NORWAY
Mount Ulriken and Mount Floyen
Ever since I read / heard the word “FJORD” last year, I had made up my mind to visit Norway as soon as possible. A fjord (pronounced as “fyord”) is a long narrow inlet of the sea between steep cliffs / mountains, and Norway has plenty of them. Our trip to Norway was for 4 days. We took a flight from Billund (Denmark) to Bergen (Norway). It was 1 hour flight. From Bergen airport we took an airport bus, which is every 15 min to the city centre. The airport is not very far from the city and not isolated; quite unlike other European city airports. There are residences on the way, between the airport and city centre. Bergen is the only city in the world, surrounded by 7 mountains and 7 fjords. It is also called as the “Gateway to fjords” or the “Fjord capital.” One can see several beautiful houses built at different levels on the hills, cobbled streets and flowers everywhere (in spring and summer).
We started sight seeing in Bergen city on the same day in the evening from Johannes Kirke, a tall red stone church and then Ole Bulls Plass (named after the famous violinist Ole Bull) which is like a small city square with fountains and flowers. Next to it is Lille Lungegardsvann, a small lake which is surrounded by very beautiful trees with pink flowers and green trees. The lake looks beautiful with the reflection of the surrounding mountains and trees in its clear water. It is a beautiful place to have a walk. There are a number of museums around the lake. From here, we took a walk to the tourist office crossing the Torgalmenningen – the main shopping street of the city.
After collecting some information, we purchased the “Norway in Nutshell” tour tickets from the tourist office for the next day. We then walked past Torget, the fish market (an important reference point in Bergen) where some fish and crabs are sold alive; to the popular tourist place, Bryggen, the old part of Bergen. It is along the harbour. This area has the colourful houses of the Middle Ages - wooden buildings and alleyways. The buildings are now on UNESCO´s Word Heritage List. We were suggested by a man from the tourist office to walk between the lanes of the houses, as it was beautiful. It was true what he had said. After taking some pictures, we walked further ahead to the Rosenkrantz tower and HakonShallen, the ceremonial hall. We enjoyed walking around in the HakonShallen area. It is on a little height so we got a nice overview of the harbour. We returned early to the hotel that evening as we had to leave early the next day for Norway in Nutshell tour.
Norway in Nutshell
The second day morning we took the Norway in Nutshell tour, which is little hectic and expensive too (Everything is expensive in Norway). It is from morning 8.30 to evening 8.30 but it is worth taking the tour. It is an organized round trip, which includes travel from Bergen to Myrdal by train, Myrdal to Flam by train, Flam to Gudvangen by ferry, Gudvagen to Voss by bus and from Voss back to Bergen by train. This tour includes some of the popular and beautiful fjords, waterfalls and mountains. We saw some very beautiful landscapes during our tour.
We started in the morning from Bergen by train. The Bergen – Myrdal trip is a part of the stunning Bergen – Oslo Railway. We got to see some fjords in midway and beautiful landscapes close to Myrdal – brown mountains covered partially with snow. There were lots of tunnels on the way to Myrdal as the track is between mountains, going to higher altitudes. The Myrdal station is a station on a large mountain plateau.
From Myrdal we took another train to Flam. The total journey time is 50 min. (20 km). It is called as the Flåmsbana or the Flåm railway and known to be one of the world´s most attractive and spectacular railway lines providing panoramic view of mountain landscapes and waterfalls. This branch of Bergen railway runs from Myrdal at an altitude 867 metres, down to Flam at an altitude of 2 metres. The Flåm Railway is one of the world’s steepest railway lines on normal gauge. The gradient is 1/18 on almost 80% of the line. The twisting tunnels that spiral in and out of the mountains are manifestations of the most daring and skillful engineering in Norwegian railway history. At the foot of the mountains you can enjoy the natural beauty of the Flåm Valley and admire the majestic Aurlandfjord, a branch of the world's longest fjord, the Sognefjord.
