Lovely Norway & The Fjords

Southampton is a port city on England’s south coast. It’s home to the SeaCity Museum, with an interactive model of the Titanic, which departed from Southampton in 1912. Nearby, Southampton City Art Gallery specialises in modern British art. Solent Sky Museum features vintage aircraft like the iconic Spitfire. Tudor House & Garden displays artifacts covering over 800 years of history, including a penny-farthing bike.

Things To See, Do & Taste In Southampton:

• See:  Stonehenge – A prehistoric megalithic structure and place of spiritual significance.
• Do:  Wine tasting / winery tour – The Southeast of England has the greatest concentration of commercial vineyards in Britain.
• Taste:  Tunworth and Winslade cheeses – Locally produced in Hampshire.

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Stavanger flourished in the 19th century as a fishing port. While other towns in Norway have suffered with the decline of this industry, Stavanger has kept its economy booming by diversifying, first into shipbuilding and now into oil. These two contrasting industries have created a city of two halves – a modern area of high-rise buildings and a historic centre with cobbled streets and old wooden houses. The city centre was the birthplace of Alexander Kielland, one of the great 19th-century Norwegian novelists. Stavanger Cathedral, dating from 1125, is an impressive building and the only medieval cathedral in Norway that has not been substantially altered since it was first built. From Stavanger you can explore the attractive blue waters of Lysefjord, surrounded by cliffs and striking rock formations, and also visit Hafrsfjord where the Viking King Harald won an important battle that started the Unification of Norway. Those preferring to explore on their own may wish to visit the interesting Petroleum Museum.

Make no bones about it, this is Fjordland at its finest. Named by the National Geographic Traveler magazine as "the world's most iconic destination", legend has it that Vikings and Trolls battled on these very waters and the pretty stave churches – of which Vik has two – are built on sacred Norse land. Vik is a place that could have been written by Tolkein; a mysterious land where mists roll off the mountains, the air is crisp and the silent, glassy Fjords are definitely the ruler of the kingdom. Shrouded in enchantment, the landscape of Vik is steeped in Viking heritage, Scandinavian myth and human enchantment.

The coastal town of Ålesund is the commercial capital of the Møre og Romsdal district. But more important, it is noted for its characteristic Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) buildings, which some claim make Ålesund one of the most beautiful towns in Norway. This Art Nouveau style emerged when the town was completely rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1904 destroyed nearly 800 buildings and left 10,000 residents homeless. It is said that the fire started by a tipped oil lamp. Rebuilding was carried out with the help of many young, foreign architects who added their own flourishes to the architectural blend of German Jugendstil and Viking roots. Today, narrow streets are crammed with buildings topped with turrets, spires and gables that bear decorations of dragonheads and curlicues. As one of the few remaining Art Nouveau towns in the world, in 1998 Ålesund was awarded the coveted Houens National Memorial Prize for the preservation of its unique architecture.

With its centre located on the island of Tromsø, the municipality of Tromsø is more than five times the size of Norway’s capital, Oslo, and is the world’s northernmost university city. Lying 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, it is known as the 'Gateway to the Arctic' because it was used as a starting point for hunters looking for Arctic foxes, polar bears and seals. In the 19th century it was a base for explorers on Arctic expeditions – a history that is remembered in the city’s Polar Museum, which you can visit on an excursion. Also commemorated in the area is the history of Norway’s indigenous people, the Sami. Visitors can learn about the traditions, heritage and modern preservation of the Sami culture at the Tromsø Museum. Nowadays, Tromsø is a charming mix of old and new, with wooden buildings sitting alongside contemporary architecture such as the impressive glacier-like Arctic Cathedral, which features one of the largest stained glass windows in Europe. Looking down on the city is Mount Storsteinen, and a cable car runs to the top, giving wonderful views over the surrounding countryside of forested peaks and reindeer pastures.

More than 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the world's northernmost town is also one of the most widely visited and oldest places in northern Norway. "Hammerfest" means "mooring place" and refers to the natural harbor (remarkably free of ice year-round thanks to the Gulf Stream) that is formed by the crags in the mountain. Hammerfest is the gateway to the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, a jumping-off point for Arctic expeditions. Once a hunting town, Hammerfest's town emblem features the polar bear. In 1891 the residents of Hammerfest, tired of the months of darkness that winter always brought, decided to brighten their nights: they purchased a generator from Thomas Edison, and Hammerfest thus ecame the first city in Europe to have electric street lamps. In addition to two museums, there are several shops within Hammerfest's small city center. There is also a market selling souvenirs and other goods outside the town hall.

Searching in 1553 for a northeast passage to India, British navigator Richard Chancellor came upon a crag 307 yards above the Barents Sea. He named the jut of rock North Cape, or Nordkapp. Today Europe's northernmost point is a rite-of-passage journey for nearly all Scandinavians and many others. Most cruise passengers visit Nordkapp from Honningsvåg, a fishing village on Magerøya Island. The journey from Honningsvåg to Nordkapp covers about 35 km (22 miles) across a landscape characterized by rocky tundra and grazing reindeer, which are rounded up each spring by Sami herdsmen in boats. The herdsmen herd the reindeer across a mile-wide channel from their winter home on the mainland. Honningvåg's northerly location makes for long, dark winter nights and perpetually sun-filled summer days. The village serves as the gateway to Arctic exploration and the beautiful Nordkapp Plateau, a destination that calls to all visitors of this region. Most of those who journey to Nordkapp (North Cape), the northernmost tip of Europe, are in it for a taste of this unique, otherworldly, rugged yet delicate landscape. You'll see an incredible treeless tundra, with crumbling mountains and sparse dwarf plants. The subarctic environment is very vulnerable, so don't disturb the plants. Walk only on marked trails and don't remove stones, leave car marks, or make campfires. Because the roads are closed in winter, the only access is from the tiny fishing village of Skarsvåg via Sno-Cat, a thump-and-bump ride that's as unforgettable as the desolate view.

