Bergen and the Western fjords of Norway

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Bergen is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of London for a relaxing weekend. Our plane from Gatwick was only a quarter full and arriving in Bergen was too easy, no queues at immigration and we were straight on to a half empty bus which dropped us in the centre of town. Being midnight on a Friday night, the primarily student town of Bergen was pumping with many drunken students dressed in togas and sailor suits pouring into maccas in varying degrees of intoxication. I was doing double takes as girls were talking and yelling in Norwegian and then breaking into song in English in the streets; this small town was well and truly alive.

We checked into our hotel right in the centre of town and I was amazed by the technology in the room as our TV doubled as a computer and had a personal greeting on the screen for me. All it needed was some shortcuts to 80s comedy movies and I had the perfect TV. I guess the Scandanavians are fairly well known for their technology.

We had a very early start to get the train to Myrdal and change to the Flam railway, an amazing old train that carries tourists the 20km, 800m descent to the beautiful town of Flam. On the way, the train stops at a waterfall and for some reason on queue a woman jumps out from behind the falls and sings a song. Weird. There were stacks of tourists trying to get the best shots of the valleys from the train window. So much so that we spent most of the train trip looking at Japanese peoples bums. Once we got to Flam, we hung around the huge fjord, hoping to get to ride a kayak but it wasn't the right time so instead we did the 2 hour round trip to the Flam church. The church was very small but fitting for a town that is spread out in the valley with people living in cute little houses along the fjord. We saw lots of Christmas trees on the way and stopped and one house where they had punnets of raspberries out the front and an honesty box! Don't think that system would work in the big smoke.

From Flam we took the ferry to Gudvangen, a 2 hour ride along the emerald green fjord with some very pretty towns and impressive waterfalls on the way. Then it was a bus to Voss, another cute town on a fjord, before heading back to Bergen.

We hit up the Vagen harbour area for dinner. Being quite a nice night there were people having private parties on boats on the harbour eveywhere, some cranking the music. We found a nice place to eat on the harbour and had a spectacular fish and shellfish caserole. Bergen is known for its music scene and there was a piano bar as well as a few places with live music. Once again the students roam the streets and we see another toga party in force.

The next morning we head up the funicilar to get amazing views of the city by the harbour. Too bad about the driving rain which makes the photos not quite as nice. There isn't much up the top of the mountain so we head back to the harbour to the bustling fish market which has buckets of live crabs for 20kr each. We get some barbequed prawns and sit by the harbour. The rain doesn't retreat for the afternoon which leaves us with little to do but wander the tacky tourist shops in the beautiful old buildings of Bryggen, old wooden houses on the harbour. One of the shops included angled stairs to walk up which was quite disorienting. Many where Christmas shops given the christmas trees origin of Norway and for some reason Norway is fascinated with trolls as well. That was it for Bergen, a lovely little weekend getaway for some fresh air, beautiful scenery and tasty seafood.

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