Our final day of the cruise was in Rønne, a town in Bornholm, Denmark. We had a late excursion, which took place at 4:00 PM. To be honest, I was kind of tempted to skip the last bus tour, as I was a bit “toured out” by Thursday, June 29th. But that would have been a big mistake, because I ended up liking Bornholm the most of all the tours during our week on Regent Splendor.

I mentioned that we stopped in Rønne, but actually, our bus tour (The Best of Bornholm) didn’t really go through the town that appeared closest to the pier. Instead, we basically had a tour of the Danish island of Bornholm, which is off the southern coast of Sweden. Once again, this was a place I knew absolutely nothing about before we went on this cruise. I ended up finding it a very charming place. Several British passengers on the tour with us mentioned that it reminded them very much of Cornwall.

There were other tours offered besides the one we went on, but they were mostly fully booked by the time we signed up for the cruise, back in late April. So “The Best of Bornholm” it was, and it was a good time, even though I was tired, and even though our guide didn’t have the best “stage presence”.

I was charmed by the rustic beauty of the island, even spotting a large wild hare and several deer cavorting in nature as our guide droned on, rather haltingly. At first, I was a little annoyed by the guide, but as I listened more closely, I realized that he really did know a lot about the island. I suspect that if he was giving us the tour in Danish, he’d be a lot more engaging to listen to, because I noticed that when he spoke Danish, he sounded a lot more animated. I have empathy for that issue, since I know firsthand that it isn’t easy to speak a language that isn’t your mother tongue, especially if you aren’t practiced. I don’t know how often our guide gives tours in English, though.

The first thing the guide pointed out were the huge parts of windmills that were being built. They are destined to be installed in the Baltic Sea, where they can generated power for people on dry land. I have seen the windmills all over Europe, but was never close enough to one to appreciate their massive size. Those things are HUGE!

We visited a really cool looking round church called Osterlars, which, besides looking really handsome in the Danish countryside, also had the added benefit of a clean public toilet. 😉 The guide pointed out the metal rings installed in the wall around the church. The rings were where the locals parked their horses and buggies on Sundays. Each family had its own “parking spot”.

Next, we stopped in an adorable town called Gudhjem, which was right next to a beach. The guide said that there used to be a lot of fishing there, but the fishing had stopped, mostly because the waters were depleted by overfishing and the many seals who had descended upon the place. There weren’t any seals visible when we visited, but the guide said it was a very normal thing to see them hanging around the beaches.

We stopped at Hammershus Fortress, vast medieval castle ruins that were partially demolished around 1750 and partially restored sometime around 1900. Our visit didn’t include actually going to the ruins, which were a stout walk from the parking area, but visiting a wooden overlook that gave us good views of the ruins, as well as a flock of sheep grazing nearby. It might have been fun to go to the ruins, but that would have taken a lot of time that we didn’t have. But… I did mention to Bill that I liked Bornholm enough that I wouldn’t mind coming back for a land based visit. If we ever do that, maybe we can visit the ruins properly.

As we continued on our journey, the guide explained some interesting history about Bornholm’s role in World War II and how it was not liberated at the same time the rest of Europe was. Even though Bornholm was part of Denmark, some people did not consider it a part of NATO, because former Soviet leaders determined that there would be no foreign military activity on the island. They decreed that any NATO military troops on Bornholm would be considered an act of aggression against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops there to prevent any NATO military action from occurring. The Soviets were especially against any US troops having a presence there. Of course, now, no one doubts that as part of Denmark, Bornholm is also part of NATO.

At around this point in the tour, it was time for us to taste smoked fish. There are many fish smoking facilities on Bornholm, but only one place still uses an open fire to smoke fish, rather than more modern facilities. So, we stopped at that smokehouse, which was also deemed a “museum”, which made it possible for them to smoke fish the old fashioned way, and we tasted their product, washed down with cold, Danish, draft beer (or soda). This was included in the tour. The young, affable guy who spoke to us about the smoked fish said that he had to get the fish from other places, as there aren’t enough fish around Bornholm anymore.

After we tasted the fish (which I found delicious, though I know not everyone likes fish), we headed back toward the ship, the guide talking the entire time about other unusual and interesting towns in Bornholm. It really does look like a nice place to spend a week or so. I’m sure they get their share of tourists, but it wasn’t nearly as busy as Visby was.

Incidentally, I read today that the current Splendor cruise, which has been doing a ten day Baltic itinerary, had to skip Visby. They had 40 MPH winds that prevented them from docking!

Now, a word about the last day of food…

For lunch, we stopped by Prime 7, which was serving lunch that day. The speciality restaurants mostly serve dinner, but sometimes, they have a short lunch service. Thursday was the day for Prime 7, and that was the only day we visited a specialty restaurant for lunch.

Our waiter was a nice fellow, who was a little more familiar with us than I’m used to on cruises. He came up to us with a big smile (good thing) and immediately addressed as a William and Jennifer. I stifled a laugh and said, “No one ever calls us that. I ended up telling him that we go by Jenny and Bill.” He hit upon one of my many personal pet peeves.

It’s not that I need to be called Mrs. I just think being called Mr. and Mrs. is polite and businesslike. I dislike the American fake familiarity trend that has everyone assuming we should all go by our first names. In our case, no one who actually knows us, ever calls us by our first names. I personally hate being called “Jennifer”, because it reminds me of being yelled at by my mother. Also, it just doesn’t suit me. If he had called me Mrs. as a matter of course, it would have given me the chance to tell him which name I preferred. Besides, it’s just more professional.

So, after we told the waiter the preferred versions of our first names, and kind of cringed at the faux pas, he brought us our lunches. Bill had pork barbecue sliders. I had a burger. It wasn’t the way I would have fixed it for myself, but it was tasty enough. Afterwards, we had dessert. The waiter brought out a carousel of mini versions of Prime 7’s desserts for us. We each ate one, but I think the idea was to try them all. As if I need more encouragement to expand my backside. 😉

After our excursion on Bornholm, we had our last dinner in the Compass Rose restaurant. I didn’t see any specials that interested me, so I wound up having a steak for dinner. No wonder my heart rate has been elevated lately. We ran into the same waiter we had at lunch, who, to his credit, remembered our names. But then he called Bill “Mr. Bill”. I asked him if he knew about the old Saturday Night Live character, “Mr. Bill”. Naturally, he didn’t. So I had to explain… People have been calling Bill “Mr. Bill” forever, not just because his name is Bill, but also because he had a “Mr. Bill” moment when he was in high school. One of his buddies literally backed over him with a Subaru Brat (car)! Oh noooooo!

Anyway, here are photos of the last supper on Splendor… We were allowed to dress casually for it, because everyone was packing their luggage for disembarkation day. I had a baked potato with my steak. It tasted like it was pre-baked and chilled, then heated up. I guess I can’t blame them for that, but it kind of spoiled the magic a little.

Although I thought we might visit the Meridian Lounge one more time, it wasn’t to be. We decided to go back to the room and rest up for the next day… when it would be time to leave behind Regent Splendor for more plain lodging.

More on that in the next post.