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PANORAMA OF BERGEN FROM THE TOP OF MOUNT FLOYEN |
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After visiting several poor and cheap
countries (Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Vietnam...), we decided we could visit one of
the most expensive countries in the world - Norway - the land of the
Vikings, the land of the midnight sun, the land of fjords and
mountains, the land of the $15 hamburger. It was all of that and we
enjoyed it very much. |
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| We spent 3 nights (2 full days) in Oslo, traveled the "Norway in a Nutshell" route in one day, spent 2 nights (almost 2 full days) in Bergen and then took the Hurtigruten Coastal Steamer (6 nights) from Bergen to Kirkenes and from there flew home. From what I learned, there is a lot of confusion and lack of understanding about the Norway in a Nutshell (NIN) route as well as the Hurtigruten cruises and I will explain both in full detail below. | |||||||||||||||||
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CLICK ON ANY THUMBNAIL TO SEE THE FULL-SIZE PICTURE. |
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Oslo is the capital of Norway and is one of the smallest capitals in Europe. It has a population of around 300,000. We stayed at the Continental Hotel which is one of the best hotels in Oslo and we paid $209 per night, including breakfast. We ordered and paid for the room through Hurtigruten for 2 reasons. The first is that Hurtigruten recommended it and since they block a number of rooms for their cruise customers, there is no problem of availability. When I checked through the hotel web site, there were no rooms available on the dates I wanted. | ||||||||||||||||
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The second reason had to do with the volcanic activity in Iceland. When we were booking this trip, the volcanic ash cloud was disrupting air travel all over Europe. Hurtigruten modified its cancellation policies and allowed rebooking any time in the future, if your flight was cancelled. This included any services you may have ordered through them, which meant that if we had to cancel (even at the last moment) due to a flight cancellation, the hotel would be cancelled by Hurtigruten and I wouldn't have to worry about hotel cancellation fees. | ||||||||||||||||
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Regarding Oslo and Norway in general, the people are friendly, almost everybody speaks English fluently, and the prices are as advertised - about double anywhere else we've ever been. On the other hand, you get used to the prices after a while and just pay, pay, pay... Typical prices: small beer - $9, small sandwich $10-15, main course in a decent restaurant - $30-50, a bottle of wine in a good restaurant - $50 and up. On the other hand, I was surprised by the prices when I wandered through a very large wine store in Bergen where I found the prices to be quite reasonable. Another "reasonable" item is tipping. There is no tipping in Norway. Checkout the sign to the right, which greeted us at Oslo airport. |
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As for shopping, Alisa bought several nice clothing items marked down from $50 to $10 due to summer sales. Alisa joked with the sales girl that the dress she bought cost less than a sandwich. The salesgirl agreed, but countered that this was true only for small sandwiches. Several times, we were asked by Norwegians if we thought the prices were high. To the left is a picture of a bargain we found all over Norway. This "special" offer was at every 7-11 store in Norway, where the chain is quite popular. | ||||||||||||||||
| I have to make the observation that Norway is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and we found all its cities to be clean and very orderly. There were no beggars and the only "homeless" we found can be seen in the picture to the right, which was taken in Bergen. As much as this should make for a happy and contented people, Norway still has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. One of the guides in the northern city of Tromso volunteered the information that the suicide rate is higher in the south of the country than in the north. Her point was that it had nothing to with the long sunless winter in the north (which is probably the general perception). |
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| As for getting from the airport to the city, there are several possibilities, but the fastest is the "Airport Express Train", and the cheapest is the "Flybussen". A taxi will cost between $100 and $130. We took the train which is not cheap, but it is fast. The current price is 170 NOK ($27) per person, but it was convenient for us, because it has a stop at the National Theatre which is about 100 meters from our hotel, the Continental. Unfortunately, they were doing construction work on the rail line, and the airport express train didn't stop at the National Theatre station. We had to get off at the Oslo Central Station and take a cab from there. The ride was 1.5 Km (about a mile) and cost $25. | |||||||||||||||||