People have been attracted to the community of Alta for thousands of years, and prehistoric rock carvings discovered in 1973 can be seen at the Alta Museum. Situated at the head of the Altafjord, it is a lush, green and hospitable shelter in the otherwise cold and windswept Finnmark landscape. Halfway between the grim, barren mountain plateau and the wet, stormy coast, Alta offers tree-clad valleys, pleasant temperatures and no more rain than the Sahara. However at 70 degrees North it is quite a different story in winter, when heavy snowfalls and sub-zero temperatures are the order of the day, and clear dark night skies become the arena for dazzling displays of the elusive Aurora Borealis, also referred to as 'the temperamental lady' by Laplanders. The world’s first Northern Lights Observatory, which played an important role in the development of geophysical and meteorological research during the first half of the 20th century, is located just 12 miles from Alta. Perched atop Haldde Mountain, it towers almost 3,000 feet above Kafjord, where the battleship Tirpitz was based during the Second World War.

The capital of Nordland is a peaceful city, but beneath the surface lies a fascinating and colourful military past. During the Cold War it was an important NATO base, stationing fighter jets to intercept Soviet naval vessels and aircraft. The situation culminated when Premier Kruschev threatened to destroy Bodø with nuclear weapons after a CIA U-2 spy plane bound for the city was shot down over the Soviet Union. You can learn more about the city's Cold War history at the Norwegian Aviation Museum, which is uniquely designed to resemble a biplane and houses an intact U-2 plane, a Spitfire, a rare Hønningstad C-5 polar seaplane and many other interesting exhibits. As well as its military heritage, Bodø boasts the world's strongest maelstrom at Saltstraumen, which attracts a host of visitors every year.

Sitting just below the Arctic Circle, a visit to Bronnoysund guarantees a journey of culture and extraordinary scenery. Bronnoysund is quintessential Norway, and encompasses everything you'd expect from this stunning country - along with plenty of surprises along the way. Raking fjords, scattered islands, and roaring rivers provide a huge natural bounty - but it’s the Torghatten Mountain that’s Bronnoysund’s true crowning glory. Torghatten Mountain rises like a colossal castle of sheer granite, and is particularly striking because it’s punctured right through the centre by a giant hole. Line up the view just right, and you can see sunlight bursting through the hole, as if illuminated by a massive spotlight. It's hard to imagine how such a striking phenomenon would form naturally, and indeed the local folklore has a persuasive explanation – that it was created when an arrow ripped through the troll king's hat, which was thrown into the air to protect a fleeing girl. The hat turned to stone, and the arrow’s hole is preserved there to this day. If you care to climb Torghatten Mountain, you can walk through its cavernous interior, to look down over the red wooden barns and glistening lakes below.

One of Scandinavia's oldest cities, Trondheim was the first capital of Norway, from AD 997 to 1380. Founded in 997 by Viking king Olav Tryggvason, it was first named Nidaros (still the name of the cathedral), a composite word referring to the city's location at the mouth of the Nidelva River. Today, it's Central Norway's largest (and Norway's third largest) city, with a population of 150,000. The wide streets of the historic city center remain lined with brightly painted wood houses and striking warehouses. But it's no historic relic: it's also the home to NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and is Norway's technological capital.

Molde, the 'Town of Roses', is a city and municipality in Romsdal in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The city is located on the northern shore of the Romsdalsfjord. The city of Molde is the administrative centre of Møre og Romsdal County, administrative center of the municipality of Molde, commercial hub of the Romsdal region and seat of the Diocese of Møre. Molde proper consists of a 6.2-mile (10-kilometre) long and 0.62-1.24 mile (1-2-kilometre) wide strip of urban land running east-west along the north shore of the Moldefjord, an arm of the Romsdalsfjord, on the Romsdal Peninsula. The city is sheltered by Bolsøya and the Molde Archipelago, a chain of low-lying islands and islets, to the south and the wood-clad hills of Moldemarka to the north. The city centre is located just west of the River Moldeelva, which runs into the city from the north, originating in the Lake Moldevatnet and running through the Valley Moldedalen.

Built on a latticework of 165 waterways, surpassing Venice’s 150, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals.   Amsterdam combines the unrivalled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city centre with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world.

Things To See, Do & Taste In Amsterdam:

• See:  Van Gogh Museum.
• Do:  Amsterdam canal cruise.
• Taste:  Stroopwafels – A thin, round waffle cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling, often eaten with a hot beverage by resting the stroopwafel on top of the warm mug for about two minutes to allow the caramel to get soft and melty.

Explore Antwerp, Belgium's second city. Known for its diamond cutting industry, fashion and the many great artists that lived in its vicinity, Antwerp is a city focused on art and culture.