Sometimes I wonder why I lug my bag through airports, following my own recommendation to pack light enough to carry on and avoid checking any bags on international flights. It can be a drag, dragging your bag through airports.
But last week, flying to Bergen, I remembered the joy of having everything with you. I got from Seattle to Copenhagen on time and began loitering, knowing I had a bit of layover. Then I remembered to check the departures board. Sure enough, a plane was leaving for Bergen in 20 minutes — too early to have booked legally from Seattle…but giving me plenty of time to hike on over to the gate, ask if I could be put on, and be told, “Sure.”
I got to my Bergen hotel two hours before planned and enjoyed a jumpstart on my Norway time — a lovely evening in a salty port town where magic hour lasts until 11 p.m.
I’ve been traveling to Europe for 30 years, and teaching travel for 25. I have to be careful that old ideas nailed into my teaching structure don’t live on when they should die. I’ve always said that “younger locals speak English.” I’ve noticed here in Norway that, these days, older locals do too. It’s been an entire generation now since English became the dominant language of travel. And many of us “young travelers” are a generation beyond that, as well — and now essentially everyone speaks English (at least in Norway).
My big lesson in Bergen: Sights are underwhelming, but the guided tours included in almost every admission bring the topics — from composer Edvard Grieg to dried cod to leprosy — vividly to life, making your visit well worthwhile.
After a few days in Bergen, I grabbed a car and headed into fjord country. While travelers swing from castle to castle through Germany, in Norway we seem to swing from stave church to stave church. Medieval Norway was essentially a society built of wood. Devastating fires were commonplace. Bergen had 50 major fires. Oslo had 17. Finally, in the 17th century, a king decreed that in the big city, building would be done by brick and stone rather than wood, and that streets would be made wide to provide fire breaks.
The only grand architecture surviving from Norway’s Middle Ages is wooden churches — built like upside-down Viking ship hulls supported on each corner by staves, or thick posts. While originally built a thousand years ago, they have mostly been burned down and soullessly rebuilt, or cluttered up with 17th-century bell towers and windows. See two or three, and they start getting old. Still, you can’t bypass them. They are about all there is for a tourist taught to look for architectural remnants of a civilization’s past.
The key to really enjoying Norway is to understand that nature is its real draw. Norway’s story is the story of a people’s struggle to live comfortably in a harsh natural world. They leave little beyond pitch-covered wooden stave churches as proof that they’ve been here for ages. Everything else is gone, like a masterpiece on an Etch-a-sketch.
I kept thinking how it’s man and nature here. Driving along fjords — diving for a pull-out each time a car approaches — I remember how I always feel it’s a very dangerous place to drive. Not because of traffic (there’s very little), but because of the scenery. It’s tough to keep your eyes on the road. At the mouth of one fjord, a cute bird flew in front of me and never came out. Later, on a ferry crossing, I noticed people gathering around the front of my car — pointing at a bird still in my grill. It was a great conversation-starter until, on the third ferry ride, I finally pried her off.
The tourist season here is short — just July and early August. In the summer, restaurants and hotels need to scramble like chipmunks to survive the winter. Wondering how that affects the employment scene, I noticed that most of the employees were seasonal. On the front line were cute Norwegian kids visiting home for the summer from big-city studies to be with family and help out, as it’s all hands on deck. And behind the scenes, immigrants cooked and cleaned. Local hoteliers and restaurateurs figure tourists don’t come to some cute fjord village to be served goat cheese by a guy from Pakistan or fishballs by a gal from Romania.
If you haven’t had a chance to read my daughter Jackie’s blog, she’s just a click away — well into a wonderful adventure with her best girlfriend in Spain and Portugal. Check it out while I scramble up some old Norse tales from the fjordland.
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| The fairest stave church in Norway? Hopperstad or Borgund. Hopperstad overlooks Sognefjord in the town of Vik. Enlarge photo |
Of Norway’s many stave churches, just see one or two. Borgund is my choice—no fjord, but in a pristine, remote setting, with the best adjacent museum. Enlarge photo |
Norwegian design, carved in wood, to decorate a church door circa 1050. Enlarge photo |
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| Nice lines; the Vikings built some sleek ships. Enlarge photo |
This bird and I were both distracted by the fjord scenery on Highway E16…then bam! Enlarge photo |
Rick, great to see you traveling again. I look forward to your adventures and your first post on Norway was a great read. Between your blog and Jackie’s, I am dying to travel again. I think I would quit my job if I could go somewhere tomorrow! Look forward to your adventures. Norway sounds like a beautiful place. Just a little side note – from my experiences, Portugal and the Netherlands (specifically, Lisbon and Amsterdam) were the best english speakers I found. The worst/least english speaking? Spain.
