We’ve all been left open-mouthed, like Munch’s Scream, at the beauty of Norway but today we celebrate the man who brought the fjords to the world.
It’s no exaggeration to credit JC Dahl with bringing tourism to Norway through his landscape paintings.
But I only stumbled across JC (and it was not the only thing I fell upon that day) on an MSC cruise lay-off in the fjords in Bergen.
When we took in the troll caricatures and Munch retrospective on the walls and Dahl’s panoramas at the Kode gallery.

And was tripped up by one of those shape-shifting trolls when I tumbled over a stone on our cliffside walk above Bergen.
The good news then is that the first of two Havila Polaris ships has arrived in Bergen.
Before it will head directly to Tromsø in a few days and put into service on August 21.
While the sister ship Havila Pollux will enter service from August 23.
Fjords game-changer

And this is a fjords game-changer.
Your ship accommodates 468 beds and passengers can choose whether to sail from port to port.
Or embark on a comprehensive journey along the Norwegian coast.
And here’s where things have changed with sustainability at the heart of fjords sailing.
Havila operates on a combination of liquefied natural gas and battery packs.
And that allows them to sail emissions-free for up to four hours at a time on battery power.
This means that Havila sails emissions-free in Geirangerfjorden and Hjørundfjorden.
Watch the waste

Now Havila are clearly committed to cleaning up the seas.
And cutting down on waste and, of course, leftover food is high up on that menu.
Theirs is a food concept where everything is served à la carte.

That will reduce food waste by a whopping 60 tons with four fully operational ships, compared to ships with buffet.
With the two new ships in operation, the number of departures from Bergen will double from six to 12 departures per month.
The ships dock in Bergen at 14:45 before embarking on a new journey northwards at 20:30.
Now, of course, since Thomas Cook first clapped eyes on Dahl and introduced Norway to British adventurers we’ve been capturing its beauties ourselves.

And that was always going to be a bigger draw to the award-winning photographer Mrs M was always going to pick that.
Ahead of the Med or the Gulf states.
Which is why we have our own photo homage to Dahl hanging in our wall.. bringing the fjords to the world, our world.