Bergen

When we left Odda, we were expecting it to rain the entire time we were in Bergen. That wasn’t a surprise, Bergen gets a lot of rain every year. More rain than London. The England one, specifically. But we had rain jackets and umbrellas and extra shoes and were prepared.

On Friday, we woke up to no rain in the forecast. Which was fantastic because we had a walking tour scheduled for the morning. We headed down to the Tourist Information place, the starting spot for our tour, walking through the outdoor part of the fish market on our way. Soon enough, our guide, Maritn, had arrived and our tour got started. He took us into the indoor part of the fish market, first, showing us several of the different vendors and what they had in their cases, explaining about some of the products we could find there, including the king crabs that are taking over everything and the mink whale that’s a popular traditional meat in Norway. He also explained how some of the largest fishing companies in the world are based in Bergen and it’s becoming a larger industry than oil. From there, Martin took us around the city, showing us the main shopping square, the first theatre building, and the original city hall, just to name a couple of our stops, before leading us into the historic Bryggen area (where we’re staying.)

Brygeen is a UNESCO site consisting of a series of buildings that date back to the 1700s. Each of the historic buildings had warehouses & living quarters for up to 100 (mostly) German men, who were there as part of the Hanseatic League. The buildings are in use today but only for shops and offices - and still only have one bathroom per building. The League had established itself in the 1300s but in the early 1700s, there was a fire and the buildings were damaged. They were rebuilt and those are the buildings that still remain. Bergen has had a lot of fires, as everything is made of wood, but the fire in the early 1700s was one of the worst and destroyed almost the entire city. They rebuilt on top of the original foundations, though, so even though the buildings are only 300 years old, the foundations date back for hundreds of years more. From there, we went past St. Marys church on our way to the Bergenhus fortress. The tour packed a LOT into the two and a half hours we had with Martin and it was such a good tour. Martin shared so much about the city with us (like the best time to catch the funicular to avoid the cruise ship crowds and where to get the best coffee in the city) and it was such a great morning for a walk, with the sun shining down on us.

Once we were done, we re-evaluated our plans for our remaining time in Bergen. The original plan was to do a couple of museums after the tour and do the funicular & fortress tomorrow. But with the beautiful weather and rain being called for tomorrow, we shifted things around and decided to try to do the fortress and funicular today, leaving the indoor activities for tomorrow. Also, we had planned on doing the church on Saturday but Martin told us it wasn’t open on Saturdays and Sundays. So, when the tour wrapped up, we headed straight to the church - which we actually have a view of from our hotel room, which is a lovely view. St. Marys is the oldest building in Bergen, dating back to the 12th century and has been continuous use since the early medieval period. From there, we stopped for lunch at a Martin-approved restaurant (where EDP got a bowl of traditional Norwegian stew that seemed to be about 75% mussels.)

Then, it was on to the Bergenhus fortress to see the Rosenkrantz tower and the Hakon’s Hall. The tower was built by some Scottish masons and was in the style of fortified houses in Scotland (I suspect this is when my Scottish ancestors started their love affair with Norway.) It joined together two existing structures, one of which was the royal residence from the 13th century. It was a very confusing building to tour through, I’m not convinced we actually saw all of it. From there, it was on to Hakon’s Hall. Except it was closed for an event. So we scrapped that idea. It was still a bit early to head to the funicular, given the cruise crowds so we went to the Hanseatic Museum, which shows what the Bryggen buildings would have been like when they were in use for exporting fish and importing grain by the Hanseatic League. The building and it’s furnishings were really quite lovely, though the uneven floors made one feel a little bit drunk, even though one only had juice at lunch.

Then, it was on to the funicular. We got there at a great time, there was no line - whereas there had been quite a long one when we passed earlier in the day with our tour. The funicular takes you up to the top of Fløyen, one of the mountains in Bergen, which has incredible views of the city. It doesn’t take long to get up to the top and we were soon overlooking the city and the harbours. The day was sunny & warm so I tottered off to get some ice cream while EDP stayed at the edge of the viewing platform to take in the views. There’s lots of hiking up on the mountain, but as you may recall, we had recently taken a few long walks so we didn’t feel compelled to do any more. We did take a short walk around the immediate area, meeting several very lovely goats. Luckily, we got there just before feeding time so I was able to give a few of them some pets before they started acting exactly as you would expect goats to act when someone had a bag of feed in their hands. Then, it was back to the hotel for a bit of downtime before dinner, another outdoor-with-blankets affair that is quickly becoming my favourite way to dine.