| The Continental Hotel was very nice and perfectly located. Our room was fine and large and breakfast was great. The hotel staff were very helpful. The hotel is a 2 minute walk from Aker Brygge the waterfront entertainment area which is full of shops and restaurants. It's also a few minutes walk from most of the main attractions in Oslo, it's right near a subway stop, and many trams and buses pass right in front of the hotel. |
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| For those who don't want to go the hotel route, and have rented a car, camping sites are a very popular alternative all over Norway and in general are reasonably priced. They usually have facilities for campers, and caravans, as well as cabins and apartments. They often have an on-site grocery store. Some are located on farms, and there are several in the Oslo area. They are often located in beautiful rural settings near fjords or mountains. There's even a Scandinavian "camping card" which provides various discounts and benefits. There are many web sites with plenty of information and links to many camping sites. Here are a few links to the left. | |||||||||||||||||
| We bought two Oslo Passes, which for us turned out to be a good buy. We visited several museums and frequently used the very good public transportation system. Contrary to the information on several web sites, the Oslo pass can be purchased at many Oslo hotels. We bought ours at the Continental and put the charge on our room bill. | |||||||||||||||||
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We spent 2 full days in Oslo. We found it to be very quiet with little traffic and relatively few tourists. The locals said that the main reason is that we were there at the end of July, when the Norwegians take off on their own vacations. We spent the first day which was a Saturday with absolutely perfect weather strolling around Oslo. To the left is a picture of the most famous street in Oslo, Karl Johans Gate, looking toward the royal palace. It was Saturday morning at 10 AM and the street was deserted! |
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We visited Aker Brygge, Akershus Castle and Fort (which includes the Norwegian Resistance Museum), the Central station area, Karl Johans Gate (the city's main shopping street), the Oslo Domkirke (cathedral), we walked up Torgatta Street (a pleasant pedestrian street for part of the way), which brought us through Youngstorget (a well known but disappointing market - pic to the upper right) and reached Grunerlokka, a very pleasant neighborhood which is known as Oslo's Greenwich Village. In Gronnerlokka, you can find many reasonably priced places to eat lunch. We bought a couple of $9 sandwiches (reasonable for Oslo) at a bakery and ate them in one of several local parks. |
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We also visited Vigeland Park twice, once during the day with several thousand other visitors and one after dinner, in the 11 PM twilight of Oslo. I found the park enchanting, although the night lighting is neither esthetic nor useful. The park was designed and built by Gustav Vigeland, one of Norway's most notable artists and is filled with more than 200 pieces of his very unusual sculptures. It's a lovely place for a stroll and on a sunny day like the Saturday we were there, the park is a popular place for sunbathing. | ||||||||||||||||
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On Sunday, the weather was mostly dry, although not nearly as nice as on Saturday. It was cloudy and it drizzled a bit in the afternoon. Since most everything in Oslo is closed except the museums and the restaurants, this is the day we picked to visit Bygdoy, the museum center of Oslo. We took the little ferry (line 91) which leaves from pier 3 right in front of City Hall. This is a public boat and runs every 20-40 minutes depending on the day and the hour. To understand fully, Bygdoi is a peninsula which is part of Oslo, and is accessible by boat, or by bus - line 30 from the city center. Line 30 also follows a route on Bygdoi which gets to all the major museums. With our Oslo passes, we just hopped off and on like it was a tourist bus and easily got to all the museums. |
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On Bygdoy, we visited the Norwegian Folk Museum, Kon-Tiki (I was fascinated by the book as a teenager), Fram (polar exploration) the Norwegian Ship Museum, and the Holocaust Center which doesn't get many mentions on the tourism sites but which we found to be very well executed. Of the museums we visited, we enjoyed most the folk museum which is open air reconstructed villages from past centuries, with live exhibits and demonstrations going on regularly, such as folk music and dancing, bread making, and other activities for children. This is a great place to visit for families with small children. You can find all the information you need about these museums on the "Visit Oslo" site. |
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Our visit to a European capital city wouldn't be complete without a meal or two at one or two good restaurants and Oslo was no exception. Despite the high prices, this is one of our passions and we can't help ourselves. Also, there's not much difference in price between an average restaurant and an outstanding restaurant so we picked a very good one. |
