HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR SCANDINAVIAN TOUR: BERGEN, NORWAY DAY 4 (Last day of the tour)

 Hello everyone.

If you read my previous post, you would remember that yesterday we left Oslo on a  Norway in a Nutshell ® tour and arrived in Bergen, Norwegian's second-largest city after Oslo known as "a gateway to the fjord".  

It is the our last stop and also a last day of our Scandinavian Tour so we wanted to see and learn as much of this city as possible.  If you missed any of  my previous posts, you will find them here.

This morning we are meeting a local tour guide who will take us on a walking tour of the historic centre of Bergen so we could experience first-hand the beauty and storied past of this city.  

This famous Bergen Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Olaf, and dates back to as early as 1181.  Its tower is a prominent medieval feature and can be seen from far away.

The tour started with a short walk toward Bryggen, the medieval part of the city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring colourful wooden buildings along the old wharf.  Some of them are now occupied by workshops, cafes and other interesting stores.  

Walking along these narrow streets with wooden façades felt like going back in time.

The tour ended near historic Kjøpmannstuen (the Merchant's House) where we said goodbye to our very knowledgeable local tour guide and together with our tour hostess, Zdenka, took a short walk to Floibanen funicular which would take us to the top of Mount Floyen .

It is one of the one of the "seven city mountains" that surround the city centre of Bergen.  It's highest point is 400 meters and the Floibanen funicular goes almost to the the top but stops at 320 m. From this viewpoint, we got a stunning panoramic view over the city of Bergen and the surrounding fjords.  

Over the years Floibanen has cemented its position as Bergen's most popular tourist attraction which we witnessed with our own eyes.  The edge of the viewing platform was absolutely packed with people and it was very difficult to take a photo with a full view of the city below.

It was around midday and since we had no group activities except the farewell dinner, the afternoon was left for us to explore the city on our own.  There were few lunch options available on Mount Floyen but it was so busy with tourists and we all know that the food here like everywhere else in the world would be very ordinary.  So with this in mind, we headed to the funicular to take us back to the city. 

 We started thinking about lunch but were not sure where to go so we just kept on walking hoping to find a place that would attract our attention.  Meanwhile we came across this cute little house that is actually called "the little red house".  We didn't know anything about it back then, it's just looked so pretty and charming but when we got back and I looked it up, turns out this traditional wooden Norwegian house nestled in a steep historic hillside lane is a famous viral photo spot.

We continued walking downhill towards the city centre when we spotted a bright yellow sign hanging over an iconic Trekroneren hot dog stand.  Trekroneren translates Three Crowns or three krone which was famously the price charged for the wiener sausage when the new owner took over in 1978.  However, it first opened its doors back in 1946 and has become a major food attraction for tourists and locals alike for high quality and exotic sausages such as lamb, reindeer and wild game options paired with toppings like lingonberry jam and crispy onions.

There were a lot of tourists milling around but the queue moved really fast and soon we were holding our hotdogs.  I tried reindeer meat before and found it rather dry and too gamey for my palette so we opted for something more traditional and ordered lamb sausages with the lingonberry jam and crispy onions.

There were no tables but we managed to score two milk crates to sit on and tucked in.  The sausages tasted delicious, the onion rings were as crispy as promised, the bread rolls were freshly baked and the lingonberry jam was a spot-on condiment to cut through the richness of the lamb and balance the sweetness of the onions. 

Our hotel was just a few blocks away and it didn't take us too long to find our way back stopping here and there to take in the beat of the city, it's people and the way they live.

We wanted to re-repack our bags and be ready for next morning's early check out and flight from Bergen to Oslo and from Oslo to Sydney.  The packing didn't take long and soon we were out at reception waiting for our fellow travelers to go out for our farewell dinner.  We had a lovely time reminiscing about our trip, sharing stories and swapping up our phone numbers and Instagram handles.

Here is a group photo of all of us.  The woman between my husband and myself is our tour hostess Zdenka to whom we are very grateful for her kindness, willingness to help in a difficult situation, her excessive knowledge of this part of the world that she was so keen to share with us.  We enjoyed being in the company with our fellow travelers and forges some new freindships.  We have never travelled with a group before and were slightly apprehensive of being in close proximity with other people for a long period of time but we needn't worry, it was a perfect match.

