Day 27 - Stryn to Bergen

Before I post on today's drive to Bergen, I must report on the meal we had last night in Stryn. We walked into the town to find a restaurant and the whole place was like a ghost town! We saw only three places to eat. The first was a cafe in a bowling alley, the second restaurant was empty and looked very uninviting and the third looked like a takeaway pizza place. Still, it was open and we were told they did in fact have an eat-in menu. I must say I feared the worst when we ordered, but the meal was not only very good but, most importantly, the cheapest we have had in Norway!!

Today we awoke to cloudy skies and showers. Our drive took us along the fjord next to Stryn and almost at once, we stopped to take photos. We can't get enough of this beautiful scenery, even when the sky is overcast with dark rain clouds.

 

Not long after, we passed the National Geographic Explorer, an expedition cruise ship that we saw in Ushuaia, when we did our Antarctic trip in 2008.

The road was quite narrow and wound round the fjord, close to the shore. The road was being upgraded and we were stopped at roadworks, while a truck was being loaded with rocks that had been blasted out from the mountainside.

When we drove on, we came up to the construction site for the entrance to a new tunnel. I liked the arch of wooden shuttering for the concrete lining of the tunnel entrance.

As we climbed away from the fjord, the sun came out and there was this wonderful rainbow.

We each had decided to take different routes today but, with only two possible ferry routes across Sognefjord, it was not a surprise to come up behind Eric & Lynn waiting at roadworks just before the ferry.

We were held up for about twenty minutes and had to make a dash to catch the ferry, which we did with five minutes to spare. We boarded it and for the first time since Eric fitted his 'temporary' perspex window, I took a photo of his finished handiwork. What a good job he did!

Once we had crossed the fjord, we had about 100kms of great driving on the E39 highway to Bergen. We had very little traffic and whenever we came up behind a truck or a car, we could get past very easily. How different this is from driving in England!!

The road had one tunnel after another. The Norwegians are masters of tunnel building and you can only be impressed by their great civil engineering. Many of the tunnels are over 4 kms in length, with the longest we drove through measuring nearly 7 kms. Their bridges are also most impressive and here we are, following Eric into Bergen, going over yet another beautiful suspension bridge.

The next bridge had a gigantic white painted steel ramp that raised the road up towards the suspended section of the bridge.

We reached Bergen at about 4pm and checked into our hotel, the Clarion Hotel Admiral, which is on the waterfront right in the centre of the city. The views from our fourth floor window are fantastic. What a shame we are only here one night!!

 

 

Directly opposite from our room is this row of old wooden houses that often feature in travel books and articles about Bergen .

We decided to take the funicular railway to the top of the mountain. The station was only about five minutes walk from the hotel and as we made our way there, we were busy taking photos of this beautiful city.

 

 

 

We reached the station and took the five minute ride to the top, where the views over the city are incredible. The centre of Bergen is quite compact so one photo can show you more or less everything. Here are a few photos, including one of the Hurtigruten boat, MS Trollfjord, that brought us from Svolvaer to Trondheim and then carried on to Bergen, which is the southern end of the Hurtigruten coastal route.

The harbour basin with, in the middle of the waterfront, our red-bricked hotel.

Bergen's old fort, the Bergenhus Fortress, towards the centre right of this photo. Apparently, the walls and buildings were severely damaged during the Second World War, by an exploding Dutch armaments ship, the Voorbode. This reminded me of the Halifax, Nova Scotia disaster in 1918. Bergen was the centre of Norwegian resistance in the war.

The Hurtigruten MS Trollfjord docked in the harbour.

We spent about an hour at the top, including having coffee and cakes in the restaurant, before descending to the city centre and our hotel.

In the evening, we went to an excellent tapas bar with Eric and Lynn while the others went for a fish meal. Unfortunately for them, the service was so bad they left the restaurant. Kenny and DeeAnne then went to an Indian restaurant while Bob, Thelma, Ahmad and Reza found another seafood place.

More sightseeing in the morning and then we leave at around noon for the five hour drive, which includes two more ferries, to Stavanger.