Norway in a nutshell

Bergen

It was raining when we docked in Bergen so instead of walking the 10 min to our hotel we opted for a taxi. About $20 later and we were at our hotel and presented the paperwork for our booking to reception only to find out our booking was for the following night - Oh *+*+ = but the hotel staff were very helpful and although they were fully booked for the night contacted their sister hotel just up the road (which was actually an upgrade) and organised two nights for us there for the same price. So armed with umbrellas lent to us by the hotel we set off a bit further up the road to find our accommodation which turned out to be very nice. And the upside was we got to spend an extra day in Bergen so we had time to explore the city. We spent our day taking the funicular up mount Floyon to check out the great views over the city and harbour (and many cruise ships) and then exploring Bryggan including the Hanseatic Museum, the Assembly Rooms (great expanses of architecture and life from the 1600’s) and Fish museum. After a bit of shopping (and possibly the purchase of a hand made moose leather jacket) we decided to visit the fish market to find something for dinner. Whale meat was on the menu - mmm! An ethical dilemma - we don’t support whaling - will we try it? We decided to try it and were very  surprised by the taste and texture - more like a game meat than fish! Now back to not supporting whaling!!!!! Apparently Norway claims they have sustainable quotas in place for the harvesting of Minki Whales as numbers have increased. Maybe they do! They don’t take any other whales.

Next day we picked up our hire car - now to try and remember to stay on the “right” side of the road! Off to Stavanger - it was a fantastic drive along fjords (strange i know), across bridges, through tunnels (some that went under the fjord) and beautiful little villages and rural countryside. Success - arrived in Stavanger without incident! Spent the afternoon wandering the cobbled streets (past a gay pride celebration in the park - lots of singing and rainbow colours etc). Found an Irish pub called the Irishman with live music so of course a visit was necessary - a couple of drinks later (and a mortgage on the house) we went in search of a meal and found a Thai restaurant - prices were reasonable comparatively - so all things not Norwegian this afternoon! 

Day two in Stavanger and we had a cruise out to Pulpit Rock organised - weather was not great but!!!! Again beautiful scenery despite the weather. Pulpit Rock was spectacular although we only saw it from the water. You could hike up to it but we hadn’t realised it would be a bus trip from the boat and then a two hour walk up and two hours back and then a bus trip back so we hadn’t really taken the gear we would need with us on the boat given the weather so we just enjoyed the view from the water (Pulpit Rock features in one of the mission impossible films with Tom Cruise dangling over the side). We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the old city and taking photos but being a Sunday not much is open including the Vinmonopolet! OUCH! In fact you are not even allowed to buy beer in the supermarket on a Sunday (I think the Mormons. Might be running the joint ) We headed out in the rain for some dinner and ended up sharing a pizza. I had a beer and Robyn a glass of the wine, but only one as the starting price for a bottle of the house red was $85 and the average price, for average wine, was closer to $120. 

Early start to begin the drive to Flåm. What can we say but amazing!, beautiful scenery and the most amazing waterfalls that we have ever seen, right beside the road..... the power of the water coming down the mountain makes you wonder where it is all coming from, let alone, how did they build a bridge over it. And not just one waterfall, dozens, probably hundreds! Truly amazing! Norway really is a strip of coastline, fjords, mountains, waterfalls, beautiful little villages and countryside with a few towns thrown into the mix. 

Today we actually drove through two tunnels with roundabouts in them and roads going off in other directions! These two tunnels were connected by a bridge across the fjord - amazing! Out of one tunnel across the fjord and into the next!!!!

Flåm has been both beautiful and a little disappointing. Firstly our accommodation turned out to be a hostel with shared bathroom - slightly misrepresented on bookings,com!!!!! But we did meet a lovely young Austrian couple, Maria and Manfred, who were staying there also and spent a very pleasant evening drinking overpriced alcohol and chatting. Good fun! Also it has been grey and raining the whole time. Not great weather to do a cruise on the fjord or a train trip up the mountain. We decided instead to drive the zigzag road up the mountain to Stegastein and the lookout over the fjord only to be told the road was closed for maintenanace and we may have to wait an hour or more to get up there. And there was a massive cruise ship - about 13 stories high in the fjord so hoards of tourists! (Not us of course!) At this point we were considering forgoing our second nights accommodation and leaving but we decided to give the drive a try and after about a 20 min wait we were let up the mountain and it was well worth the wait. Spectacular despite the rain and the 3 degree temperature outside! We then drove across the mountain - more beautiful scenery, rock strewn landscapes, small lakes and ponds, pockets of ice and snow, rushing streams and waterfalls. Then on to Laerdal another lovely little village and back to Flåm via a 24km tunnel (which was lit up with blue, green and orange lights every 5 or 6kms) and another little village called Undredal with the smallest Stave church in Norway (about 40 seats) and where they also sold goats cheese locally made (which we of course needed to sample)

Tomorrow Oslo!