The Land of the Fjords: Norway!

After a long trip down through Switzerland and Italy, you might think that Mackenzie and I needed a break, but that would be wrong! With just a 3 day "lay-over" back in Lund/Copenhagen, we were ready for more adventure, and so we headed northward to Norway.

We had one main goal going into Norway: to view the majestic western fjords. To this end, we opted to skip the capital of Oslo (on the eastern side near the Swedish border) and instead dedicate the trip to Bergen, the "Gateway to the Fjords". Besides the fjords, Bergen's secondary claim to fame is as the rainiest city in Europe! In fact, in the summer of 2015, they set a record for the most continuous days of rain: a bone-chilling 85. Alas, when it comes to the weather, Bergen did not surprise us, and most of our trip was overcast. However, to us that only meant getting the genuine Norwegian experience, and we embraced it!

Day 1

While Norway is right next to Sweden, Bergen is still a far destination, and it takes about 16 hours by train to get there. We left Lund Friday afternoon and arrived in Bergen (after a cross-country night train) at 7 AM Saturday. We spent our first hour in the chilly harbor city exploring its historic wharf, Bryggen. This centuries-old row of trading buildings was originally built by the Hanseatic League, a trading confederation founded in the 14th century. Nowadays, it serves as a pretty waterfront and neat area to stroll around in. From here, we walked a few minutes to our Airbnb, where we stayed for a while, chatting with our friendly hosts (and their adorable puppy Pumba). One of us (not naming names) took a small nap to recoup from the bumpy sleep the night before, we grabbed some tea and coffee, and around noon we were back into the city.

Peaceful Bryggen at sunrise

Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains, each providing a great view down over the expansive city and out to the fingers of the fjords, which poke into and around the city. Right next door to our Airbnb was the famous Fløibanen, a funicular that takes you up to the peak of one of the best mountains: Mt. Fløyen. We grabbed a ride up to the top and were rewarded with the view we were looking for. Despite it being a rainy day, the visibility was high, and we could see all down over the city and into the waters of the North Sea in the distance.

Views over all of Bergen from atop Mt. Fløyen

We stayed on the mountaintop for a while. First sitting by a playground and eating our sandwiches, we transitioned into exploring the many tiny park areas nearby, in which there no shortage of ugly wooden troll statues. After ample time on top of Mt. Fløyen, we took the easy 30 minute walk down to the bottom, which was dotted with plenty more troll statues, as well as small waterfalls, moss-covered rock faces, and the general feeling of being in a fairytale. It was a cute stroll.

One of the countless troll statues found on the mountain

Once at the bottom, we took a pit stop at the Airbnb to dry up, then headed to the popular fish market. Inside, we walked around and checked out all of the day's fresh catches, and as we were strolling out a man behind a counter filled with various Norwegian cheeses and cured meats invited us to sample some of his goods. Amidst plenty of friendly small talk, I sampled about six different local cheeses (a mix of goat and cow cheeses, my favorite was the one with "vikings garlic"), and we both had three different cured meats: reindeer, moose, and minke whale! We didn't know what we were eating until it was in our mouths, so it was quite a fun experience. We ended up grabbing some delicious local cured moose and are excited to break it out soon.

Some of the selection in the fish market, 

featuring the biggest crab legs I've ever seen!

Back at the Airbnb, we ended the relaxed day with an equally relaxed evening by making some dinner and getting plenty of rest.

Day 2

Our second day was the exciting and action-packed one. It was fjord day! We got up early to catch an 8:45 bus into the heart of fjord country. However, after getting out of the apartment a little late and having a hard time finalizing our bus tickets, we didn't get to the station until 8:45, right as the bus was leaving! In fact, we saw it pulling off and had to walk in front of it in order to make it stop! Luckily, the driver was friendly and let us get on. Close call! The drive was amazing though, and took us through tunnel after tunnel as we trekked deeper into Norway's nature.

Our cruise approaching through Nærøfjord (to be clear, all pictures are 100% unedited)

After 2.5 hours we arrived at Gudvangen, the set-off point for our noon fjord tour! We were at the end of Nærøfjord, "narrow fjord", and spent the next two hours cruising through the incredible fjord towards Flåm. The trip was absolutely breathtaking from start to finish, and provided some of the most incredible views of our lives. Nærøfjord is the narrowest fjord in the world, and only 250 meters wide at some points, meaning that on either side are massive mountains jutting straight out of the water, going high into the sky and deep into the clouds above. From start to finish, cruising through the fjords was like a dream.

Videos will never do it justice, but we tried!

We arrived in Flåm promptly at 2:00, and spent a brief 40 minutes checking out the small town and its gift store before hopping on the train to Myrdal, our connection back to Bergen. However, we had not finished our luck streak from making the bus yet, and after lollygagging in the gift store, when we were walking out to get on the train 10 minutes early with plenty of time to get a good seat, we realized we had somehow misjudged the time and the train was actually about to leave! We jumped on it about a minute before it pulled out. Another very close call, and a little message that we need to be better trackers of time.

One of the most beautiful train rides in the world -- spectacular!

The train to Myrdal in itself is an experience. Called the Flåmsbana, the 20km journey has earned multiple distinctions as one of the most beautiful trains in the world. The 50-minute trip was once again breathtaking, and we wound through the fjords once more, only now from an entirely difference vantage point. At its peak, the train is 850 meters above sea level, and its steepest climb is at a 55 degree angle! We stopped once along the journey to check out a majestic waterfall that was now completely frozen over. We saw many of these, and it's still shocking to me that a body of water as fast-moving as a waterfall is still capable of freezing.

After the scenic trip to Myrdal, we took a standard (but still beautiful) train back to Bergen, where we arrived at dinner time. Our magical day of touring the fjords had come to an end! We strolled around Bryggen a little more before heading to our Airbnb for a tasty dinner and relaxing evening.

Waterfront sunrise by Bryggen

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On Monday we woke up at 7 AM to get to our first train of many on the journey back to Lund! Our first was an exciting one: the famous Bergen - Oslo railway. While we took this train on the way to Bergen, we took it overnight, so could not appreciate the views. However, we made sure to schedule it for the daytime on the way back, and in doing so experienced an amazing 7-hour journey through the middle of Norway filled with, once again, breathtaking views from start to finish. It was the perfect way to end the weekend.

As I type this up, we're still on the rails back, but it is now 7 PM. We've just crossed the border into Sweden, are 11 hours into our journey, and show no signs of stopping! We will arrive in Lund tomorrow morning around 7, after 23 hours of journey -- good thing we love the trains! While 23 hours is a very long time (as we're currently learning), we enjoy having the time to chat, relax, study, and do things like type up these posts. Every journey we become more and more happy that we decided to get the rail passes.

From here on is a little break from traveling (at least together). I am in the middle of exams, and therefore will be taking next weekend off to study. Mackenzie, on the other hand, has a school trip to Iceland for all of next week! I will spend the second half of this next (two weekends from now) exploring Poland solo. Going to be difficult to wait so long!