Hiking thrills in the Shetland Islands

Making the most of Europe’s ports during a cruise may mean planning your own shore excursions.

Why? Because cruise lines operating in Europe tend to design port tours for the sedentary traveler. Most of their excursions are easy on the feet but low on imagination, long on sitting and eating, short on exercise and mingling with local residents.

My wife and I planned our own excursions for a recent Northern Europe summer cruise on the luxurious Crystal Serenity. With all the four-course meals aboard ship, we wanted our port days to be athletic, nature-focused and independent, so we had prepared at home, using the Internet to locate tourism experts.

One of our favorite tours was a long hike in Scotland’s Shetland islands. While other cruise passengers from the ship milled around the town of Lerwick on our one day in port, shopping for wool like a herd of sheep, we were walking with the sheep, exploring the dramatic hills and grasslands of a tiny island nearby.

The folks at www.VisitBritain.com had helped us find and book a local guide. On a sunny July day, we followed guide Niall Cruickshank along well worn dirt paths toward the dramatic windswept western coast of the Isle of Muckle Roe.

"Shants’s is pony from now on," said Cruickshank as we left his car and began our hike. He meant that our legs would be our carriers,like the famous Shetland pony, as we traversed the challenging 5-mile circular route to the craggy cliffs at the edge of the islands where the North Sea ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins.

We explored the hills and coastline, up and down and around masses of granite on ancient paths used mostly by the sheep, grazers of the grasslands, and occasionally by a man who tends a lighthouse, warning ships away from the hulking chunks of granite that stand guard offshore.

By mid-morning, the Atlantic coast lay before us. We did not see another hiker. We felt far away from the rest of humanity, communing with the sheep and the birds — arctic terns, gannets, ravens, gulls, kittywicks and great skuas — all pointed out by our guide.

At lunch time, we plopped onto a tablet of granite facing the sea and munched on sandwiches and fruit. Hundreds of feet below, the ocean washed with whooshes against granite cliffs.

To the west lay the water’s path familiar to Vikings a thousand years ago as they sailed their way from Scandinavia toward what would become known as the Americas, stopping for rest and supplies at the North Atlantic stepping stones — the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin and Labrador.

The only sounds were the crashing surf below and the wind wafting through the grasses. We sat and stared at the ocean for nearly an hour. The sheep didn’t seem to notice.

Three recommendations for active independent excursions

You can double your pleasure on a cruise: Take advantage of all the relaxing and eating that the ship offers, then use shore excursions as opportunities for moderate or challenging activities, with rewarding experiences and great views.

On three Europe voyages — the Grand Princess of Princess Cruises, the Wind Surf of Windstar Cruises and the Crystal Serenity of Crystal Cruises — we planned active shore excursions.

Among the best:

Flam, Norway

We boarded a tourist train to ride up a mountain and hike down — well, at least part of the way down. Flam is at the end of the world’s longest (127 miles) and deepest (4,290 feet) fjord, a finger of seawater with steep rocky walls on either side and snow visible from some mountaintops even in summer.

Hundreds of passengers from our cruise ship paid for a shore excursion that included a 55-minute ride from the Flam port on the world’s steepest standard-gauge railway, which runs 12 miles from sea level to a mountain vista at Myrdal, at 2,840 feet.  My wife and I bought our own train ticket (about $30 round trip). We had pre-arranged a guide through a recommendation by the Norwegian Tourist Board.

While the other cruise passengers stayed on the train for the entire return trip to Flam, we got out at a little station part way down the mountain and walked. The woodsy trail that followed the Flam River was not difficult. We met local hikers and bicyclers. You can rent a bike to ride down the mountain. Two hours later, we stopped at a tiny rail station and flagged a Flam Railway train, riding for the final descent to the dock where our ship awaited.

Eze, France

One of our best days on a Mediterranean cruise was a hike to the delightful medieval town of Eze, which perches on a hilltop between Nice and Monte-Carlo. At 1,407 feet above the Mediterranean, Eze offers commanding views of cliffs, sea, sprawling estates and off-shore islands. The village’s narrow streets and stone steps lead to the Jardin Exotique, a maze of paths flanked by mammoth flowering plants and spikey cacti. For about $3, you can walk up to the best view on the French Riviera. On a clear day, you can see Corsica.

We met some other cruise passengers in town (lots of ships stop at Nice and in ports between Nice and Monte-Carlo), but they had taken a bus or taxi up the hill and had missed a great if strenuous walk to Eze from the little train station at Eze Bord de Mer. The hike winding up to Eze is on a trail called the Chemin de Nietzsche, named after the German philosopher who once walked these woods.

It takes about 1 1/2 hours at a leisurely pace to climb to Eze. Bring a full bottle of water and refill at the top, after lunch at one of the hilltop restaurants.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Our athletic tour was free, as we pedaled around town on bicycles. A wonderful program called City Bikes requires you to feed a meter the equivalent of about $3 to unlock a bicycle. When you place it back in the rack after your ride, you get your $3 back. Wheeling about town made us feel closer to the community.

Because our ship stayed in Copenhagen overnight — on a Friday — we also had researched the possibility of attending Jewish Sabbath services on Saturday at Copenhagen’s magnificent old  synagogue in the heart of town. Yes, we learned, visitors are welcome, but only during services, which, in the Orthodox tradition, separate men and women. So I sat downstairs, my wife upstairs, among the Jews of Denmark, then joined the congregation outside after the service for the traditional Sabbath wine blessing  (with wine) and light snacks.

We were received warmly by the local folks, who told us that their Jewish life in Copenhagen dates back to the 1600s. Many local Jews were saved during the German occupation in World War II by Danes who hid them from the Nazis.

Be Careful: Tips for planning shore excursions

Molyneaux is editor of the website, www.TravelMavens.net