Euro Odyssey: Birthday fun in Norway

Day 58 – July 21st

We awoke to lovely fjord views... and rain in the small marina car park of Tryg. As it was raining and there didn’t seem like an awful lot to do we set off on our way to the Norwegian city of Bergen.

I had been quite excited about visiting the town of Bergen, lonely planet and tourism web sites make it sound so fantastic describing it as a charming beautiful city surrounded by seven hills and fjords. And it was a nice city even if it was raining and you had to take out a second mortgage to afford anything there.

We toured around town in Maxi for a while and managed to see a fair amount of the town and surrounding streets. We soon gave up looking for a good 'free' park and settled for a paid one in the center of town.

We ventured into town, first stop being the fish market on the marina. There were loads of stalls all selling mainly all the same things – seafood sandwich’s/salads and the same variety of fresh fish at the exact same exorbitant prices.

We moved on to the old timber town in the Bryggen area that apparently dates back to 12^th century. The area is very cute with its cobble stone streets and colourful wonky sinking buildings.

The cute town of Bergen with the wonky colourful buildings.

Luke behind the scenes.

Timber buildings.

The back streets of Bergen.

Chillin in Bergen.

Luke taking on a dead animal- good on ya!

Our car parking was almost up so we made our way back to the van, Luke via the supermarket to get the ingredients for a surprise dinner and I went to a bakery to get some rolls and treats for lunch.

I felt very confused on exiting the bakery after purchasing 4 rolls and 2 Danishes which had come to just over £10 ($16 AUD)! I’m not sure why I didn’t quiz her at the till? Luke came back empty handed as well as it was all such a rip off!

We made a quick exit out of Bergen and headed back along the lovely E16 to Voss where we knew we could get more reasonably priced supplies. Just to give you an idea on prices, a Salmon fillet in Bergen is £50/kg and in Voss it is £10/kg – you do the maths! After stocking up we headed off in the direction of Jotunheimen National Park along the route 13.

And what a surprise this route this turned out to be. I have been navigating the trip and when looking at the map book and planning the route to take, you really have no idea what the road will actually be like. So when we started driving along route 13 we were pleasantly surprised to drive into yet another drastically changing landscape. There were vibrant green hills with scattered rocks and cascading waterfalls. The road ascended zig zaging up the mountain, producing sheer drops off the side and hairpin bends.

Looking back into the valley of Route 13 while climbing the mountain.

On reaching the mountaintop we were greeted with rolling hills capped with snow and a mysterious mist in the horizon. The lakes were filled with ice burgs floating in the crystal clear waters. There were Norwegian red huts with their insulating grassy roofs and cattle scattered over the land including on the road at some points.

We parked up on top of a hill with a view of the surrounding snow capped hills and lakes ready for a feast.

Luke about to crack the champers and the view from Maxi's door.

The view from the window while I sipped away on the Moet.

Luke did a wonderful job cooking firstly serving up a glass of 10 year old Moet Champagne along with a seafood cocktail. Mains were fresh salmon and potato gratin followed by tobelerone cake for dessert.

A few more drinks including the rest of the Moet and the Killerpitch from Dusseldorf were had to cap off my 29^th birthday!