Today is another travel day—Bergen to Tromso this time. Looking out of the plane’s window, much of the highlands are already quite snowy with the dark channels of the fjords cutting their way back into the interior.
Since we left Oslo, we’ve taken a train (two, in fact) to Flam, a boat to Gudvangen, a bus to Voss and a train to Bergen.
The trains from Oslo to Flam were both pretty spectacular. The first, from Oslo to Myrdal, rolled through landscapes scrubbed by glaciers and dotted with picturesque little towns. We were adjacent to the club car, which had food and refreshments that made the hours-long trip quite enjoyable. In Myrdal, it was snowy and blustery at the train station where we transferred – our first taste of a wintery mix since we arrived. The train went down a steep valley full of waterfalls to the waterfront village of Flam near where the UNESCO World Heritage Site fjords Sognefjord, Naeroyfjord and Aurlandsfjord meet.
The village was cute, but super small—as in one pub small. Luckily that one brewpub, Aegir, was quite good and yes, we spent pretty much the whole evening there. Robin and Nan couldn’t help but gawk at the tall, blond and handsome pub manager as he went about his business shuffling tourists in and out of the pub’s restaurant. The guys couldn’t really blame them – he was almost a caricature of a Norseman with his tall stature and long blond hair. We stayed in a hostel/campground which was quite pleasant with the added bonus that we finally had a room that wasn’t swelteringly hot, at least not after we opened the window.
Flam was a relatively short stop and we boarded the electric boat the next morning to glide through the fjord which is every bit as beautiful as we expected, though if the journey had been a few hours longer we wouldn’t have complained.
Awaiting at Gundenven was a bus to get us as far as Voss, but these guys know their business and we first made a stop at a hotel whose patio gave an expansive and inspiring view of the valley we’d just left.
In an “it’s a small world” moment, along the way we also met a woman, Liz, traveling with her husband and grandson, from Sitka, Alaska. After chatting a bit we found out her hometown is West Monroe, Louisiana, where Robin’s family lives. Too funny.
We only had an hour in Voss, so ended up just staying in the train station while we waited for our bus to Bergen, where Tim had arranged for an AirBnB. The apartment turned out to be in the heart of the old part of the city and very convenient to everything. We had time to grab a pint at a neighborhood pub, dinner at an India restaurant, stopped to hear some live music and popped in on a quiz night where we discovered the limitations of Google translate.
Next day was all about walking. We took the funicular to the top of a tall hill overlooking Bergen, then had a really pleasant walk back down through the woods. Well, our calves might argue that point today.
We spent the afternoon just wandering around the city, checking out picture-perfect Bryggan and stopping at the Fish Market for a bite of lunch where, among other delights, they serve magic Norwegian oysters. At least I think they were magic. At $10 each, there must have been something special about them. I forgot to ask… We ended the evening with some tapas and Bergen Fish Stew (so good) with a little entertainment from one of the locals who let the dancing spirits move him. Or just take over completely.
Which brings us to jumping on a plane this afternoon to go above the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, we learned that the boat tour to see the Northern Lights was canceled due to bad weather, so we’ll be looking for something else to do tonight. There is still a chance we’ll see the lights when we embark on a 3 day ferry ride tomorrow night that takes us to the Lofotens and on to Trondheim.