We woke up this morning with most of what we had planned already done - only Hakon’s Hall was on our list. I had really wanted to see Bryggen Museum but it’s closed for renovations. That meant we could fit in a couple of the Kode museums, which we didn’t think we’d have time for. We figured that all out after breakfast, during which time I was snacking on a delicious, fresh warm bolle that EDP picked up for me when he went out to grab coffee. I do always enjoy a snack right after breakfast. Once the snack was taken care of, we headed to Hakon’s Hall, which was open! It dates back to the 13th century and was built by King Hakon Hakonsson. Cool name, right? It was part of the royal residence when the political centre of Norway was in Bergen but the monarch left for a while around the Middle Ages so it turned into a storage facility. Then, it kinda fell to disrepair but was restored as a storehouse in the 17th century and then they figured out what it had originally been used for so they restored it again. But then a munitions ship exploded in 1944 and pretty much destroyed everything but the external walls. The pictures of it after the explosion were crazy, it was essentially a roofless shell. But they restored it and now it’s used for important occasions again. The main hall is incredible, with these gorgeous wooden beams stretching across the ceiling. It was definitely worth the wait to see it.

Then, it was on to the Kode museums - specifically, Kode 3 & 4. Kode 3 was our first stop, which had some odd modern art on the main floor (I never understand modern art…) but had a Munsch exhibit along with some other Norwegian painters on the second floor. I enjoyed that part much more - and it was good to be introduced to some other Norwegian painters. Then it was on to Kode 4 where we accidentally started in the children’s museum, something we could have done without. We recovered from that experience with a drink in the bar. Then it was upstairs to the grown up art, where they had a fairly extensive Picasso exhibition that included artists influenced by him, along with a really lovely exhibition on Nikolai Astrup, which I really enjoyed. It was a pleasant surprise to be able to fit the museums in. Once we were through the two museums, it was time for a late lunch (hotdogs) and then back to the hotel for some downtime. That turned out really well because it started raining. And it poured. But we were snug inside, with our books and our view of the church and a light supper in the hotel, sparing us from having to go out in the downpour - and it was really coming down.

Now we’re all packed up and ready for a long day of travel tomorrow. We’re doing the Norway in a Nutshell tour to get back to Oslo, a full day of trains, ferries & buses, which promise stunning views of the countryside. Hopefully the rain isn’t too heavy and we can enjoy those views.

And Then It Rained

We have had three days of perfect hiking weather. We could have done with a few degrees cooler for Kjeragbolten but Preikestolen and Trolltunga were perfect. Things have been a bit foggy in the mornings but it’s burned off fairly quickly and we’ve had blue skies with fluffy white clouds and the sun shining down on us. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Today, it’s raining. We woke up to the sound of rain, we packed up to the sound of rain, and we got the car loaded during a short break in the rain. If it had been like this yesterday, we couldn’t have even thought about hiking Trolltunga, it would have been far too slippery on the rocks.

We took a roundabout way to get to Bergen, stopping at Eidfjord, Ulvik, and Utne along the way. Eidfjord was lovely, a very picturesque little village where we indulged in a hot beverage and then wandered along the water for a little bit (the rain was quite light.) From there, we went to Ulvik, another little town, where I was able to pick up some apple cider from the famous Norwegian orchards. Then, it was on to Utne, which wasn’t much of a town but was on a really lovely lake that we crossed in the ferry, though we stayed in the car because of the rain.

Until we got to Utne, the roads were much wider than what we had been driving on since not long after leaving Oslo. I think EDP enjoyed the easier driving, especially after our days of hiking. After Utne, we were back on winding, narrow road but were also driving through orchard country, which were beautiful up against the backdrops of the lakes & mountains. The rain stayed with us all day, keeping us inside the car on the ferries and from stopping to enjoy the scenery.

After a couple of hours, we were in Bergen and heaving towards Fantoft, one of the stave churches. It’s a fair distance from the main tourist area of Bergen where we’re staying so we took advantage of still having the car and drove there on our way into the city. It was raining while we were there so we didn’t stay long, just long enough to take a peak at the inside and then take a quick tour around the outside. Fantoft isn’t actually original - it had been built around 1150 but it was burned down in the early 90s (arson, sadly.) They were able to restore the altar crucifix but most of the rest of the church was lost and had to be rebuilt.

Then, it was on to Bryggen, the old historic quarter of Bergen, where we’re staying for the next few days. After getting checked in to the hotel & returning the car, we had dinner out on a patio, something you wouldn’t expect given how much it rained today but Bergen patios tend to be covered and come with blankets and heaters so we were warm & dry, even outside in the chilly evening. Bergen is known to be a rainy city, averaging something like 240 days of rain a year, so we plan to keep our umbrellas and rain jackets handy as we explore the next few days.

