Trip to the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Canada

23 Days Following the Path of the Vikings

​We recently made it home from a 22-day trip that followed the path of the Vikings from Amsterdam to Boston. During our trip we traveled over 7,600 nautical miles (~8,700 miles) and visited the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia) and Maine before returning to the US in Boston. During our 21-days on the ship we were very fortunate since the North Atlantic seas, which can be rough, were unusually calm. We couldn’t have asked for a better Trans-Atlantic crossing.
 
In addition to all the sailing, we also hiked all over the locations where we made landfall – through all types of country and urban terrain. The sights that we saw were diverse and amazing: whales, seals, porpoises, puffins, Icelandic Horses, icebergs, geothermal geysers, waterfalls, volcanic craters, the rift between the European and North American tectonic plates, rock formations, world renowned and local art, architecture ranging from Cathedrals to fishing towns, Viking ruins and artifacts, brilliant moonlight nights, and spectacular sunsets that occurred after 11:30 PM.
 
We were lucky enough to even get to Nuuk, the Capital of Greenland. We weren't supposed to stop in Nuuk, but the two scheduled Greenland stops (Qaqortoq and Nanortalik) were iced in, so the ship changed plans and headed to Nuuk (a port that the ship had never been to) instead. We even crossed the Arctic Circle (66 1/3 Degrees North Latitude) and celebrated it with the traditional Polar Bear/Blue Nose ceremony. Having seen lots of Viking artifacts in Norway, Iceland, and Greenland, when we got to Newfoundland we completed our Viking activities by going to L'Anse aux Meadows, the first European settlement in the New World, tied to Lief Erickson and dated to somewhere between 990 and 1050 AD.
 
Here's a map of what our overall trip looked like. 

During our 23 days of traveling we visited the following major sites:

• Van Gogh Museum
• Rijksmuseum
• Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium
• Goðafoss waterfall
• Lake Myvatn
• Dimmuborgir lava labyrinth
• Namaskard geothermal field
• North American and European tectonic plates separation locations
• Whales near Ísafjörður
• Kerid volcanic crater
• Fridheimar Farm to see Icelandic horses and their unique “tolt” gait
• Faxi Waterfall
• Strokkur in the Geysir Geothermal Area
• Lyngdalsheidi Heath and the Gullfoss golden waterfall
• Mosfellsheidi Heath and the Thingvellir National Park
• Viking World Museum and their full-scale replica of the Gokstad Viking longship
• Krýsuvík moonscape of bubbling sulfuric mud
• Reykjanes Lighthouse
• Valahnúkamöl Cliffs – the dramatic setting where Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams filmed the song “Volcano Man” for the movie “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
• Nuup Kangerlua – the fjords next to Nuuk Greenland
• Nuutoqaq/Nuuk Lokalmuseum
• Greenland National Museum and Archives
• L'Anse aux Meadows
• Norstead, a replica Viking village with "Snorri", a full-scale replica of a Viking longship
• Tried Newfoundland beer made with water from icebergs
• Johnson Geo Center
• Signal Hill and Cabot Tower - where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic radio message
• Basilica of Saint John the Baptist
• Newfoundland War Memorial
• The iconic statues of the Newfie and Labrador dogs
• Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island
• Fortress of Louisbourg - the largest French port/fort back in the 1700’s
• Burntcoat Head Park to see the Bay of Funday
• Acadia National Park
• Cruised on the 151-foot 4-masted schooner “Margaret Todd” around Frenchman's Bay
• Sailed through the Channel Islands into Boston’s Harbor

​As always, we took thousands of photos – so we’ll be editing and posting them as soon as our schedule lets us get around to it. ​Here are a few teaser photos to give you a brief overview of some of the sights we saw until we get around to posting the photos from each location on our Adventures page. ​ ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow)