Scandinavia Trip - Bergen

The second part of the Scandinavia trip was the one we were most looking forward to. The trip to Bergen.We had an early morning train to Bergen. While researching for the trip, I had read that the Oslo-Bergen rail route was perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world. Naturally I was cock a hoop with excitement right from the time the train pulled out of Oslo around 6 30 am. The first hour and a half was sedate with the usual sights of pretty little villages, streams and rivers running along the tracks. But soon the scenery started getting better and better as the last traces of habitation seemed to go away. From the giant windows of our train we were seeing some breathtaking views ; pristine blue water stretching for miles on end, steep gorges and valleys, fjords, green covered hills, distant snow capped mountains, an idyllic village now and then. Basically, Mother Nature in all her unspoilt glory.The sun was shining bright and the spotless blue sky only added to the beauty that we were witnessing. The train passed through bridges and tunnels and each time it crossed a tunnel, it will come out presenting a scene more beautiful than before. Our eyes were glued to the windows and our cameras were always ready to take pictures. It was as good a train ride I had ever been on and all that i had read about were so true.

After 7 hours on the train, we reached the Atlantic coastal city of Bergen, the second biggest city in Norway. The main agenda in Bergen was to find a good fjord cruise tour, on which we could explore of the many celebrated fjords around Bergen. So soon we went checking for the right deal and managed to find one for the next day, which promised a cruise around the Hardaenger fjord.

We had the evening to spend, and we decided to explore the city on foot, which I belive is the best way to see a city, especially a smaller one like this. We walked to the Bryggen, a UNESCO heritage site, which is a series of buildings built close knit to each other on one side of the fjord which comes into Bergen. We were told that the best view of Bergen and the fjord around it was from atop the hill Floyen. We preferred to walk up the hill and not to take the funicular railway. As we walked up, we realized that Bergen was not only fjord country, but also Troll country, for there were statues and images of Trolls of various sizes and shapes along the way. After an hours climb we reached the top and indeed the view from there was mind blowing. One could see the entire city, the fjords coming into from the sea , the hills all around the place and the surrounding islands. Dinner soon beckoned and we found an Indian restaurant in Bergen, run by Tamils. The people running the restaurant were more surprised in finding Indian customers, and that too a Tamil speaking one, than we in locating an Indian restaurant in far flung Bergen. This was the second instance of me running into a Sri Lankan Tamil in the least unexpected of places. The previous instance being the one where we met a Tamil family from Berlin on the beach at San Sebastian.

After 2 days of marvelous weather, our luck ran out the next day. We woke up to a gloomy and rainy Bergen, not the right climate for a fjord cruise. But it was not any surprise, since we were told beforehand that rain is always in the air in Bergen and that we cannot escape it. Nevertheless we boarded the bus which would take us to the departure point situated an hour away. Being the off season, the boat was sparse and the rain had sort of dampened the enthusiasm inside. We were soon cruising on the Hardaenger fjord, which we were told was one of the biggest. Thankfully soon the rain gave way to partial sunshine and we could go to the top deck and have a look. With sloping hills on either side all along the entire length of the fjord and with many smaller fjords branching out at a distance, it was indeed a sight to behold. Also one could see small villages in the distance and it was in one such village that we disembarked after cruising for a few hours. Lufthus, as the village was called, seemed an idyllic sleepy hamlet which one reads about in books. The local tourist office had already closed down since the season was over and so we were left to chalk out a plan for ourselves. And the only plan seemed to be to walk up the hills and see whatever we could. As we moved out of the main road into the dirt track, we noticed that we were in a farm – an Apple farm. And a huge one at that. We learnt soon that Lufthus was the largest apple growing centre in Norway. It was a new sight for us, to see apples grow on plants, yes; they were not apple trees, just plants which grow to about my height and sprouts apples all over. Lufthus was also noted for having a glacier not too far from there, and from a vantage point higher up in the hill, we could spot in the distance some snow covered peaks which we guessed might be the glacier the brochures mentioned. With rain and shine alternating, our walk was hampered now and then and we took refuge at a few places and we were expecting locals to give us the quizzical look. But it seemed to be a ghost town because apart from the few people we saw on the main road, we could not see anybody in the village or anywhere else that we walked by. The sight of three brown people walking around without any purpose in their far flung village on a rainy September day did not seem to interest of the locals at all.

This was a trip quite unlike any of the previous holidays, wherein we had been always on the move from one city to another, racing against time often and hoping to check out as many sights and sounds of the big city we were in. Paris, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam etc. But now we were in a village in a remote part of Norway, with no agenda, nothing to do, and amidst breathtaking natural beauty. And I liked this.

In a few hours, we had to catch the ferry back to Bergen. The fjord cruise was good except for the dull climate most of the day. I can only imagine how more beautiful the place would have been if there was sunshine and clear skies. Later in the night we had the night train to Oslo. We did not reserve beds and chose to sit and travel, it was considerably cheaper. And with comfortable reclining seats, blankets and the like, the night passed without much discomfort. Just like spending time on a long haul flight.

