Now firmly in the Baltic, our first port of call was at Ronne on the Danish island of Bornholm. The highlight of the day before had been passing under the Great Belt Bridge in the daylight.
Day 4: Saturday 1st July 2023: Ronne
As Sky Princess sailed through the Baltic I came awake and went out on the balcony at around 4:20 am.
My next wake-up call was when the ship almost came to a stop, turned and then reversed into the harbour at Ronne. Our cabin then overlooked the rocky breakwater and the Baltic. From there we watched the ferries coming and going from the harbour.
Breakfast was again upstairs in the buffet. For a change this breakfast I switched and had a stack of pancakes plus maple syrup!
Ronne
We caught the transfer bus that took us into Ronne. There we were dropped off in the car park of the visitors centre. Inside we picked up a local map.
Across the road we could see a small shopping area and one of the shops was called Normal. My Sketchers shoes had become very uncomfortable and we went into Normal to try and buy some insoles. This shop stocked lots of diverse products and after some short conversations using Google translate I did manage to pick up some insoles.
We then set off for the centre of town.
The square in the middle of town had stall and a music stage and even more important, lots of cafes and bars surrounding it. We walked through the square past the largest of the café and down the pedestrian street, Tovegade. When we had passed the last of the shops we walked back to the square and sat outside the café Munter.
Coffee time in the square
As we drank our coffees, we listened to the jazz band playing in the square.
After coffees we explored some more and as we passed a carpark behind the shops we came across this street art on the back walls of the shops.
Saint Nichola’s Church and the old lighthouse
Using our map, we continued walking to try and find the Customs House and the old lighthouse highlighted as places to see. Some of the streets were cobbled and flanked by colourful houses. There were no cars passing us on these streets. Then we came to the church.
The church stands in the middle of a traffic island. We watched other passengers around it taking pictures before we walked down to finally find the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was in the front of modern houses on one side a road on the other. Saint Nichola’s church was at one end this road. Further down we came to the Customs House and as we passed we saw the old Citroens.
Beautiful old cars
From the top of Toldbogade I could see a couple of old Citroens parked.
On closer examination this one had been given a fabulous paint job.
At the end of Toldbogade we could see one of the bus stop for the courtesy bus by an art gallery. We chose to walk back to the visitor centre and have a closer look at the buildings on the way. Turning right, we followed the main road, Munch Petetsensveg, and we were now passing the ferry port.
The queue was short for the shuttle bus back to the ship. Once inside the harbour we passed wind vanes waiting to be installed on offshore windmills. As we drew closer we realised just how large they were.
After a lunch of chicken tacos we went to our cabin for a rest.
More hassles waiting for a table
After a visit to the Captain’s Circle we went to the restaurant. There we joined the non-reserved queue of the restaurant on the sixth floor. It was a little frustrating as we watched other passengers pushing past while we waited for any movement on our queue.
We eventually were taken to a table which we shared with Australians and Americans. The good news was that after the long wait at the restaurant entrance, we did have a very pleasant meal with lots of conversations.
Tyler Bryce in the theatre
The much publicized (on the ship), guest performer was an American impersonator, Tyler Bryce.
We had the number of issues with his performance including poor sound quality and more important of all, most of the time no idea who he was actually impersonating. But worst of all when we did recognise who he was impersonating, his efforts were pretty poor.
On the whole not a great evening in the theatre.
Then we tried the Wheelhouse Bar again to listen to the Glam Band. We left there after a couple of numbers. I think we have been spoilt by listening to the Sky Princess house band the year before, Ocean Boulevard.