slacks. 

We walked back to the ship, just in time to get caught in another shower. But not until a break in the weather allowed a decent glimpse of the Molde panorama across the fjord.