We were back in Gothenburg next day afternoon. Good old rainy damp Gothenburg. Some things never change.

Scandinavia Trip - Oslo revisited.

I had visited Oslo earlier in the year on the Norwegian Independence Day. It was only a day trip and my take away from that trip was the sheer beauty of the countryside. Oslo as such seemed to be like any other city in this part of the world, though I may be wrong in judging that way basis only a few hours spent there. But whatever little I had seen of the hinterland was captivating and after the view of the Halden fjord from atop the hill I made a mental note to return to Norway soon and for a longer duration.

Along came September and with it a chance to visit Norway again. Well it was not that a chance presented itself, but we had a few days left in the leave balance and the idea was to use them fully. Since my co travelers – Kamal and Shubhada – had not seen any part of Sweden, we decided to spend 1 day in Stockholm followed by 3 days in Norway. Apart from Oslo, we were going to cover Bergen, considered to be the capital of the Fjord country.

We kicked off the trip a Tuesday morning catching one of the early trains to Stockholm. The weather played spoilsport and it was gloomy and rainy the entire day in the Swedish capital. Hence we could not cover as many places as we wanted, but compensated for that by means of an extended shopping trip around the old city of Gamla Stan buying things ranging from paintings to photographs to antique knives to ancient Viking board games. We returned to Gothenburg the same night, hoping for sunshine over the coming days.

We reached Oslo next day afternoon. The weather gods were kind towards us and the sun was shining bright in Oslo. Our hostel was just a few minutes walk from the station. Neat and comfortable, it was also the first hostel that I had seen which had a DVD player in the room. They had free DVDs to rent out, and would you believe it some Indian movies as well to choose from in their collection. More about that later. After keeping our bags there, we set out to explore the city. After walking around the Fort and the hill (explained in my previous post about Norway) we passed through the city hall, the Nobel peace museum and reached the seafront. We took a ferry to one of the nearby islands and visited the Viking ship museum. A smallish looking building from the outside, the façade did not really impress, perhaps maybe because we expected a grander building. However the displays inside ensures you do not worry about the building anymore. Housing almost fully restored ships from the Viking era and along with it a host of other articles and artifacts from that age, the museum if full of information. It was amazing to see that the Vikings conquered so many countries and explored far and wide using these small ships; actually they are just small catamarans compared to today’s ships. Add the fact that the technology then (700 -1100 CE) was primitive, knowledge of maps , currents, compasses and other navigational facilities were perhaps non existent, then the Viking conquests are nothing short a miracle. What was more interesting is that these ships were recovered not from any wreck in the sea, but from land, or more specifically buried underground. We learnt that it was ancient Viking custom to bury the kings or people of high importance along with one such ship and with a host of other things needed for the person to lead a comfortable life in his afterlife. Similar to how the Pharaohs of Egypt were buried in the pyramids with all riches, here too the Vikings were buried with every basic necessity and sometimes not so basic necessities. How else do you explain the fact that live horses , carriages and sometimes servants also were also buried along with the dead person? It must have been one hell of a graveyard, starting with a ship all the way to utensils, shoes and clothes.

After this eye opening trip to the Viking museum, we got back to Oslo and decided to check out the Vigeland sculpture park. Located not too far from the city centre, the sprawling park consists of hundreds of bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland – whom we decided to refer to as the Norwegian Gaudi, what with our Barcelona visit still fresh in the mind. As you walk towards the centre of the park, you cross a bridge and there are statues on either side, with the statue of a Little Angry boy being the most striking. Most of the statues showed humans in various activities. One weird statue had a man fighting off a few kids who it seemed were attacking him. The less violent ones had people embracing or just being happy with life. The centre of attraction in the park was the giant monolith. Situated atop an elevation with scores of complicated sculptures lining the steps that surround it, the monolith was an awesome piece of art. It depicts humans – hundreds of them, embracing one another and moving upwards towards the top of the monolith. A visit to this park should be on the list for anyone visiting Oslo.

Afterwards we walked towards the Royal palace and down to the hostel via Karl johans gate, the main tourist thoroughfare in Oslo.

After a quick dinner, we decided to make use of the DVD player in the room. We browsed through the available titles and selected a Hindi movie -NO ENTRY. It was one of those odd things, that of all places, we happened to watch this blockbuster movie in Oslo while we were well and truly in India when this movie was playing. Except for Anil Kapoor’s almost blonde hair and moustache and some totally unfathomable illogical scenes, the movie was fun. We dedicated the movie watching to Sid, a proclaimed No entry fan,and a constant companion on our trips ,whose wise insights into life and ideas to have fun on a trip was being sorely missed this time.

Summer in Spain.. The other cities..

Its December and winter is well and truly set here in Sweden, with darkness all around at 4 pm and temperatures dipping occasionally below 0. The only sunshine I can get now is by thinking of the summer that went past , and I realized that I had not yet completed the Spanish trip update.