PS.  Back in February in the middle of our Australian summer, out of the blue I received a phone call from Zdenka.  She and her boyfriend were in Australia on a surfing tour and were in Sydney for a couple of days and wanted to meet with us.  We were happy to see them and asked them to join us for dinner dinner at our local pub overlooking iconic Bondi Beach.  Where else?

On this happy note, I conclude my narrative about our Scandinavian tour.  Apologies for taking too long to finish but as we all know sometimes the things step in the way that require your time and attention.

Until then

Anna

xoxoxo

PS  If you like what you learn about this part of the world, please do not hesitate to ask me any questions, I will be very happy to help

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR SCANDINAVIA TOUR: NORWAY, OSLO DAY 1

G'day my dear readers.  Hope you are well

If you follow my Scandinavian narrative, you would recall that after spending two and a bit days in Copenhagen, our tour group boarded the ship that would take us to the Norwegian capital of Oslo.  If you are just joining in, you can catch up with my story here .

 

Once we located our cabin and dropped the luggage, we went outside to explore the boat.  It was a warm sunny day to be outside so we bought ourselves a couple of drinks and settled on the deck to watch the world go by.

The dinner was a traditional Scandinavian smorgasbord that was enjoyable as always and then retired back to the deck to watch the sunset.

When we woke up the in the morning, the ship was sailing into the Oslo Fjord and then into the city port which was unfolding around us while we were enjoying our breakfast.  Oslo is surrounded by rolling hills and mountain peaks and is often called one of the world's greenest cities.

After disembarking, we rolled our suitcases to a nearby parked guided bus that took us on a tour of the Norwegian capital.  The first stop - Akershus Fortress, a medieval castle, that was built to protect a provide a royal residence for the city. 

While the bus was zigzagging across the city, it was interesting to see different parts of Oslo where the old was mixed with the new.

Out next stop was Vigealnd Sculpture Park, featuring over 200 sculptures by the famous artist Gustav Vigeland.   The construction of the park began in 1940 and it took forty years to complete it.  As we entered the Park, we found ourselves on the wide pedestrian path stretching as far as we could see and visually divided the park in two halves.  There were the bronze, granite and wrought iron works lining up on each side all along the path and in the distance you could see the tranquil green spaces rolling down the hills.

The core theme of the Park is the circle of human life.  Through these statues, the artist captured the human experience from the cradle to the grave, illustrating our relationships, dreams, hopes and our internal longings.

All the statues are depicted in nude, Vigeland believed that their clothes would tie them to any particular era or culture whereas the nudity makes them universal and timeless.  Each figure strikes strong meaningful pose and makes you stop and think of what it represents to you.

Walking along the patch, we This fountain is surrounded by 20 trees and bronze reliefs that represents the different stages of life and the burdens of humanity.  

This sculpture is called Monolith, it is carved from the single piece of granite and is comprised of 121 intertwined human figures climbing towards the sky symbolising resurrection and our longing for a spiritual connection.

After the tour we were taken to our hotel with the rest of the day left at our disposal.  Oslo has a wonderfully walkable urban centre so we were able to discover its gems at a leisurely pace.  

Our first destination was a visit to the Munch Museum to see his most famous work "Scream" but we were pleasantly surprised by the impressive collection of his other works of paintings, prints and drawings donated by Edvard Munch himself to the city.  

There are four versions of Scream created by Munch using different mediums - two of them could be seen at Munch Museum, the third is in private collection and the original painting is on display at the National Museum of Norway.

Our next stop - Oslo Opera House with its grand angular facade and white marble walls can be seen from the distance.  The roof of the building angles to ground level creating a vast plaza that invites visitors to walk up and enjoy the panoramic view of Oslo.

I couldn't miss the opportunity to take a photo of this amazing sculpture called Scapning fra Lddefjord (Creature from Iddefjord) not far from the Oslo Opera House.  The 7-metre high sculpture is constructed from stacked granite stone blocks and is design for physical interaction. 

We walked a bit more around the city and then came to a funky inviting place called Barcode, a big open space filled with tables, chairs and benches grouped around fire pits and all along the perimeter the multitude of small shops serving street food of various cuisines all the time overlooking the Oslo Opera House and surrounding landmarks.  It was a perfect spot to have dinner, a couple of cocktails and hang our with the locals.

Afterwards we slowly made our way back to the hotel to get ready to travel the next morning to Flam.  We were slightly disappointed that we didn't stay in Oslo for at least one more day but there was nothing we could do about.  On the plus side we were going to spend few more days in a different part of Norway and we were looking forward to it.  Till my next post...

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo