Cruisin' fjords
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
106
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Bergen, Western Fjords, Norway
Saturday, August 19, 2006
BUT...breakfast was extraordinary. Just the two of us. Upstairs in milady's chamber or living room a veritable feast was laid out. From cereals to cold meats to smoked salmon to eggs to juice, coffee and tea and it kept coming. We were overwhelmed with food. Pity the generosity had not extended to the size of our bedroom. The room itself where we ate was covered in knick knacks including a forest of candles, some strange lights, frames of contemporary art, CDs, a piano and all sorts of weird purchases hanging from the walls or standing on the floor. It seems most family owned B&Bs in England and Europe have this obsession to show off their collections to their guests.
We checked out with full bellies and dragged our belongings around to the Scandic Hotel where we stored them for the day in the baggage room
Fjiording
. From there we walked down to the harbour front to catch our cruise boat. It was not a large vessel and certainly not a crowded one. We started off on the top deck in the open air as the boat sailed up Byfjorden and into Salhusfjorden passing under the Nordhordlands bridge, a modern construction that floated on concrete pontoons and resembled half of an Anzac bridge, ie. only one end suspending the roadway. [ I might add here that if we thought Sydney's Anzac Bridge was unique as it spanned Cockleshell Bay think again. There are many similar bridges across Europe and Asia.] The cruise itself was much as we expected without the ice and snow unfortunately. Parts of the fjord were wide with settlements on both sides and at other times narrow with steep cliffs climbing out of the water on either side. It was pretty but not spectacular but at least I have now seen a real Scandinavian fjord or two. The return trip was, as always, boring. I read and dozed!. Back in port we went to McDonalds for lunch...just because it was there...and because I wanted one of those 'big tasty' burgers. It started to rain but in spite of that we walked around the harbour in search of the Museum of fisheries. On the way we passed the international ferry terminal and watched as the new arrivals from Denmark disembarked and drove thorough customs. The fish museum was just closing but we managed a ten minute...free...dash around the exhibits
Grass roofed surburbia of Bergen
. A quite interesting display of different ways of fishing at sea from boats with nets. And an overview of the whaling industry. [ During our stay I regret not having tried a whale steak which was on most of the restaurant menus. ] We walked back through the rain...it had been a mostly overcast day...and sat inside the Louisiana for a beer and tea. From there we sauntered back to our new hotel picking up some rolls on the way from a '7-11' to eat in our room. The room was great except that it was hot and stuffy (no air con) and if we opened the windows it was noisy. We watched some TV and went to bed.
