The North Sea: Oslo to Hamburg

Arrive in Oslo and transfer to the Sea Cloud II. Settle in to your cabin and attend a welcome dinner as the ship sets sail.

The 'Norwegian Riviera' stretches some 124 miles along the coast between Sandefjord in the east and Kristiansand in the west. Its mild climate comes courtesy of the craggy mountains in the north while thousands of small rocky islands protect it against rough seas. The charming little coastal town of Risør was christened 'the white town on the Skagerrak' during the great Dutch wood export boom around 1500. It is one of Europe's best-preserved 19th century wooden settlements and is considered to be the country's most beautiful wooden town. There are also three fjords and an archipelago on the doorstep.

The port of Stavanger spans an area of mainland and several islands in a spectacular location between the skerries to the south and the fjord landscape to the west. The picturesque old town, with a cathedral dating back to around 1125 when Stavanger was founded, and the brilliant white 18th and 19th century wooden houses are overlooked by the glass and metal façades of international oil companies. Initially, Stavanger was an important fishing and seafaring center. Subsequently, it became the world's biggest producer of tinned sardines before the extraction of black gold from the North Sea made it a rich oil center and Norway's fourth largest city. Stavenger reinvented itself again as the European Capital of Culture in 2008. Nearby are the 612-meter high Månafossen waterfall, the longest sandy beach in Norway, known as the Sola beach, and the Lysefjord with the imposing Preikestolen cliff.

Arrive in Hamburg and disembark after breakfast. Transfer to the airport or into the city for your continued independent journeys.