Day 17: Bergen - How's the Scenery!

Today was a long day of travelling through the spectacular scenery of Norway. We left Vradel at 7.30am bound for Bergen. Our first stop along the way was at the Vemork Museum. The museum is located within an old hydro electric power plant. The 60MW Vemork power station was the worlds largest power plant when it opened in 1911. It was constructed to power a factory producing artificial fertiliser and was also the site of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage by Norwegian saboteurs during WWII. During the German occupation of Norway the heavy water production plant at the site was sabotaged to prevent the Germans from producing nuclear weapons. We have learnt many stories regarding WWII during this trip especially involving resistance movements in Netherlands, Denmark and now Norway.

Some of us took the opportunity to walk up the steep hill to the plant from where the coach dropped us off instead of taking the minibus. It was a great walk and blew the cobwebs out from sitting on the bus this morning.

Our next stop was at Haukeliseter fjellatue for lunch. After travelling through mainly forested mountains this place was surrounded by bare mountains and and ice. It is approximately 1000 metres above sea level and quite cold, especially for those of us in shorts.

We then proceeded to the western side of Norway which is even more rugged than the eastern side where we came from. The scenery just kept getting better and better with lakes, fjords, winding valleys, rugged gorges and towering snow capped mountains. We also saw our first ever glacier but I can't remember what it is called and I didn't take a photo but it was breathtaking to look at, even from a long distance.

We arrived at Utne to get the ferry across the Hardangerfjord to Kvanndel. When we arrived there were already several trucks and cars waiting for the ferry so we had to wait an hour in Utne for the next ferry. This was a blessing in disguise as it gave us an opportunity to explore this little town and get out of the bus and stretch the legs.

Our next stop to break the final leg of our journey today was at the Steindalsfossen Waterfall which was another opportunity to capture some great pictures as well as stretch the legs as we were able to walk up the hill and behind the waterfall.

We arrived at Bergen at around 7.40pm and first impressions is this is another beautiful city. Apparently the baton as the most beautiful Scandinavian city is between Bergen and Stockholm. We finish our tour in Stockholm so we will make our own judgement then.

We dined with Adrian, Bec and Luke and Maria and Paul (from Perth) at the restaurant next to the hotel. It was another enjoyable evening with great company and delicious food, we may head back there tomorrow night. After tea we wandered around the city, it was still daylight at 10.30pm with many people still out and about enjoying themselves. I think we will have fun in this city.

Today was a very long day of travelling but we saw some amazing scenery along the way and also managed to walk over 11,500 steps and climb the equivalent of 42 floors. We will sleep well tonight.Read more