Out of the 20 tunnels 18 of them are hand built tunnels as it is not possible to get trucks and other heavy machinery there! In order to manage the great difference in altitude this unique tunnel makes a 180 degree turn inside the mountain! That is why it is called as the hairpin tunnel. Little further from here, the train halted for 5-7 min at Kjosfossen. Here we saw the Kjosfossen waterfall with a fall of 94 metres. It is a roaring and impressive waterfall. After the Kjosfossen, our train entered a new tunnel. After the tunnel, we could see the Myrdal station, where we had started our journey and also the three different levels of the Flåm railway. Also we could see the sharp road bends of the mountain! The train had entered the Flåm valley. Further on our tour we saw a goat farm. We crossed the Berekvam station on our route. It is the only place on the railway line with double track that enables 2 trains to pass each other. Further ahead, we saw a waterfall with a free fall of 140 metres, known as Rjoandefossen waterfall. All along the 20 km-long train ride you can see rivers that cut through deep ravines, waterfalls cascade down the side of steep, snowcapped mountains and mountain farms cling dizzily to sheer slopes.
After around 50 min we reached the small and beautiful village, Flåm, with a population of about 400. J Our ferry ride was to begin after 3 hours.
After having lunch, we took a map of the village from the tourist office. The map is excellent, showing different walk tours with time estimates and sights available on each route. We took the small walk tour of around 40-45 min. We walked up a small hill, crossing a farming area and then walked downwards the Flamselva River and then back to the Flam station. It is difficult to get lost with such an excellent map and well marked paths! By the time we returned to the station, it was time to depart for our ferry/cruise ride in the fjords.
The Sognefjord, known as the “King of all the fjords” is the world´s longest and deepest fjords. It has many branches or arms. Like other fjords, the Sognefjord was carved by glaciers during the many ice ages in the last 2-3 million years. The Flam station is in the innermost corners the Aurlandsfjord.
The surroundings of the Flam station are very beautiful. After sailing some minutes, we saw the Aurland village on the southern shore of the Aurlandsfjord. On our route, we saw some beautiful mountains, peaks, waterfalls. And also the Naeroyfjord - the narrowest and the best known of the many arms of the Sognefjord. With its steep mountainsides, hanging valleys, towering peaks, waterfalls and hamlets, this fjord is the most outstanding. It has been included in UNESCO´s World Heritage List in May 2005. We liked the cruise but a little disappointed as it was not a properly guided one.
After around 2 hours cruise, we reached Gudvangen, a small village at the head of the Naeroyfjord. After taking some pictures, we took a bus from here, waiting for us. We continued our journey to Voss. The bus travels up through the mountainous Naeroyfjord valley to the spectacular Stalheimskleiva road. This road twists and turns up through 13 hairpin bends. The road runs up a ridge between two cascading waterfalls - the Sivlefossen in the north and Stalheimfossen in the south. This road offers views of both the waterfalls. It is the steepest road in Northern Europe. (This road is closed in winter). Our bus took a short stop, up at the top outside the Stalheim hotel to look at the valleys from the top. Later the bus drove alongside the Oppheimsvatnet Lake. We saw beautiful snow capped mountains and beautiful houses of a village. We reached Voss at 7 p.m. The bus drive was a guided tour.
From here we took a train back to Bergen. We were quiet tired by the end of the tour. But we enjoyed it very much.
The third day, we went to Mount Ulriken. A double decker bus from outside the tourist office took us to the cable car station. From here we took the cable car ride up to the top. Mount Urliken is the highest of the 7 mountains around the city. It is 642 metres high. It took around 10 min to reach up by the cable car.
Mt. Urliken offers a panoramic view of the Bergen city, the harbour and surrounding fjords and mountains. It was cold on the top and there was too much breeze. When we reached, it was little sunny but the weather changed suddenly within 8-10 min! The breeze increased, the temperature dropped and it turned foggy around due to clouds. Everybody rushed to the Cafe there. And then there was a hailstorm and rain. After 15-20 min it stopped raining and then it was little sunny again. We experienced the sudden change in weather within those 40-45 minutes of our stay up there. We then took the cable car down to the station and then the same bus to go down to the city centre.