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We ate at "Lofoten", reputed to be the best fish and seafood restaurant in Oslo. It is located at Aker Brygge, and it didn't disappoint. We had a lovely meal, with a lovely and efficient waitress called Saskia (she's originally from Holland), and the meal for the 2 of us "only" cost $220. Alisa had a wonderful lobster and I had a 4 course meal which cost $90. We both had a scallop soup with apple and smoked scallops which was absolutely exquisite. To the right is a picture of Saskia (I promised her a mention on the site) and to the left is a picture of Alisa's lobster. I made a reservation via email 2 weeks before we arrived and it's good that I did. Even though we had a reservation, we had a short wait to get in. It's a very popular restaurant on a Saturday night. |
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The second night, we ate at another restaurant at Aker Brygge - "DS Louise". This restaurant is filled with seafaring paraphenalia and was good, but not nearly as good as Lofoten. The price here was about $140 for the 2 of us. (We had beer instead of wine.) To the right is a picture of one small corner of this unusual nautically decorated restaurant. |
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~ IN A NUTSHELL ~ |
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| We left Oslo on Monday morning to take the "Norway in a Nutshell" route to Bergen. From my research, and participation in travel forums, I quickly learned that there is a lot of confusion and lack of understanding about what this excursion/trip/attraction really is and what the possibilities are. Below is a "tutorial". | |||||||||||||||||
| Norway in a nutshell is a combination of various modes of transportation designed to provide the tourist with a quick and concentrated view of Norway's natural physical attributes (mountains, fjords, waterfalls) and at the same time get you from Oslo to Bergen or vice-versa. You can also do half by starting and finishing in the same city, that is Bergen-Bergen, or Oslo-Oslo. It can be done in one day (as we did it), or you can stay overnight in one of the small towns along the way and continue the next day or whenever you want. |
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| The highly popular classic route is made up of 5 legs. The Oslo-Bergen itinerary is as follows: | |||||||||||||||||
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The only leg for which a reservation is highly recommended is the train from Oslo to Myrdal, especially during tourist season. The other legs don't need reservations, and in general don't even have a possibility for reservations. The train between Myrdal to Flam is primarily a tourist train, although it is used as well by the locals. It is an incredible run which rises about 800 meters through incredible scenery and even stops twice en-route in order to allow picture taking. Unfortunately, it is also crowded and uncomfortable, and as noted above, no reservation is needed or even possible. You just get on and pay on board if you haven't purchased a ticket before hand. Most passengers have prepaid and have a ticket or a voucher, but more about that later. | ||||||||||||||||
| The boat from Flam to Gudvangen is also strictly for the tourists and is a very impressive 2 hour ride through incredible scenery, mainly the Naeroyfjord which is a Unesco World Heritage site. Again, you can buy a ticket in advance or pay on board but a reservation is not relevant. Here's another link about Naeroyfjord. |
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The buses from Gudvangen to Voss are waiting as the boat arrives and everything is marked clearly and well coordinated. Nobody gets left at Gudvangen which is good because it's not much of a town. I thought this bus ride would be just a bus ride, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. The section through Stalheim is absolutely breathtaking, and the bus drives very slowly as it winds its way down hairpin turn after hairpin turn. Opinions vary about where to spend the night if you split the trip into 2 or more days, and many feel that Stalheim is the best place because of the incredible scenery. There's an expensive hotel in Stalheim for those who want to stay there. The prices are as breathtaking as the scenery. |
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| The train from Voss to Bergen is a standard train and again, no reservation is necessary. You can buy your ticket on the train, but I believe that it might be more expensive on the train than if purchased at the station. |
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| Regarding the cost of NIN, it varies depending on how you buy it. Purchased through Hurtigruten, it costs around $480. Purchased directly from the NIN website, it costs about $450. If you buy it on your own, it's cheaper especially if you can take advantage of any available discounts (student, pensioner, etc) and you can get the price down close to $400. I reserved the Oslo-Myrdal train in advance and paid the rest as we went. No mess, no fuss, and we saved close to $160 for the two of us, because had we purchased in advance, it would have been through Hurtigruten because of the the cancellation convenience had the volcano gone off again. That savings paid nicely for one of our expensive dinners in Oslo! | |||||||||||||||||
