Festival Ports - Harlingen, Netherlands and Fredrikstad, Norway

In Harlingen we moored next to this ship. We had to cross their deck to get ashore.

Four of our ports this summer are Tall Ships Festival ports.  Similar to the Tall Ships Festivals I attended last summer on the Great Lakes; besides the ships there are vendors selling merchandise, cheesy nautical things, food, etc.  There are also crew parties, receptions, activities and facilities available for us to use.  The biggest difference between these European Tall Ships Festivals and the ones on the Great Lakes is that here there are around 70 tall ships instead of 12-15!  And Sorlandet is not the biggest ship at the festival, one of the bigger ones but not the star attraction like she was on the Lakes.  The nicest difference is that we don’t have open ship every day of the festival.  There is still a fair amount of activity on board with different officials, organizers, friends, sponsors, etc. coming on throughout the day but not 2000+ random strangers shuffling around deck asking the same questions.

Harlingen.  Ferris wheel + ships

During the festivals I haven’t had too much time off, a few hours here and there, but that’s OK.  Generally the first thing we do when we get off (speaking for Nadia and myself, not the whole crew), is look for wifi, probably at a coffee shop.  Other standard stops include buying postcards and stamps and probably a grocery store for personal or ship provisions.  We’ve also been running in most ports.  Lerwick has been our favourite run so far and it will be pretty hard to beat – the scenery was incredible.

#galleygirls get milkshakes and wifi

Part of fun of the festivals is meeting or catching up with crew from other ships.  There’s also the opportunity to tour around the other ships but I haven’t made that happen yet.  I’ve met some of the cooks from other ships and given a galley tour or two.  There’s one ship that has a bread room so I hope to see that one day!

en route to crew party in Fredrikstad

In Fredrikstad Carsten (department head), Nadia and myself went out for dinner one night.  We cooked for the crew who would be eating on board (about 10) and headed out.  It was great to have some time to spend together in a relaxed setting and enjoy great food that we didn’t have to prepare!