Barcelona and Madrid were of course the cities that were first on the list when we drew up the plan for Spain. The question was which other part of Spain should we cover as part of the week long trip. We decided to do the North coast ; ride up North from Madrid to the Asturias country and travel along the coast towards San Sebastian and Bilbao , and from there do a coast to coast marathon and drive all the way down to Barcelona. It seemed we were biting more than what we could chew and decided to join the North coast further down at Santander and gave up the idea of Oviedo and Gijon. And in hindsight it turned out to be a right decision.

After marveling at the sights of Segovia , we were in for a longish trip Northwards towards Santander. At some point along the way , we missed a turn and instead of being on the right road as per our via Michelin printouts , we were on some sort of state highway towards Santander. It was the second slip up the same day ,nevertheless we were on the way to Santander. The trip began with the familiar sight of parched plains and bare yellow-brownish countryside. But soon the scenery started shifting. We encountered ragged mountains and hills with the roads starting to twist and turn along the climb. As we started climbing further up the temperatures outside started dropping and mist and fog descended out of nowhere.. The visibility was down to a few feet and with a shaky yours truly at the wheel , things weren’t exactly hunky dory inside the 8 seater Volkswagen. After sometime we got back to the plains and it seemed we had reached a whole different place. With lush greenery all around it seemed we were a world away from the dry settings of Madrid and Segovia.

By evening we had reached Santander town. As would be the cause through out the trip, we had to spend time trying to locate our hostel and also spend time getting a parking spot for the car. We only had the evening to cover what ever we could of the city and we decided to head straight to the Sardinero beach. Since it was late evening, venturing out to the sea didn’t seem a good idea and we instead walked along the promenade and rounded off with dinner outside the Casino. We could not spend as much time as we hoped we could , mainly because of the various detours and delays on the road earlier in the day. Next morning , it was travel time again. Along the coast towards San Sebastian . We had heard from many people that the this route along the coast will be perhaps the best drive and it turned out to be one. With the sea on one side and green covered hills on the other side , the drive indeed was quite breathtaking. Except for a slightly longish traffic jam due to an accident , which robbed us of a precious hour or two, things went as planned. We were in the Basque country by afternoon and we drove straight to the La concha beach The weather again was looking to play spoilsport with clouds looming large. Thankfully , soon the clouds gave way for glorious sunshine and within no time the beach was full of people. Sun, sand and beaches. This was what we had in mind when we set out for Spain and here it was right before us. Unlike Santander, we had quite some time in hand in San Sebastian and we spent all of them in the beach, not bothering to check any sights and sounds in the city.

We had booked our hostel for the night in Bilbao , since we could not find any reasonably priced hostels in San Sebastian. Next morning , we decided to check out the Guggenheim musuem, which was the only thing we had heard about in Bilbao. This Art musuem is more famous for its structure that what is on display inside. The Frank Gehry designed building has been hailed as one of the most spectacular buildings of the world. I had heard of the structure and its famed design from an architect friend many years ago and ever since was looking forward to seeing the building, and not much the musuem it itself. And that is what we did , we drove towards the museum, walked around the building and did the tourist thing of taking pictures around it and not bothering to go inside. One more in the list of places to see was covered.

After Bilbao, we set out on the longest drive of the trip towards Barcelona. We reached there in a little over 6 hours which was faster than expected. The only exciting part of the drive was at a certain point where a board said that we were crossing the Greenwich meridian. I don’t really now understand what is the big significance of crossing the meridian, but we were quite kicked about that on that day.

After spending almost 3 days in Barcelona, we kicked off the penultimate part of the trip. To Valencia. We drove along the Medditeranean coast. An uneventful but picturesque drive with the blue Mediterranean giving us company all along the way. In Valencia , we first checked out the City of Art and Sciences , a set of different buildings hosting a planetarium, an Opera house, an oceanographic park and a Science museum. The buildings were awesome and captivating. With artificial water bodies surrounding the buildings, the place had a distinctly modern feel to it and fitted the bill of a Science city. Next we went to the Valencia Cathedral , which many people believe is holds the Holy Grail . Yes, the very same Holy grail about which all the big fuss was created in the book “ The Da Vinci Code” . Never knew that finding the holy grail was so easy. Board a flight to Valencia, go to the cathedral and lo the Holy Grail is there for you. But we were late in getting there and so we missed catching a glimpse of the Holy Grail. Later in the day, finding our hostel for the night turned out to be more tougher than finding the grail , as we spent more than an hour trying to get to our hostel. Ironically the hostel was quite near to where we had started out first. Lesson: people of Valencia not to be trusted with giving directions. Thanks to them we were on the road going in circles and having an extended trip around the city.

Next morning we were on our way back to Madrid, back to where we started our trip. I had a flight back to Sweden in the evening and by night i was at my apartment in rainy and wet Gothenburg uploading pics. It was an eventful trip , covering so many places over a period of 9 days and having a fun time all around. For me , Spain was the best part of this Summer.