Yesterday, we sailed the astonishing 16km length of Norway’s famous Geiranger Fjord on the first day of our journey to the Arctic Cirlce. I’m still stunned with the beauty of today’s experience, and unsure that it can be adequately communicated in bloggy words and pictures.

Whilst I procrastinate, I might make a brief excursion into a very favourite subject of mine – FOOD. In this instance, food as a cultural experience – a particularly Norwegian cultural experience.

At our wonderful hotel in Bergen, breakfast was definitely a Norwegian affair. It was a cornucopia of everything you could desire of breakfast, all the way from a comprehensive cook-up to the traditional ‘continental’ repast of cold meats, cheese and salads that always puzzles us visiting colonials.

But there was a distinct difference – the ‘continental’ breakfast was Norwegian to the core. All the cold meats were traditional recipes from different regions (think subtly varied Norwegian prosciuttos – Oh, Yum!), salmon and other fish that was baked, steamed, air-cured, pickled, salted, or made into delicious little patties, you name it – or simply served up as it came out of the ocean. Then, there were little plates, jars and bottles full of the most intriguing ‘additions’. I’ve got no idea what they were, but they were all very tasty.

But the cheeses, Oh Lordy, the cheeses! The hotel’s dining room staff were Norwegian and very knowledgeable about everything on offer. One introduced me to Brunost, Norwegian brown cheese. Every school kid has it in their lunchbox every day. In texture, it’s a bit similar to the old indestructible Kraft Blue wrapped in tinfoil that we’d take to school every day, but that’s where the similarity ends. Brunost tastes like solid, salty, cheesy condensed milk or – maybe – salty, cheesy fudge. Sweet and salty and s…o…o…o delicious.

Seque the story now to today, at sea in our delightful little Hurtigruten ferry the MS NordKapp, sailing north out of Bergen, sliding in and out of the fjords with supplies for coastal towns and a bunch of passengers like us. This is so much better than a regular cruise. It’s Norwegian to the hilt, deftly balancing the parallel practicalities of being a ferry and supply ship along with skilful Norwegian hospitality, décor with homely touches, and lovely Norwegian FOOD. Wonderful regional specialties for breakfast, lunch and dinner – and fish with everything.

And there’s ice-cream, so Ian’s very happy. But again, it’s a bit Norwegian. For a start, there’s lager beer ice-cream. Yup! Then, there’s Brunost (brown cheese) ice-cream. I tried some yesterday and it was yummy. But both of us are balking at trying the third flavour – dried fish vanilla ice-cream. Yup – we’re in Norway. Fish with everything.