Oslo was green with trees out and flowers blooming. Flying to Stavengar we went over a mountain range with lots of snow everywhere. Beautiful from the plane. Landed in Stavengar to green, green grass and very warm temperatures....the first warm day that they have had in many months...so I guess we brought the Holland weather with us.
Sissel, our home exchange friend, met us at the airport and took us to her home about 20 minutes away in Randaberg. Double lane highways lead us from the airport to her home. She lives on the third floor of a building with a shop on the first floor and doctor's office on the the second floor. She has an elevator and a beautiful three bedroom home...lots of exquisite signed art work.
Sunset off our deck over the North Sea the first evening....around 10:00 pm.
Day 1
We walked around the village of Randaberg. Beautiful tulips were blooming. Citizens were sitting around on the benches at the centrum. Kids were rollerblading and riding bicycles. It was just a picture perfect sunny day. The City Center had a pretty stone water fountain. Also there was a statue of a Stone Age Man. Archeologist have found evidence of people living in the area at that time. A church across the street was built in 1845 . Inside the carved alter dates back to the 1600's.Larry and I enjoyed visiting the library to get information about the places we wanted to visit. We also went to the store....Very interesting trying to figure out what was in the boxes and wrappers. Everything was written in Norwegian. Our saving grace is that most people speak English.
Amazing.... eggs were 42 kroner or $8.00. That was just the beginning of our shopping experience.We had to figure out how to work the bread slicing machine. All the loaves were baked fresh and needed to be sliced. At the end of the day we had another amazing sunset!
Stone Age Man Statue is in the City Center. Artifacts from that period of time have been found nearby.
Randaberg Church, built in 1845 centers the town. The alterpiece is dated 1628.
Self serve bread cutting machine in the grocery...everything is baked fresh at the store.
Day 2
With another gorgeous day at hand, Larry and I took the car to the point. On the way we passed several mothers pushing huge baby buggies ...on their way to the beach. We passed a golf course...no carts...only people pushing their bags around the course. The road was a bit narrow. We passed a roller blader with ski poles going down the road. Farm land on both sides of the road.We stopped to take pictures of the coast, the stone walls that lined plots of land, and the light house. While at the light house we came across two German bunkers, evidence of World War II in the area.
German made Bunkers
Day 3
With the day looking so beautiful, Larry and I took a great walk through the neighborhood this morning. Homes appear to be all wooden. Tulips were blooming everywhere. Lilacs were about to pop open. Huge healthy dandilions were all over the roadsides.
After dinner we drove into Stavengar taking the scenic route....going to the little village of Grodem....mostly homes. We drove on a couple of kilometers to Dusavik....many industrial plants . Here we got onto E39 south and then 509 west into Stavengar. We drove to the waterfront stopping to take pictures of the structures that make the area famous. More than 170 houses built in the end of the 18th century are still being used today as homes, art galleries, studios. Beautiful scenes of the harbor and bridges to close islands were being snapped into our camera. The area beside the harbor was buzzing with outside cafes and live music. The Stavengar Cathedral dating back to 1125 sat up on the hill looking over the waterfront.
Headed back to Randaberg arriving around 9:30pm...sun slighly lowering in the west. Although it set around 10:05...another gorgeous sunset. It was still very light outside at 11:00 pm.
Day 4
Out of the house at 8:30am. Sissel, Larry and I headed to the ferry in Stavengar to take it to Lysefjord, a four hour boat trip up the best fjord in the region. The day was gorgeous! The boat left shore around 10:00am and we were able to secure three seats upon the top deck to sit in the sun, viewing both sides of the waterfront. It was grand to relax and take in all the gorgeous scenery.
Waiting for the ferry
One of the many small farm villages along the way
The Pulpet Rock is jutting out 600 meters above us... 25 by 25 meters...No rail around it and no one has yet fallen. You can walk there...It is a two hour hike to it.
Also we saw the famous Kjeragbolten, a boulder that is wedged between two mountainsides. In the paper this week someone was pictured doing a handstand on a ladder on it...What an unbelievable sight!
Looking up from the bottom of the fjord at Kjeragbolten...what a long way up, up, up!
Look closely and you can see the open space under the boulder.
Rode into the snow country! Snow had been pushed off the road but was deeper than the height of the car!
After passing through many boulders and rocky clifts, we came into an area of summer homes and ski get away neighborhoods. Trees began to grown and grass started to be green. Lake after lake and waterfall after waterfall....endless.
Took a break at a candle and souvenir shop. Here Larry and I shared an $8.00 bottle of Sprite...enjoyment was questionable.
Grass growing on the roof tops
We went on to pass many more lakes and waterfalls on a single lane hard top road shared with cars coming both directions...kinda thrilling when another car came from the other direction. We finally arrived in rolling green farm land...and then on to the sea. What a gorgeous day!
