#AtoZchallenge V is for Vacations

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful For

is for Vacations




Many people have missed or will soon miss their vacation this year. but I am sure they are thinking about future trips and looking back to holidays in the past.

As a child all my vacations were spent on the west coast of Scotland. I would play with my cousins on their farm, see many relations, enjoy the best ice cream in Britain and superb fish and chips and go up to Glasgow to visit the Kelvin Art Gallery and Museum. One painting which I always wanted to visit first was Christ of St John on the Cross by Salvador Dali

Eventually, at the age of 11, I took my first trip abroad, flying to Dusseldorf on my own to stay with family friends.

After that I enjoyed a holiday with my family touring Cornwall. Visiting Tintagel sparked my interest in the stories of King Arthur and Merlin

By the time I was 15 we moved to the Far East travelling by sea through the Suez canal to reach Singapore.  The voyage was of course an incredible vacation stopping off briefly at Port Said, Aden, Ceylon and the malay Peninsula.

Our journey home to Britain from Singapore, three years later, was via Perth, Western Australia, South Africa, Tenerife and Lisbon.

Cape Town

As an adult I explored more of Europe, usually camping, in France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. 

Saumur

In the last ten years I have cruised to Madeira and the Canary Islands and also along many of the Norwegian fjords 

Madeira

Flåm

And now I am missing our drive through Spain and a long stay in Portugal

Salamanca

Faro

Where would you like to be spending your vacation now?

Norwegian Churches #Architecture #History

Three of the churches we visited in Norway

Alesund

After a fire in 1904, almost the whole town and the church were rebuilt in three years due to the prosperity of the salt cod trade.

Frescoes by Enevoid Thomt in Alesund church

Window in Alesund church.  

The old church in Olden
was built in 1759 on the site of the old stave church.  It contains a Bible which was published in 1550 by Christian III.

Hat stands in each pew came from the previous church.

Doorway into a family pew which also came from the previous church.

The new church in Olden

Built in 1934

The organ

Inside the new church in Olden

The Stave Church at Urnes in Norway #UNESCO

Three years ago, we had an unforgettable holiday in Norway.  Among the many fascinating places we visited, perhaps the most striking was the isolated stave church at Urnes which we reached by travelling across Sognefjord on a ferry from the village of Solvorn.

There are 28 medieval, wooden stave churches preserved in Norway.  The 12^th century church at Urnes is one of the oldest and has outstanding craftsmanship, including carvings which date from the previous building, made a century earlier than the present church. It is a UNESCO heritage site.

The name stave church comes from the building’s post and lintel construction, the main post (stav in Norwegian) taking the load.

The iconography is beautiful and in remarkably good condition.  It appears to be a curling snake with an animal at the bottom trying to bite it.  Some believe this represents the fight between good and evil but it may portray the end of the world from Norse mythology.

Photography inside the church is forbidden but you can view internal pictures here.

The church is not large but its interior is ornate.  Although much of the decoration was added in the 17^th century, there is a carved, painted, crucifixion scene high above and a candelabra in the shape of a ship standing on the altar.  Both objects date from the 12^th century.