Trolltunga

Well, we’re still alive but barely.  

We did get breakfast at 5:45 and we did get to the parking lot around 6:30. There are actually two lots - a small one at the trailhead and a large one where there used to be a funicular to take you to the trailhead. The funicular is no longer there so now, you have to walk up the switchback road to the trailhead, adding about 6km and 4 hours to the round trip. Everything I had read said the top lot fills up very quickly so I did our planning based on the lower lot. But we got the second-to-last parking spot in the trailhead lot. And oh man, am I glad we did.  

The first two km was fairly flat, easy going terrain. Then we hit stairs. Stairs that never seemed to end. But they eventually did and we got to climb a rock face. Nothing as bad as Kjeragbolten but we were happy to have the hiking poles. Things leveled off for a bit after that and we started a fairly regular pattern of climbing then descending, passing (and filling up our water bottles in) waterfalls, overlooking lakes and mountains - it was a gorgeous hike. And the trail wasn’t very busy, either. We were often the only people around, which was lovely. After just over 3 hours, we reached the tongue. And it was totally worth it. The tongue is really neat but the view over the lake was stunning. We queued up for photos before settling down for a rest and snacks, enjoying the warmth of the sun in the cool air. Surprisingly, there was not only cell coverage but a couple of wifi networks, too. But, every year, there are several rescue excursions for hikers who have gone off track so it may be they were put in to help with rescue efforts?

Then, it was time to head back. We passed a lot of people on their way up to the tongue - people who started much later than us or who had to do the first 3km up the road. Lots of them had tents - camping near the tongue and watching the sunrise is very common, plus it breaks the long hike up. Some of them had dogs, including one very tiny dog that was very excited to be out for a walk. We did the hike back in about the same about of time as it took to go up. You’d think it’d be much faster since there is more descending than climbing but it turns out we’re old and when your knees hurt, it takes forever to descend. This was when we really started feeling grateful for the trailhead lot - I’m not sure we would have been able to handle the additional walking, even if it was on asphalt, given the steep angle. We ended up stopping on the road down and picking up a young Australian fellow who had been quite far ahead of us when we started the hike back but steadily slowed his pace and seemed to really be struggling. He was looking pretty rough when we stopped and didn’t even think twice about jumping in. We also picked up a Norwegian couple - she was eager to take the ride, he thought it was fine to walk. She overruled him. It takes about 10 minutes to drive the 3km because it’s all just switchbacks so the five of us had a nice chat on the way down. All 3 seemed pretty happy about not having to do the last few km of the hike - and really, it’s just an asphalt road that leads to the trailhead, it’s not like there are spectacular views to take in, you’re just on a road.

In all, it was an amazing hike. We were really lucky with weather, it was about 11° when we started and peaked around 20°.  I don’t think I could have handled it if it was much warmer. And we were really very, very lucky to get that trailhead parking spot. Hot showers and some Thai food has made us feel mostly human again but things are pretty sore - knees, in particular. We’re incredibly grateful that we had our hiking poles and had upgrade to ankle boots, I don’t think this would have been doable without them. But, it’s pretty fun to know that we were capable of doing an hike that’s considered expert level by the Norwegians and the views & sense of accomplishment we have were worth every twinge of pain.

We head off to Bergen tomorrow, spending most of our day in the car. I think our weary bodies will appreciate the rest.  

Preikestolen

A delightful stroll after the craziness of Kjeragbolten!

With a long drive at the end of the day after our hike up Kjeragbolten, we still got up and at things early, arriving at the trailhead for Preikestolen around 8. We were prepared for the worst but turns out, there’s a reason that the cruise ships do day trips to Preikestolen. It’s a very groomed trail, particularly early on, with lots of steps but none of the hand-over-hand chain climbing from yesterday. We had lovely wooden bridges to keep us out of the muddy bits and even the rock faces we needed to climb were gentle slopes in comparison to Kjeragbolten. The climb was about 4km and took us around two hours before we reached the cliff, jutting out into the fjord on three sides. The views were stunning. Kjeragbolten is tucked back a bit from the lake so we only saw a small bit of it but with Preikestolen, we could see so much more, including the ferry, which looked so small. But that makes sense, we were 600 meters up. We had made great timing, especially given that Kjeragbolten took us longer than people said it should and after a rest and some snacks, we made our way back down. Total time - 4 1/2 hours, including our break. I broke my poles out almost immediately, having learned my lesson but the ol’ knee was still cranky by the end of the hike. But it was a great hike to have after such a strenuous one the day before. I think Penny would have loved it and likely would have been able to do the whole thing without a problem. She probably could have done Kjeragbolten, too, but let’s be honest - once she hit that meadow with the sheep, she would have just waved us on ahead and told us to grab her on the way out.