After passing many farms we came across many modern windmills used to generate electricity. Sissel said that many people in the community did not want them to come. We went on to pass the Northern Sea and then on to Stavengar arriving in Randaberg around 8:00pm. What a great day! A ferry boat ride, fjords, waterfalls, mountains, snow, lakes, and more waterfalls, rolling green pastures with beautiful stone fences, the beach on the North Sea and pleny of sunshine! Just wonderful!
Day 5
Larry and I decided to take a walk around the Randaberg Lake. It was a beautiful day and we started out thinking that it would be about an hour walk....the more we walked the more we realized that the lake had some points in it that we had not been able to see...it turned out to be a bigger hike than we had originally expected. We enjoyed every minute of it.
Grass is grown on many rooftops in Norway!
Farm land all around the trail!
Cool old piece of abandoned farm equipment
Baby ducklings
Day 6 and 7
Our trip to Bergen
Larry has been reading for years about the little town of Bergen in his motorcycle magazines. So we decided to check this northern Norway city out. We found that it is not a little town. It is the second largest city in Norway and has been around since 1070. We got up early on Monday morning to catch bus to Bergen. Sissel took us to the bus stops just a few kilometers away and we were on board going down the road by 9:30am. First we went through a tunnel that that was about 4 miles long underwater. On we went for a few more miles till we went through another tunnel a little over three miles long underwater. Then we boarded a ferry for about about 1/2 an hour ride.
At the first ferry, Larry was missing his motorcycle.
We rode the bus for about an hour and then boarded another ferry for about an hour cruise. We went through several more tunnels...I lost count.
Leaving the ferry dock!
An oil rig could be spotted out in the sea from the ferry.
Norwegian coast is very rocky.
Many views of manmade stone coves along the ferry ride.
It took about four and half hours total of riding through fantastic rolling hills of evergreens and seaside villages until we arrived in Bergen at 2:15.
Ty, a young Norwegian teacher, helped us find the city center
Bergen's famous fish market
We met a nice young man, Ty, on the bus who lived in Bergen. He led us to the city center, Torgallmenningen Square and then on to the fish market about a 10 minute stroll from the bus station. The fish market has been in this area since 1276...that's a long time!
The old wooden Hanseatic Quarter!
What a scene....The older village in Bergen! The old buildings lean on each other!
Lake Lungegardsvann
Larry and I wondered the streets of Bergan until about 4:30 and then started a walk toward our hotel which was North of the city. We stopped about half way to make sure we were going the correct way and found that we were speaking to another teacher who told us to jump in her car...she wanted to take us to the hotel which was about 5 mintues away.
Larry found Bluegrass in Norway...actually there was a jazz festival going on.
We passed St. Mary's Church (Mariakirken) that dates back from the 12th century. This is Bergen's oldest building...unfortunately it was closed through 2014 for a 100million kroner renovation.
We had a delightful dinner of chicken and apple cake before turning in for a good night's sleep.
Bergen was tge capital of Norway in the 12th and 13th century. While the city dates back to 1070, little has survived the last fire in 1702. Bergen was one of the largest European wooden cities. Fire was used way back then for heat, light, and to cook. Over the centuries countless number of fires burned Bergen to the ground. After each fire, the destroyed material was tossed into the harbor. This created a hazardous landfield upon which the old town was built on today. The older buildings that Bergen is so famous for in the Hanseatic Quarter are leaning due to the settling of landfield. Since 1702, most of the city has been rebuilt using more stone and brick.
The next morning we enjoyed a buffet breakfast, caught the bus at the top of the hill to go back into town. From here we wondered through the old wooden village and then took the funicular to the top of the mountain.
Funicular up to the top!
What a grand view of Bergen!
Here we had a wonderful lunch and then walked down the mountain to some gorgeous scenery of the town. We watched one of the cruise ships blow it's horn and head out of the harbor.We hiked down the mountain for about an hour and headed for the ferry boat home.
Neat narrow streets
Famous Bergen architecture in the background
At 4:00 we boarded the ferry and we rode through many of the thousands of rock islands that border the coast of Norway. Many were uninhabited while others had summer huts. After several stops to add and take away a few passengers we arrived back in Stavengar around 8:30. Sissel picked us up right on time and we arrived back in her home by 9:00. What an adventure!
Day 8
On our last day in Norway, Larry and I took a road trip down some country back roads to get some pictures of the coast. The scenery was spectacular. We enjoyed the curious sheep, the friendly swan and the fantastic sunnyshine.
Our day ended by having waffles (they pronouce vaffles) with homemade strawberry jam and sour cream at Sissel's daughter's home. Delicious!
What a treat to spend an evening with such a great family!
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