Alesund

This is part of the harbour at Alesund....the main town in a collection of seven islands that is known as "the gateway to the fjords". The sun has shone all day, but it is crispily cold...beautiful...but not been easy to get photos right! Experimented with polariser and filters...some worked and some really didn't!

Alesund was burnt to the ground in 1904 when a fierce hurricane wind collided with a house fire and its two fire horses and 12 volunteers were overwhelmed!
Of the towns 12000 inhabitants, there was only one fatality due to the ability to flee into the hills, but 10,000 were left homeless and with no livelihood as fishing boats all burned too. It was rapidly rebuilt by the government requesting 52 young Norwegian architects studying in European Universities to come back to their homeland to help. As the fashion of architecture across Europe was Art Nouveau then, the town was rebuilt with a very strong character and design reflecting that.......but with stone houses this time, not wooden! All this I gleened from a fabulous little museum housed in the towns old apothecary...which is itself a stunning art nouveau building inside and out.

As I will no doubt be blipping lots of sea and mountains, thought I should post one from the land with such an interesting history.
And all around the harbour I couldn't get the tune and lyrics of Elvis Costello's " Alison" out of my head...still cant!