On A Grand Tour

Back in one of our favorite countries, Norway, we used trains, buses, boats, and our feet to make our way from Bergen to Oslo on a route that is often listed as one of the most beautiful in the world. We laced up our boots, threw on our backpacks, and hit the road across southern Norway.

We had a day to enjoy Bergen before embarking on our trip, and we loved every square inch of that city. We stayed right on the harbor in Bryggen, the UNESCO World Heritage waterfront where the city was founded in 1070. The waterfront is full of gorgeous timber buildings that comprised one of the most important trading destinations in northern Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Unsurprising given its characteristic timber construction, Bergen has been plagued by fires over its history. Most of the current colorful buildings were built after the area was destroyed by a fire in 1702.

While the facades of Bryggen along the harbor are so picturesque, even better are the topsy-turvy alleyways and passages that hide behind them. Today, these nooks and crannies are full of boutiques, artists’ galleries, and restaurants and are perfect for a stroll and perhaps a game of hide-and-seek.

Our wanderings next took us to Bergenhus Fortress at the entrance of Bergen’s harbor. This complex has seen an evolution of use since before the 1100s. The main event of the fortress is Håkon’s Hall, built in the mid-1200s by King Håkon Håkonsson (who had perhaps the best Viking-esque name ever). As Bergen at that time was the political center of Norway, this hall played host to some of the most important events of medieval Norway. Walking into the royal hall, you can just imagine Viking banquets taking place here. We explored the fortress complex and had an amazing chat with a friendly museum curator who was happy to engage in conversations ranging from Norwegian and American history to current events.

On we walked, climbing up to hillside views of the city and fjords and descending into historic neighborhoods full of winding alleys and timber houses. Bergen is an incredible mix of the modern and the historic and we loved it!

The next morning dawned bright and early as we hopped on a train and then a bus heading inland for some fjord and mountain fun. The winter-to-spring transition that meant that I could leave my heavy coat at home while wandering Bergen quickly reversed as the temperatures plummeted the farther we went inland, but our frigidity was no match for our awe of the beautiful landscape.

We caught a fully electricity-powered ferry boat that first took us up Nærøyfjord, one of the narrowest fjords in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before making a right-hand turn into Aurlandsfjord. The weather got colder and colder, as was evident by the fact that we kept adding layers to our outfits, but the views got more and more beautiful, and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to stay in the much warmer but way less scenic inside of the boat. At one point, a loud grinding punctuated the quiet and we looked down to see the boat churning through a layer of ice floating on the surface of the water. The sheer cliffs that were carved out by glaciers eons ago dropping into crystal-clear water were simply jaw-dropping.

After a few hours on the water, we made it to the tiny village of Flåm, nestled on the banks of Aurlandsfjord. We loved staying in this cute town—it was a perfect quiet mountain getaway. We took walks along the water, explored the town, and had an amazing time getting into the Viking spirit at the local microbrewery and restaurant.

The next morning, we decided to get a bird’s-eye view of the incredible landscape, so we headed up the mountain to see the fjords from above. There are really no words for how beautiful this region is, so I will let the pictures do the describing for me.

On the way down the mountain, we were lucky to have a chatty bus driver who told us all about the history of the area and the Norwegian culture and give us recommendations. These chats that we had with friendly locals were truly the best education we could receive about the culture and history of Norway—seriously, tour books and online resources pale in comparison to these enriching conversations!

Sadly, it was time to leave our beautiful mountain retreat of Flåm. We hopped on the Flåm Railway, which is often billed as one of the most beautiful train trips in the world. The train runs from the edge of the fjord through the beautiful Flåm Valley and then up the mountain to Myrdal. In the space of an hour, we ascended from sea level to almost 3,000 feet and traveled back in time from the budding spring of Flåm to the dead-of-winter of Myrdal on one of the steepest standard gauge railways in the world.

From Myrdal, we got on the Bergen Railway for our final leg to Oslo. Slowly, we came back out of winter into the cusp of spring as we descended from the high mountains, traversed mountain plateaus, and made our way through the countryside dotted with still-frozen lakes.

We finally made it to Oslo, and with only one evening left of our trip, we made the most of the city. It took us no time to fall in love with this city, with its gorgeous location on Oslofjord, incredible mixture of modern architecture and historic sites, and lively population out and about around the city. We were apparently too interested in the city to even take pictures! One evening was all it took to have us checking out job opportunities in Oslo!