Then it was into the car for the 3 hour drive to Odda, our base for two nights while we tackle the pinnacle of the hiking portion of the trip - Trolltunga! It’s going to be an early start - breakfast starts at the hotel at 5:45 and we plan to be there right when we starts so that we can be at the parking lot by 6:30. Trolltunga is expected to take between 10 and 12 hours but given how this knee is doing, 12 is looking far more likely than 10. 

Lysebotn and Kjeragbolten

Well. That was something.

We headed out early on Sunday, picking up our rental car and making our way to Lysebotn, a tiny village at the base of Lysefjord. It was a long, but beautiful drive and we stopped a few times along the way to take photos of something that was particularly enthralling, usually waterfalls.  The roads are narrow and winding, particularly as you head into the mountains so our last few kilometres seemed to take forever.  Or maybe it was because we hit Norwegian rush hour, in the form of a flock of sheep on the road? But soon we found our B&B, just outside of Lysebotn, in a very old, beautiful farmhouse where we hunkered down for a home-cooked Norwegian meal and to get ourselves ready for our first of three hikes, Kjeragbolten.

We were expecting this 10km round-trip hike to take around 5-6 hours, not fully appreciating how rugged the terrain was. We quickly started scaling the first of three mountains, with the help of chains bolted into the side of the mountain, or if we were lucky, stone steps or switchbacks. Even then, there was some three-points-of-contact-at-all-times scrambling up the rock face. The trail was also an active grazing location for sheep so we had several sheep cheering us on (actually, some sounded like they were booing us) and it wasn’t long before we were up the first, albeit shortest, mountain. After getting down the other side, and up and over the second mountain, we stopped to refill our water at one of the little waterfalls before heading up the final and largest rock face. Then the terrain flattened out and we headed across the top of the mountain before tucking into a bit of a crevice and finding kjeragbolten.  Kjeragbolten is a giant boulder, shmushed between two cliff faces, at 1084m above the fjord. It’s been there a while and not going anywhere but still terrifying. After some well-deserved snacks and rest, including putting a few more layers on since it was quite chilly at the top, we headed to the boulder for photos. My Ativan was still working so I actually made it out onto the boulder but was too afraid to stand up so I just gave it a big hug. EDP was far more daring, not only standing up but pretending to be about to fall over the edge. He didn’t but I was glad the insurance was paid up, just in case. Also, it isn’t quite as death-defying as the photos make it look. While it looks like you have to climb down onto the boulder, in reality, the rock on the left has a fairly wide ledge behind it so you only need to step out onto the boulder. Or in my case, sit with your back pressed firmly against the rock and slowly inch yourself over to the boulder before maneuvering yourself onto your stomach with the intention of getting onto the boulder in a crouch before very, very slowly & carefully raising to a standing position but end up hugging the boulder instead.

Then, because we had to climb up and over three mountains to get there, we had to climb down and over three mountains to get back. I had been hoping for a secret escalator to bring us back down to the parking lot but no such luck. And those rock faces we had to scramble up now had to be scrambled down. That was. Ummm. Fun? EDP was smart enough to use his hiking poles almost the entire time but I didn’t pull mine out until far too far into the trip. And my knee is proving it. I definitely also went over on an ankle but we upgraded to ankle boots instead of just hiking shoes so it was well-protected and isn’t causing nearly as much grief as my knee. I must be getting too old for this stuff. 

In all, the round-trip hike took us about 5 1/2 hours and between heading to the boulder and back, we climbed (and subsequently descended) a total of 570m.

Once we were safely back at the car, we invested in some well-deserved hot chocolate and headed back onto the road to drive into Jørpeland, a small town near Preikestolen, our second of our three hikes - and expected to be the easiest. It can’t be harder than Kjeragbolten so here’s hoping for an easier day. 

Oslo

It’s very gratifying to see where your ancestors are from, walk the streets they may have walked, eat the traditional foods they may have eaten - and maybe that’s why I’m already enjoying Norway so much, I’m seeing where my ancestors are from. 

“But aren’t you Scottish?” You say.  “And Belgian?” 

Yes. Yes, I am. But I’m also 3% Norwegian. According to my 23 and Me results, I’m 3% Norwegian. I have a three-, four-, five- or six-great-grandparent who was 100% Norwegian, born between 1740 and 1830. So yes, I’m in the home of my people. And I must look like I belong, I’ve already been asked for directions. 

Anyway. Not really the point. Point is - Oslo is lovely. 

