Today, you’ll call at ports displaying amazing contrasts between old and new. First, enjoy an included tour of medieval Trondheim. Founded in A.D. 997, this was the capital of Norway until 1380, and was a religious center and the most important pilgrimage site in Northern Europe. The city’s old veitene (narrow alleys) wind between its markets, the Archbishop’s Palace, the Old Town Bridge, and historic 17th-century warehouses.

 You stop at towering Nidaros Cathedral, founded in 1070 on St. Olav’s burial mound, and where Norway’s kings are crowned. This is the national sanctuary of Norway, containing the crown jewels, and is one of the country’s most impressive Gothic buildings. The cruise resumes by sailing out through the beautiful Trondheim fjord, passing the islands Grip and Hitra with their large herds of deer.

 The next port of call is Molde, Norway’s “City of Roses,” scenically situated near the mouth of the Romsdal fjord. Also rebuilt in the aftermath of World War II, Molde today is well known among European jazz aficionados for the major jazz festival it hosts each year in mid-July. The ship cruises on to Alesund, another rebuilt town, though for different reasons. After a fire in 1904 swept through, the town was reconstructed in Art Noveau style, with buildings festooned with turrets, spires, and gargoyles.

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