Norway in Four Days

26 April 2017, Bergen

We took the 08.25 morning flight from Amsterdam to Bergen. It took 1 hour 40 minutes. From the airport we took flybuss to the city center. The bus stops at several bus stops. We got off at bus terminal/train station stop. From there we walked around 10 minutes to our hotel, Marken Guesthouse.











 

The hotel has a great location, close to train station and also to the attractions. The first (and also the most important) place to visit is the Bryggen. It consists many of historical wooden buildings which is today become shops, galleries or cafes. It was interesting to stroll down the narrow alleys between the wooden buildings.

Not far from Bryggen, there is another must see place, Bergenhus Fortress. Bergenhus Fortress is one of the oldest and best preserved fortresses in Norway. Also in this fortress, where is the famous Haakon’s Hall located. It was built by King Haakon at 1200. Today, Haakon’s Hall still use by the royal family. Besides the Haakon’s Hall, there is also Rosenkrantz Tower. The tower was erected by the governor of Bergen Castle, Erik Rosenkrantz, and served as residence and fortified tower to Bergen. The view of the sea from here is amazing.



 From here, we walked back, passed Bryggen and went to the Fløibanen, a funicular that will take us up to the Mount Fløyen. The ticket price was NOK 45 (adult, one way) and NOK 23 (child, one way). The view from above was breathtaking. They provide with benches for us to sit, relax and admire the view. Besides the view, there were also a restaurant, souvenir shop and café. We tried the café Fløistuen. The soup, chocolate muffin and pastry were good. The coffee and ice cream were also worth to try. After rest for a while, we decided to go down with the funicular (again :)).

Around the Fløibanen, were beautiful wooden houses. The lane still used cobble stone, made it even more prettier. Some houses had become gallery or shops.

Actually not far from this location, we can see the famous fish market. But when we arrived, it was already closed.

 

 

 

Just cross the street, then we arrived at one of the most popular meeting places in Bergen, Torgallmenningen City Square. The square was surrounded with shopping arcade. From this square we can see from afar the red brick church, St. John’s Church (Johanneskirken). The church is one of the finest neo-gothic churches in Norway. The way to the church has a beautiful design, with steps and water features.

From the square, we continued walking to Lille Lungegårdsvannet, an octagonal natural lake. It surrounded by KODE, art museums (there were four KODE building). From here, we went to Marken Street, where we can find supermarket, Asian restaurants (especially Indian food), and even we can find Asian supermarket. The buildings in this street were also interesting, colorful wooden building.

Since it was already quiet late and our guest house is located in this area, we decided to went back to the hotel and had dinner with the food that we bought in supermarket before.

27 April 2017, Norway in a Nutshell

Today we started our day early in the morning. We took Norway in a Nutshell from Fjord Tours. It is not a tour (with the guide, etc), but the tour operator just arranges all the tickets (train, bus and boat) for our trip from Bergen to Oslo. In this trip, we will experience the fjords boat tour and the scenic train journey.

We started at 8.43 from Bergen train station. At the exact time, the train departed from the station. The train was full (surprisingly! as we thought that would be “empty” since it was still winter time). We arrived at Voss at 09.56 and went straight to bus terminal. At 10.10 the bus departed to Gudvangen. We arrived at Gudvangen at 11.05. We had about 1 hour here. It was a beautiful place. There was a restaurant and souvenir shop. We had our quick lunch here.

At 12 pm our boat departed. The boat was very modern and comfortable. They sold some snacks and drinks. The boat ride was about 2 hours. The fjords were as beautiful as we seen on the brochure.

The boat trip ended at Flam at 14.00. The harbor and the train location were in the same location. We had almost three hours to spend in Flam. We got some ideas from visitor center, such as visit the Stagestein view point (takes 1.5 hours) but it was already fully booked. We got a map from visitor center that offer some trails to follow. The map also gives indication of the time that we need to finish the trail. We decided to take the hiking trail. It only needs about 1 hour. We started the trail from Fretheim Hotel, a historic hotel in Flam, and just followed the sign. Soon, we can see the beautiful view of Flam from above. After hiking, we explore a bit the Flam harbour, which was next to the train station.

Besides the train station and the harbor, there were also some nice restaurant, café, souvenir shop, supermarket (Coop) and playground. Next to playground, there was a nice seating area, where we spent the rest of our time, enjoying warm coffe (got free from Coop) and pastry while looking at the breathtaking fjords.

Three hour passed so quickly. At 16.50 pm, we boarded to the famous train line in the world, the Flamsbana. It was one of the most beautiful train journey in the world. Along the way, we saw only beautiful views: the valley, the rivers.  The train even made a quick stop at the Kjosfossen waterfall and we can get off the train to take some pictures. The train was only about one hour ride.

We arrived at Myrdal train station. As it is located 800 metres above sea level, there were still lots of snow here. The view from the station was also very beautiful. We waited about 15 minutes for our train to Oslo. It was a long journey, about 5.5 hours. In this journey, the landscape kept changing, from the white snow landscape to the green valley with colorful houses. Along the way, we were spoiled with magnificent views, the valleys, the rivers, the lakes. It is so true that Norway is a place where mother nature at its best.