EDP and I met at the Oslo airport on Thursday. We both flew through Frankfurt but both of us had tight connections. Mine was two hours, landed on time and everything but with security and customs, I still only got to my gate a few minutes before boarding. EDP had to run to catch his connection.  But, we both made it to Oslo and after a quick train trip into the city centre, we got checked in to the hotel, grabbed a couple of showers to wash the planes off us and headed out to take a look around.   

We quickly found the main pedestrian street and wandered up it, eventually reaching the royal palace, where we got some great views of the city and checked out the gardens. The palace isn’t open to the public, as it’s still the official residence of the Norwegian monarch but we were able to wander the grounds. There were a couple of ponds, each with a little island on them that had a couple of fairy houses (we think) and one of them had a handful of bee hives. It was nice to see people sprawled out on the lawns, enjoying the late afternoon sun, as we were certainly pleased with how warm it still was. Then, we headed back towards our hotel, stopping for some dinner, for early bedtimes. 

Friday was a lazy start. Once we were up and fed, we grabbed our books and headed off towards where we were meeting our guide for our food tour, enjoying some hot chocolate while we waited & read.  Food tours have become our absolutely favourite way to introduce ourselves to a city. You get a great walking tour, lots of restaurant recommendations, and some incredibly tasty foods to try. This tour started us off with some microbrewery beer, which I quite enjoyed, and a selection of cheeses and meats, including the traditional Norwegian brown cheese. Then it was on to a chocolate tasting, a sampler board of traditional Norwegian meats (including whale, reindeer hearts, and a variety of smoked fish, among other things...) before ending with a few more beers. Honestly, it’s not our favourite food tour that we’ve done - this was only a few stops with larger tastings at each but we much prefer lots of smaller tastings, to see more places and try more things. But it was still a great way to see the city.  There were three other people on the tour with us and they were from Oslo, so it felt like we had four personal guides for the city, not just one. 

Once we were done the food tour, we headed off to the Munch Museum. I’m not overly familiar with Munch, beyond the Scream, so it was nice to see some more by him. I really liked his Starry Night, which was similar to Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night but I can’t find anything about them being of the same place or that one was influenced by the other. It has been one of my favourite lesser known works that I’ve seen, by far. Then, it was back to the hotel, with a stop at the wine shop, for a bit of time with our feet up and letting the food tour fully digest before popping back out for a few minutes to get waffles - blueberry for EDP and raspberry & Nutella for me. They were DELICIOUS. They were a thin, soft waffle that you fold over once your fillings are on it and frankly, I could eat nothing but those for the rest of the trip. In fact, I suggested them for both lunch and dinner today, but that idea was shot down. 

Today was an earlier start, catching the first ferry over to Bygdøy for a morning of heritage museums. We started at the Viking Ship Museum, where we saw three Viking ships, all of which had been used as grave ships, each in a different state of preservation. Some of the artifacts that had been on the ships were also on display but all of the ships had been subject to grave robbers. Then, it was over to the Folkemuseum, an open-air museum showcasing Norwegian life from the 1500s to almost present day. We saw one of the stave churches while we were there, which are wooden churches of a certain type of construction. They are so stunning, it was lovely to see one in person. Finally, we ended our morning at the Kon-Tiki museum and whoa, that guy was...  well, as EDP put it to me “You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to build a boat, I’m gong to sail it to Polynesia. And I’m going to take five people and I’ve never learned how to sail. Or build a boat.” Which is pretty much what this guy did. He was trying to prove you could cross from South America to Polynesia in pre-Columbian time. Crazy! Google it if you’ve never heard of Kon-Tiki before. 

The afternoon was spent at the National Gallery, where we saw the Scream, along with some other lovely works of art.  It was a nice few hours wandering through the gallery and quite a rich collection, given that most of the more commonly known artists on display aren’t Norwegian. From there, we got some iced chocolates, stopped at some sort of cultural festival to grab some lunch and then it was over to Akershus Fortress. Unfortunately, the castle is closed but we were still able to wander the grounds, seeing all of the various medieval buildings that were part of the fortress. There was also some kind of weird children’s festival going on, so we also got go hear hundreds of children trying their hands at musical instruments, various sports, and building stuff. It was a lot of children. And there was cotton candy. It was........ something else. 

Tonight’s dinner was not waffles. But it was delicious. We went a bit outside the city centre, taking the tram to an Italian restaurant that was quite lovely. And now, we’re settled back in for one last sleep in Oslo before picking up the car tomorrow and shifting from city gear to nature gear for our three big hikes! Tomorrow will be a long day in the car, driving into the fjords so I’d better head off to bed.  Well, better finish the rest of this glass of wine, actually...