Today is my day for forwarding blogs. Yours will go to a Norwegian friend. Glad to see you traveling and blogging again but Jackie and Zoe are absolutely delightful!
Rick……You noted before that the new European high speed trains had (unfortunate) birds squashed on their windshields and that you took a photo of same in a station one time…..just how fast were you driving when that bird was flying by towards the fiord??????…….))))
Rick — love your blog, though disappointed by your acceptance, and endorsement, of the logic of the soft bigotry you describe in this post: “Local hoteliers and restaurateurs figure tourists don’t come to some cute fjord village to be served goat cheese by a guy from Pakistan or fishballs by a gal from Romania.” Bob.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Dude, it’s time to switch to the roller bag.
Two of the Steves family & a Zoe blogging—Heaven! Next best thing to being there—thanks!
Hey Rick! This comment isn’t about Norway since I found no other way on your website to communicate with you, I thought I’d comment on your blog! Your book on France was an incredible guide for our recent trip. We mostly stuck to your restaurant recommendations,but we did strike out on our own in Rouen and Paris. I wanted to recommend 2 places for you to check out that we thought were wonderful:Le Potager du Marais in Paris, a fabulous small vegetarian restaurant near the Pompadou centre, at 22 Rue Rambuteau,01-42-74-24-66 and Le Maupassant at 39 Place du Vieux Marche in Rouen, 02 35025690. Both had excellent service, great food, and lovely presentation. I’d say medium price point, but I’m no expert. I told the proprietors that I would write to you about them. Thanks for checking them out! Linda Sommer
Well I for one appreciate the Hoteliers and Restaurateurs Concern.. I certainly would be unhappy to go to Norway and have to struggle to actually find any Norwegians.. If I want Eastern Europeans and Pakistanis.. I will go to London.
Rick–it was a delightful surprise having you drop in and see our tour group on July 2 in Bergen. Great group photo! When we took our first ETBD tour of Spain and Portugal 3 years ago with our 2 college age daughters they thought you would be leading our tour. So of course I emailed them the photo of you with our group. Dave Fox is a great guide. I only wish we had more time to enjoy the beautiful mountains of Norway around Elvesaeter–of course we were fortunate that we were in the middle of a Norwegian heat wave with temperatures in the 80s. The scenery of Norway is the best of Scandinavia.
Hi Rick, Love your blog, as always you aim to inform. I know your roots are in Norway, but perhaps you could spend some time in Sweden, especially the east coast & the Dalarna region. As my ancestors are from Sweden and Wales it would be lovely to see more of Sweden, Wales you’ve covered very well in the past.Hope you give this suggestion serious consideration. I watch your show all the time. Keep on traveling! Linda in Vancouver Canada.
Some thoughts and notes: 1. Guided tours do bring things alive, which is why people should know that the English walking tour in Bergen starts at 11 and 12, not 11 and 1:00, as stated in the 2008 RS Scandinavia book. Just a heads up. 2. The stave churches are worth visiting and quizzing the guides/ticket takers. I could only see the Hopperstaad church in Vik, but it was mind boggling. And the more I quizzed the guide, the more I learned. Two of my favorite pieces of trivia: a) if you don’t count the ironwork on the doors, there’s not one nail in the church, as iron would rust and split the wood. The entire, amazing structure you’re in is built with pegs and dowels. To reassure the congregation, the arches were painted black to simulate metal bracing. b) the staves (8meter tall wooden pillars), were seasoned on the root, meaning they were allowed to grow and were pruned as they went, until they were straight and tall enough to use. At a guess, that means they were tended for 15-20 years BEFORE they were harvested to be used in construction. With the average lifespan in the 30’s, it is humbling to think of the dedication of the generations it took to build these churches. 3. @Bob K – you’re missing the point entirely. Rick’s comment is meant *expose* not only the “soft” (if practical) bigotry of the hoteliers, but our own touristic bigotry, that of visitors who demand blond, blue-eyed tour guides and cashiers. It’s the furthest thing from an endorsement. MI
nice article. i hope you can also post an article regarding the church supplies, please? thanks a lot. church supplies
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