After lunch, we met our Norwegian friend, Solvie. She took us for a drive on the western side of Bergen. We went from Bergen to Lille Sotra and then to Sotra, another island close to Bergen. In Sotra, we went to Solsvik and spent some time there and then to Oygarden. The landscape here is rocky and different from that in Bergen; the views are astonishingly beautiful! She drove us for around 3 hours and we then returned back to the city. These beautiful places are not mentioned in the sight seeing brochures but we got the opportunity to see them because of our friend who stays in Sotra. One definitely needs a car to go to these places.
The fourth day, we took the Bergen card. We went to the Arboretum and Botanical garden in the morning. It is an area little far from the city. We took a bus and it took around 25-30 minutes to reach there. The area is quite big and needs some time to roam. It is surrounded by the Fana fjord. As we started walking in, we saw some beautiful houses with gardens, some beautiful plants and flowers. We walked further in to woods. The area is attractive with hills, rocky gorges, a small lake and shoreline. We had map of the area with us and walked to the Gronevika and Sandholna. Sandholna is beautiful surrounded by rocks, trees. There is a small bridge too. From here we could see the Fana fjord. Later we walked into the botanical garden but not many flowers had bloomed yet. (The place was good but we were a bit irritated because of rain). We did not cover the whole area. After that we returned to the city. After our lunch, we took the funicular Floiban (small train) to go up to Mt. Floyen (320 mts.) It took just 7 minutes to reach up. The view from top is great – Bergen and its surroundings. We noticed several people dressed in Traditional Norwegian dresses and practicing for the Constitution Day on 17th May.
Lastly we went to the Bergen aquarium. The aquarium has a big outdoor tank with seals and penguins, other than the indoor tanks. We went there close to feeding time, as we had planned. It was fun to see the penguins and the seals. The seals are trained to do some acrobatics like jumping to touch the ball, passing through rings, wave bye with their small flippers (fins), etc. Bergen card is quite useful but one has to really wreck his / her head to extract the maximum benefit out of it….and hurry through the sights.
On a concluding note…………….
"Norway: the land of the Midnight Sun"; a lot of people have heard this saying but they have no idea of what it means. Well you will find out but first you need to know something that fools a lot of foreigners and tourist that come to Norway to see this. First of all a lot of people who plan their trip to Norway plan it around the capital (Oslo) in hope they will see the midnight sun. WRONG. There is no midnight sun in the southern part of Norway. Nor there are any fjords worth mentioning around Oslo.
Norway is a very long country and only about 1/3 of the country stretches above the Arctic Circle. The Midnight Sun can only be observed north of the Arctic Circle, i.e. Bodo city and above. So as you see a lot of people come half way around the world to see the splendor of the Midnight Sun, but they never do because they are in the wrong part of the country and are disappointed!
The Most popular and spectacular destination for tourist is a place called NordKapp. It is the furthest North-west in Europe you can go to experience this.
What is the Midnight Sun? You can probably imagine from the word what it is but for most people it is unimaginable that the sun can shine all night, but it does.
For about 3 months of the summer our globe is at such an angle that in the arctic area the sun never goes down. No, don't get this wrong if it a cloudy or rainy day you will not see the sun but at any other time, 24 hours a day, the sun is shining. No! It does not get dark but the sun shines different at night. It shines within a wide specter of colors ranging from bright yellow to pink and red.
If you are watching the midnight sun by the open water the sun will "hang" just above the horizon and shine on the water. You will see the most brilliant colors as it reflects on the surface of the ocean. If you should happen to be in the mountains the most beautiful colors of pink and red will cover everything.
We didn’t see the midnight sun, nevertheless we could see very late evenings. It used to get dark only after 10.30 pm though it was just the end of spring. See pictures 5497, 5500, 5504
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