Sailing up to the Norwegian coast is a sight to be seen. There are beautiful islands popping up out of the water and the mountains meet the ocean right at the coast. Everything is green with a bit of a mist surrounding it all. It is stunning and other-worldly. Then out of nowhere you find a city with bright colored houses set up across several islands to greet you.

Alesund is a beautiful art nouveau city situated at the opening of Geirangerfjord and it also happened to be the first stop on our fjord cruise.

We decided to spend our day walking out to the aquarium. We will talk more about that walk in a minute. The aquarium sits on the outskirts of town right on the water and it is in a stunning location.

The aquarium is rather small but had fish and animals that are only natural to the area so that was a unique twist. We were able to see most of the inside of the aquarium in under an hour.

They also had frequent “shows” during our time there. We watched the diver feeding the fish. There is a diver in this picture somewhere.

The real star of the museum, particularly on the insanely beautiful day we had, was the outdoor area with the children’s play area. I mean look at this.

The children loved playing around in the sunshine and we enjoyed taking in the amazing views.

We had lunch and started the walk back to the ship. Just outside the aquarium across from the parking lot, there is a little trail that leads you down to a seaside park, a great place for a picnic.

Overall, I think the Atlantic Sea Park is worth a visit, particularly if you have kids. The aquarium only takes a few hours to fully enjoy. So I would suggest taking the bus out to the aquarium to save some time. That way you can schedule an additional activity for the day.

We were able to enjoy our day in Alesund and enjoy the views from the ship. Norway is stunning.

That night we would be off to Geiranger to see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.