Our last port was Bergen Norway. This is the second largest city in Norway behind Oslo. It’s a universtiy city and a place where there are lots of shops and bars and a live music scene. We didn’t get to spend time in the town because of a long excursion but it looks like a great place to visit. The town was originally all wooden traditional buildings but it burned down almost completely and was rebuilt in an Art Nouveau style and it was illegal to have wooden building at the city center. The roofs are mostly slate or ceramic tyles and they have small fences to stop the snow from falling down and also ladders on the roof to allow for chimney sweeping. It’s a colorful little town at the base of a fjord, and there are lots of little villages within commuting distance where people live. We crossed under a beautiful modern bridge on the way into the town, it has to be very high to allow our ship into town. We also noticed that the homes and businesses along the fjords are built right down to the water so there must not be tides in this location.
Bergen from the ship
We left the city and drove along the Fusafjord which we eventually crossed by ferry. This fjord seemed very large to us but is actually much smaller than the fjord that we would drive to later in the day.
Little Harbor at the ferry crossing
Typical little village on the fjord near the ferry crossing
These are typical mailboxes that we have seen all through Norway. Sometimes the little house that they sit in has a turf roof, and the mailboxes themselves are decorated with unique designs. It rains here quite a bit so maybe these little houses that the mailboxes sit in provide protection.
Great Blue Heron at the ferry landing
Shortly after corssing the fjord we arrived at a tiny wooden church at Holdhus — a beautiful old church from the 1700s in the countryside. There used to be many of these churches but eventually they became too small to serve the needs of the people in the area so most of them were dismantled and the wood used for alternative purposes. The chuch was made of wood with old wooden pews that had doors to get into them. The women sat on the left where the evil spirits came from, and the men sat on the right so that the women could protect them from the evil. The Pulpit was nigh above the congregation. They also had a beautiful stone statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. The walls were painted in very decorative colorful designs. There was not flash photography inside so pictures were limited.
Church at Holdfus from the hill above it
Statue inside which is very valuable and it’s unknown how it came to reside in Norway or in this church, and especially how it survived the reclamation that destroyed most of the churches here.
Pretty little farmhouse near the church
Next we set off for the Hardangerfjord. Norwegians call this the Queen of the Fords and it’s quite large. along the way we could see the Folgefonna Glacier, the third-largest glacier in Norway. We also saw lots of apple and pear orchards growing along the roads along the way. We eventually reached a pretty little resort town where we stopped for lunch on the Hardangerfjord. Most of the houses here are vacation homes for the people of Bergen and other cities. It was a beautiful area.
Shawn and Conrad at a stop along the way
The resort town. In most locations the houses were situated like this on a hillside above the fjord such that every home had a view of the fjord and the surrounding mountains
Hardangerfjord
After lunch we headed off again towards the Steinsdal Waterfall which is unique because you can walk under the falls without getting wet
Conrad behind the Steinsdal Waterfall
Shawn near the top of the waterfall
Conrad at the top of the waterfall
A view from the bottom
The obligatory troll that shows up at each tourist location in Norway
Then we climbed up through the Tokagjel Gorge via a series tunnels before reaching the Kvamskogen mountain plateau. This area also has mostly winter vacation homes for the people who live in Bergen because there are a lot of ski areas and lakes etc…
We returned to the ship with just enough time to shower and dress for formal night. We were greeted in our room by a monkey courtesy of our room Stewards Pisko and Mohamad
