Bergen, Norway - Day 2
- Robert Walley
- May 17
- 4 min read
Updated: May 19
It was another great day in Bergen! This morning started early at 6:30 AM and we were out the door by 7:15 to go grab some breakfast. Godt Brød was just opening up, so we picked out some yogurt with berries and a cheese and raspberry danish for our first meal of the day. The berries were quite fresh, as was the danish. It was like a soft, sweet pizza dough, still warm from baking in the oven. On the way out the door, we filled up our water bottles and headed for our tour bus at the harbor.
Multiple tours were getting ready to go wheels up for the day, including ours. We were handed a sheet with an itinerary of the day and strategically picked our seats to call home base for the next ten and a half hours. Though it may sound disappointing that roughly 4 hours of the tour were spent on a bus, this was not the case at all. Driving alongside fjords for the entire ride made for the most scenic bus ride one can imagine. All the while, our tour guide, Ivan, unfolded the history of each and every sight we saw, including small anecdotes and other insights into Norwegian life. Though he just moved to Bergen from Vancouver in 2018, you would think he had been in Bergen all his life. Ivan was as great a tourguide as we could have asked for!
Some bus ride highlights include passing through Voss, stopping at a waterfall (Tvendefossen), and driving through tunnels. Voss was somewhat empty, primarily because it is a ski town that experiences its heavy tourism in the winter months. It is also the namesake of a brand of water, which sources its water here in Norway. Its most breathtaking feature, however, is Vangsvatnet, the lake in Voss that is vast, yet perfectly still. Tvendefossen was a scenic place to stretch our legs and even take a drink from the waterfall. Its water is the purest and tastiest water one can imagine – even though it is hard to imagine water being tasty! Lastly, the whole day was filled with tunnels, which are quite the spectacle. Some are lit on the inside which illuminates the curves and ridges created from the dynamite that was once there, forging the tunnel's path.
The end of the first bus ride dropped us in an old Viking village nestled in a valley of Gudvangen. This recreated village gives insight into the advanced society of a people whose reputation only consists of pillaging, fighting, and raiding. Though they did get quite hostile, this only constituted a small portion of their daily activities. And, despite popular belief, they never wore horns on their helmets!
Our tour guide from the village played the part of a Viking well, but making Viking life seem more exciting than the fjord cruise would have been a tall order. Right beside the Viking village was the small port where we would soon board the electric boat to cruise the Nærfjørden, which has had a well-deserved spot on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites since 2005. This was easily a highlight of the day and the main attraction of the day trip. For two hours, we cruised to Flåm, surrounded by mountains that stretched far higher than our boat. Countless waterfalls spilled into the fjord from high up, each of which added to the experience. Lunch was inside the boat – a hot dog (one of Norway's most popular foods!) and a chicken pesto panini – but we ate quickly so we could enjoy every second of the cruise from the boat's panoramic decks.
As the cruise ended we found ourselves in Flåm. This small town has a mere 400 permanent residents and thrives on tourism. Alongside us were other tours and a 4,000 person cruise ship visiting, so the town was bustling with foreigners getting their fair share of Norwegian food and drink before boarding the train to Myrdal. This is an older train that only runs between Flåm and Myrdal, with 2 stops in between: one for skydivers and one at a spectacular waterfall just before a tunnel, which allows passengers to get out of the train on the railroad, and not at a station. The ride was full of views, with neither side offering better views than the other. 10 minutes of views would be had on the left, then 10 minutes on the right, and so on. Passengers bounced from side to side, competing for the minimal window real estate.
Lots of the group were losing steam as we pulled into Myrdal, but the tour was not over yet. Myrdal has no roads that lead to it; rather, it is accessible only by rail. We changed lines onto a more modern train that is used for more than tourism, and enjoyed the scenic ride to Voss. Instead of deep valleys and fjords, much of this ride was filled with somewhat snowy, rocky landscape, such as that seen in some Star Wars movies. In fact, a Star Wars scene from The Empire Strikes Back was filmed at one point right along the train's line!
Eyelids were heavy as we arrived in Vos, where the group had 10 minutes to use the restroom and board the bus back to Bergen. We soaked in one last view of Vangsvatnet before the last leg of our day trip, which was a section of the 90 minute ride that we started with, but in reverse. We sat on the left side of the bus for the day, and because that side lacked the best views at the start of the day, we got them at the end of the day.
We thanked Ivan on our way off the bus and settled on Egon for dinner, a restaurant located on the other side of the street that runs by the harbor. It was very busy, but still tasty. The most authentic Norwegian food can be found elsewhere, but Egon has something for everyone, making it a great option for families.
After dinner, we called it a night. It was an eventful day and a great experience to see the natural beauty Norway has to offer!
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