Indeed, it felt impossible that I had only been in Norway for thirty-six hours as I dragged my feet across the Bergen airport on Sunday night. And yet. And yet! It was true: my trusty travelers, Alex and Isabelle, and I had packed in a twelve hour fjord cruise, a waterfall excursion, an arduous hike, and three dinners in just two days.
It all started in the beginning of September when Isabelle, Alex, and I sat huddled around a table in Alex’s flat: “Should we just do it!? I mean, twelve hours through a fjord, what’s not to love, right?” I exclaimed. “Lets just do it!”
And did it we did. Three weeks later we landed in Bergen at 2 in the morning after our plane was delayed, and payed the price for the twelve-hour-fjord-tour with less than three hours of sleep. Sitting at the Bergen bus station four hours after our plane landed, munching on chips for breakfast in the dark, the idea of getting on a boat for half the day was much less endearing. But after we boarded the bus, the sun started rising and we saw the Norwegian landscape for the first time:
Luckily the bus was pretty empty so I could jump from one side to other whenever a scene presented itself. I’m embarrassed to say that this gave me a fair amount of adrenaline!
By the time we made it to the fjord cruise, I had already taken 300 photographs. And that was only the beginning. Hardangerfjord was truly a photographers paradise: the sun illuminated the blues and greens of the country to an unbelievable vibrancy:
It was physically overpowering to stand in front of these mountains; it felt like mother nature’s way of shouting or writing in all caps. Each hour on the water bled into the next until my hands were numb and my face was sunburnt. Our boat took us to Eidfjord where we disembarked and got on a bus to visit the Vøringsfossen waterfall:
Again, I was overcome by the earths forces and sheer beauty.
Once we boarded the cruise to head home, the exhaustion of the day really started to catch up to us. One boat ride and one bus ride later we were back in Bergen—the twilight atmosphere cast the same shadows as 12 hours earlier when we were sitting at the bus station awaiting our adventure. We could hardly believe how much we were able to accomplish, and after epic burgers and ice cream we stumbled home for some much needed sleep.
On Sunday we slept in and explored the town, leaving time to hike up the easy Mount Fløyen— “Only a 45 minute walk,” google maps said; “Easy, family friendly hike,” the poster outside of Bergen said.
Lies. Lies! All of it, lies! Alex, Isabelle, and I set out for Mount Fløyen with high spirits, stopping every so often to take a sip of water and take in the sites. But after 15 minutes of hiking at a literal 90 degree angle, we realized this was only the beginning: the trail only got increasingly steeper, and as well-dressed Norwegians effortlessly passed us with their dogs, we had to stop at every turn to catch our breath and sit down! But one hour and 300 calories later we made it to the top:
The view was almost worth the suffering and embarrassment. Almost. Luckily the trek down was significantly shorter and less painful! With only a few hours left in Bergen we explored the town, bought some necessary pastries, and set out for the airport around 5.
And just like that, our 36 hour stint in Bergen was complete. I couldn’t believe the beauty of this humble city, and as much as we had been able to see, I couldn’t help but imagine all that was left to explore. Farvel for nå, Bergen!
240 Days in Denmark 