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Regarding food, the train from Oslo, and the boat to Gudvangen offer basic food, but the most popular food is that brought by most people. Almost everybody had a pack with some snacks in it. We did it as well, and in addition Alisa purchased a hot fish meal while waiting for the boat in Flam. We ate it on the boat. We also befriended a young Norwegian couple who were headed to do some camping in the mountains near Flam, and they decided they had one banana too many and gave it to us needy tourists. In general, the Norwegians are very friendly. |
TRAVEL ON A DOLLAR: OTHER OPTIONS FOR NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL |
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| I should also add that there are many variations of this trip and all involve public transportation which can be utilized to customize your own route. We were limited and didn't have any extra days. We wanted to spend 2 full days in Bergen, so we took the no-brainer "classic" route and did it in one day. | |||||||||||||||||
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As sleepy and quiet as Oslo was, Bergen was lively, and full of tourists. We especially enjoyed the fish market where we tasted everything in sight and had lunch there one day. The fish market is a place where you can have a nice lunch for 2 for around $25-30. There are several variations. Some places make plates of sautéed seafood with some sort of salad for a fixed price, and other will take whatever you pick and sauté it or grill it or do whatever you want with it and charge you by the weight. Because of Alisa's facility with languages, she quickly discovered that most of the workers in the fish market are seasonal workers from South America, Spain, or Italy. In a three-month work in Norway they make enough money to live on for a whole year in their country! |
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We also went up the Floyen Furnicular to take advantage of the nice weather and enjoy the view from the Floyen Mountain. Of course we visited the Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf as well as the museum there. We also walked down the crest of the Nordnes peninsula which provided wonderful views of the city (even in the rain). |
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We enjoyed Bergen very much. It's a compact city with everything concentrated in a very small area with the fish market at its approximate center. We stayed at the Clarion Admiral hotel which is one of the nicest hotels in Bergen. However, it wasn't nearly as nice the Continental in Oslo, the rooms were small and the breakfast was overcrowded and poorly run. On the other hand, it is situated directly across the bay from the Hanseatic Wharf and it probably has the absolutely best view of it. Because of this view, the best part of the breakfast was the terrace connected to the dining hall where you could sit and eat or have a cup of coffee and enjoy the unique view of the Hanseatic Wharf. |
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I mentioned that the rooms were small , and we were able to check 2. The first one was 502 on the top floor which was small, and had a slanted ceiling and a skylight type window only. Since the day had been sunny and warm, and the window panel had been open to the sky, the room was like a sauna when we walked in. There's no air conditioning in most Norwegian hotels, but this room was unbearable. We requested a different room, and the lady at reception was kind enough to make some changes so that we could move to 441 on the 4th floor. This room was just as small as the first, but had normal windows and was comfortable, and most incredibly, even had a partial view of the Hanseatic area. |
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The restaurant we picked in Bergen was the Potetkjelleren, or "potato cellar". It's right in the center just a few meters from the central square. It is supposed to be the best restaurant in Bergen and it lived up to its reputation. It is situated in a real renovated old potato cellar, and it is both elegant and expensive and served wonderful food. Every dish was perfect and because of the ambiance, we couldn't resist ordering a bottle of Pouilly Fume for accompaniment. The service was impeccable, including a taste of a delicious desert wine which we saw served at another table. It was good enough to order a glass as well, which we did. We broke all the records for expensive meals here and the bill came out to $250. Below are a few more pics from Bergen. |
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| One of the most pleasant areas we visited (and more than once) was the Torgallmenningen Plaza where Alisa found some bargains and we strolled with lots of Bergenites and tourists. It's also the site of the well known 7 meter high Sailors Monument. Here's a site with a live web camera and a description of the plaza. It is a lively area with lots of stores and a few restaurants, and in good weather, lots of street entertainment. | |||||||||||||||||
