We got back from Norway quite some time ago, but it’s been on my mind a lot. Must write about it. It was an incredible experience. But then again, almost every time I travel I come back with great memories.

So I set off with sis. Honestly, at the beginning she was much  more into it then me. I had other things on my mind, like worrying about Mish and his Dad surviving without my presence. Mind you, they did.

Flew to Oslo with the Norwegian Airlines. Their uniform was so casual, T-shirt with a pullover and pants, that was the first indicator of their laid back attitude to life, in fact to everything.

Had a connecting flight to Bergen. Surprising was that we had to leave the transit and get out in order to get in again, even though we had our boarding passes already. Their love of wood was evident , wooden floors at the airport.

Our first shock came when we noticed the prices. But by the end of our trip we didn’t even bat an eyelid at anything below 100 Norwegian krone.  A small bottle of water was 32 krone, a sandwich and water combo around 100.

Short flight, then a a short and pleasant bus trip to the center of Bergen. The girl next to the bus was very helpful, she took everyone’s bags and loaded them . Later on I found out that being equal really does exist in Norway. Men and women get exactly the same salaries if in same positions, everyone gets the same benefits regardless of gender, age, race. But that also means that you don’t often find “gentlemen”, who open doors for you, they don’t help you with your luggage. Heard that Norwegian women feel insulted if a man wants to help them. Hmm… I am not sure I like that.We stayed at the First hotel, 4 star, pretty pleasant one. The best part was it being right in the center of Old Bergen.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon. Wasted no time, decided to discover it immediately on foot. First the Fishmarket. I heard so much about it, Niki ( my sister) kept telling me about how cheap the seafood will be there, the guide book recommends it as the best place to eat at, so that’s what we did.

Nice place, loads of stalls selling seafood soup, salads, freshly grilled, cooked fish, mussels, lobsters, shrimp. We opted for 2 plates of seafood salad with massive amounts of potato salad. 350 krone.

It started  to rain. A gentle drizzle, not strong enough to get an umbrella. The streets were deserted, hardly any people. Just us. Felt surreal. Kept wondering what happened to the people. Do they stay at home?  Where are the tourists? It was only the middle of August, could it be that the season is over?  Glad we had the chance to have Bergen all to ourselves. Walked around the old streets, been able to go into the oldest buildings without fighting our way in ( 2 days later it was crowded).

Bergen is the second largest city of Norway with around quarter of a million residents. It’s a major port, it has been for hundreds of years. It has been founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre. The old part of Bergen called Bryggen  is lined with wooden houses. You can almost imagine life here hundreds of years ago. It was rebuilt after the great fire in 1702.

Gorgeous,painted buildings, here we found quite a few red ones, but in the residential areas were mostly white.

Been to a few souvenir shops,,selling the typical Norwegian knitted jumpers, scarves, reindeers, trolls.

Trolls, they were everywhere. Small ones, big ones, complete troll families. Here is the story behind them.

These creatures are believed to be the first “inhabitants” of Norway. They were living in the forests, hiding under the roots of the trees and in caves. They had supernatural powers. Some of them were huge, real giant ones, some were small. Quite ugly, with big bulging eyes, huge mouths filled with crooked teeth.  They only had four fingers and toes. There were one headed ones, but some had even three.

Didn’t  like sunshine, came out of their hiding places after sunset. You could see them mostly at night. Some of them forgot about the danger of sunlight and as a result of that turned into stones, which can be seen everywhere.

Some believe that they are evil, wicked creatures, while others regard them as extremely naiv and shy, however like to play tricks on people.

The best bit of info I found out about them is that they love porridge. Could it be that I am from a troll family?

Had to buy a troll for Mish, and found a great troll story book as well. Next stop was the Christmas shop which is open all year round. Nothing special, lots of Christmas stuff, but loved the old wooden building, squeaky floorboards.

Later we heard  some music,  followed the sounds and found ourselves at an open air concert. The orchestra was playing Carmen.

Instead of staying we opted to continue walking uphill. Small, narrow streets, mostly white wooden houses, lights were already on, hardly any soul to be seen. The scent of the linden flowers were intoxicating. Weird, the trees that flower here around late May, were blooming in Mid August. The air was so clean, almost hurt my lungs upon inhaling.

I am used to clean air, living in the mountains, but this was something different, crisp, sharp, just wanted to keep taking deep breaths. We had to , since we were going uphill, the streets were quite steep at times. Ended up on the top, in the middle of a forest with incredible view over the city.

It was past 10,still not completely dark,the sky looked like just before sunrise,it was quite surreal. Found a bench,overlooking the city,spent the  next 30 minutes just taking in the sights and smells. The scent of the sea mixing with the scent of the earth and the linden trees.

Each country has its own distinct smell or scent. Bergen smells fresh,salty yet sweet.Coming downhill was much easier,though my knee was playing up again. It was past 11 by the time we reached the hotel. We had an exciting day ahead….visiting the fjords.