We arrived at Oslo at 22.35. Since we knew that we arrived late at night, we chose hotel near train station. We just need to walk to our hotel, Comfort Young Storget Hotel.

28 April 2017, Oslo

Though yesterday was a long day, this morning we still can get up quiet early. We prepared our breakfast in the hotel lounge. The hotel has a lounge that provides us with microwave, electric kettle (though they also have breakfast menu that we can buy).

We started our exploration in Oslo at Arkehsus Fortress. The castle is a medieval castle from around 1300 AD. We visited the visitor center and got a map about the castle. The castle complex has many buildings.

Then we walked to City Hall. At the exterior wall, there were 16 beautiful wooden friezes about the Norwergian mythology, such as the powerful god Odin, the story of Ragnarok. We can enter the city hall for free. The interior of the City Hall were beautifully decorated with impressive mural paintings. On the second floor, we can see the Munch Room, as for its name, the room has Edvard Munch painting, the court room and a corridor full of souvenirs from other countries. Another thing that makes the City Hall special is that on December 10 every year, the traditional ceremony for the Nobel Laureate is held in the Oslo City Hall.

Not far from City Hall, there is the Nobel Peace Center, where we can see the story of Nobel Peace Prize. There is also a nice shop that sells “green” items and a cozy green decorated café. As it was raining and cold, we warmed ourselves with warm drinks in the café for a while.

Since the rain was light rain, we continued our walking tour to The Royal Palace (Det Kongelige Slott). It is a neo classical building that was built at around 19^th century. Just across the Royal Palace, there was the National Theatre building, a building with beautiful façade.

Then we walked to Karl Johans street direction. On the way, we passed The Parliament (Stortinget). At that we didn’t know that we can go inside and get a free tour guide. We just see the building from outside, which is quiet interesting. As for Karl Johans, it was a lively area with lots of shops from all the international and local brands, lots of nice café and restaurants and surely lots of souvenir shops too. In this area, we can find the famous Oslo Cathedral. It was built at around 1600 and become main church which is used for weddings and funerals by the Norwegian Royal Family and the Norwegian Government.

From Karl Johans area, we continued to The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet (Den Norske Opera and Ballett). It was a modern building with interesting design. We can go up to its top roof and get beautiful panoramic view to the harbor. The building interior was also beautiful. The building uses the ramps which make a beautiful shape and the wooden materials add its beauty.



 Behind the Opera Building, was Barcode, an area which is famous for its architecture. Lots of modern building -some with unique design- we can see there. From all the cranes and heavy construction equipment that surrounded those building, surely that area are growing pretty fast.

After that, as the rain was getting heavier, we decided just to stroll at the Karl Johans area and bought food for our dinner at Coop Supermarket in the train station. Then, we went straight to the hotel and enjoy our dinner at the hotel lounge.

29 April 2017, Oslo

Today was our last day in Oslo. We still have some time to explore Oslo. We decided to store our luggage at the train station, so we can save our time for not need to back to the hotel. The price was NOK 50 for 24 hours, for the smallest locker. We also bought our day pass in the convenient store in the train station. It cost NOK 90 (adult) and NOK 45 (child) and valid for 1 zone for 24 hours from the time we validate it. From the train station, we took metro line to Majorstuen station, and change to tram no 12 and stop at Vigelandsparken.

Vigeland Park is a must visit place in Oslo. The park was huge and full of sculptures. The sculptor was Gustav Vigeland. The Park displays more than 200 of his sculptures. As we enter the park gate, we can see the monolith from afar. On the way to the monolith, we passed through lots of statues. One of the famous statues is The Angry Boy. This statue has a detail facial expression. Others statues are also interesting, each has a different position. Finally, we reached to monolith. It is 18 meters high and displays 121 figures. It took 14 years to complete it.

From Vigeland Park, we backed to Majorstuen Station and took metro to Holmenkollen, another must see in Oslo. We took metro line 1 and stopped at Holmenkollen, from there we follow the sign to the location. It took around 10 minutes walking. We bought the ticket museum, NOK 130 (adult) and NOK 65 (child). It is an intereting museum where we can see the history of ski. We can see the equipments that used in the past and learn about the Norwegian polar exploration. We can go to the observation deck on top of the jump tower to see the view or to try the ski jump (additional cost).

It was already 2 pm when we finished seeing the ski jump. We went back to the metro station, straight to the Oslo central station. We bought train ticket to the airport, since we already bought day pass, we got discount for ticket to airport (NOK 70). We still had little time before our train departure schedule. We went to Karl Johans area, took some photos as today was a sunny day (so we got photos with better sky color :)).

After that, we went back to station. We did not forget to take picture with The Tiger, one of the most famous icons in Oslo which was stand in front of the Oslo Central Station.  Tiger has a special meaning to Oslo. The city's nickname is Tigerstaden (The Tiger City).

We got our luggage and went straight to the platform. Five minutes later, our train came. It stopped only in one station, before going straight to the airport. Our flight departed from Oslo Gadermoen Airport on time at 17.15.