| Right nearby this plaza is the "Festplassen", a large square used for fairs, amusement parks, various festivals and is also a cultural center. It is connected to a lake (Lille Lungegårdsvann) which is surrounded by city hall, many statues of national historical figures, and art museums. A most unusual sculpture is "The Cube", pictured below and which is on loan from University of Oslo department of computer science. After it is returned, it will no longer be a cube as each of its sides will be mounted separately on different walls. | |||||||||||||||||
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The Hurtigruten coastal steamer is a unique cruise and like the nutshell trip requires some explanation. Hurtigruten runs a fleet of 14 ships 11 of which are on this route at any given time. One of these ships leaves Bergen every evening at 8 PM. It sails up the coast stopping at various ports on the way, generally 3-6 per day, including the night-time hours. Depending on which ship it is, it carries between 400 and 1000 passengers who book cabins and cruise on the ship like any cruise ship. There are excursions on land for those who wish to participate, (and pay extra for them), and there is a cruise staff who cater to the passengers' needs. There is a dining room, a 24 hour cafeteria and the usual gift shop. It takes 7 days to get to Kirkenes, the farthest point, and 5 days to return to Bergen. In addition to this cruise, Hurtigruten offers several others. |
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What differentiates these cruise ships from other cruise ships is that this is also a working transport ship which provides services to the communities all the way up the coast to the Russian border. Small freight is loaded on and off and local travelers may get on (or off) at any stop and travel to the next town or further. These local travelers have access to the lounges and cafeteria, and more than once we found back-packers sleeping on lounge sofas. |
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| The food in the dining room is good and plentiful, although not extravagant. I would say it is the equivalent of a 4 star hotel. That is, except for the last day when there is an incredible seafood buffet. I have never had such great mussels, shrimp and crab meat. The quantities were also amazing. Here's a picture to the right. |
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The cruise passengers are free to buy full board, or no food at all and pay as they go. As for the excursions, they are expensive (like everything else in Norway) and we took 3. We went on the Geirenger excursion, which is a combination bus and boat ride through one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway. Pictures to the left and right. |
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We also took the Tromso city tour. Tromso is called the capital of the arctic and we enjoyed this tour. Below and to the right is a picture of the arctic exploration center in Tromso. The third tour was a tour on Lofoten Island to visit a Viking Museum and have a bit of fun eating at a recreated Viking feast. It was cold, windy and rainy, but also great fun. There are excursions every day, sometimes 2 or 3 on the same day. Everything is well run. |
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There are also tours in one of the most interesting towns north of Bergen and Oslo, which is Trondheim. In Trondheim we were fortunate that I have a business associate who lives there and he met us and gave us a personalized tour of the city. We enjoyed his tour very much as he took us to several places we would not have seen otherwise. |
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If you are considering taking a Hurtigruten cruise, take note of the different ships they have. Some are rather old and small, and 2 are the newest and have the most modern facilities. We sailed on one of them - the "Midnatsol" which has an exercise room, a sauna and free Wi-Fi. The exercise room was tiny, and I didn't see anybody using the sauna. Also, although the Wi-Fi worked all of the time, it was terribly slow, and occasionally, passwords were not given out because of the load. |
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Again, this is not a luxurious cruise ship with multiple dining rooms serving food 24 hours a day. There was no real entertainment (there was a mediocre piano player in the bar lounge), but on this cruise none of that matters. The main activity is sitting in a lounge or on the open decks and watching the incredible scenery. | ||||||||||||||||
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They did have one fun social event and that was when we crossed the arctic circle. We had a get together on the upper outdoor deck, King Neptune addressed us and anyone who was willing to go through the "Arctic initiation rite", was given a shot of a special Norwegian liquor. To the left is a shot of King Neptune who presided over the ceremony, and to the right is a picture of the initiation rite. Look closely at the picture and you should be able to figure out what's happening. In addition, all the passengers on the ship were given certificates that they had crossed the arctic circle. |
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This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right. Enjoy your next trip!! ~Steve & Alisa~ |
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LAST UPDATED: SEPT 2, 2010
