Norway 2024, part 11 (Bergen, Mostraumen, Mo)
The previous evening, I had booked a boat tour for this day, so I had a relaxed breakfast without rushing. I stayed in a very good hotel in the centre of Bergen, but when I made the reservation two months earlier, I got quite a good rate because the room I was assigned didn’t have any view – the windows faced a narrow and unimaginative atrium, meaning they looked out at a wall just a few metres away. However, the room reservation included breakfast, so I took full advantage of that and enjoyed my first meal of the day.
Since my hotel was very close to the port, I easily made my way there, as that’s where the boat was departing from. What amazed me when I stepped out of the hotel was the bright, sunny sky, which of course I couldn’t see from my room. It was perfect for what I had planned – a trip to one of Norway’s many fjords. However, since it was still relatively early, the streets of Bergen were quite empty.
On the other hand, despite the blue sky with a few clouds, a rather strong wind was blowing, which, among other things, marked the day. While waiting to board the excursion boat, I tried to shield myself from the strong wind by standing next to the wall of a nearby building.
At first glance, this excursion seemed to tour a single fjord, but technically speaking, it involves three fjords in a row – Osterfjord, Romarheimsfjord and Mofjord. Also technically speaking, the latter, Mofjord, was originally a lake called Movatnet, which was connected to Romarheimsfjord by a small, shallow stream. Back then, boats were hauled overland to reach Movatnet. In 1743, flooding caused seawater to flow into the lake during high tide, while during low tide, the water flowed in the opposite direction.
Over time, the area was cleared, both naturally and through human intervention, and today large ships can navigate through it, though the channel connecting the fjords at this point is about 650 m long and only about 60 m wide. This area is called Mostraumen and, as I understood it, the houses visible there represent a kind of an open-air museum. The place looks absolutely perfect and day trips to these three fjords in a row are known as "Mostraumen tours" (or something similar).
At the beginning of the excursion, like the other passengers, I sat in a spacious cabin, but I soon went outside. It was both a great pleasure and a serious "challenge" – the temperature was still relatively low, but the wind was extremely strong, which not only cooled me down, but also frequently blew me around, and I had to be careful not to lose my cap.
I don’t have much to say about this part of the excursion: the boat was sailing, the weather was nice despite the wind, the scenery was varied but certainly extremely beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That’s it. Now comes a series of photos illustrating all of this and at the end, there is a short video of the landscape I sailed through. The noise on the video comes from the wind, while the video concludes with the arrival at Mostraumen and the passage through the channel.
Reaching Mostraumen and passing through the channel is a unique experience. To start with, the positioning of the meadow where the houses are arranged, almost like a piece of art, on such a beautiful sunny day was absolutely perfect.
For the large ship to pass through here, it had to slow down significantly, which provided ample time to capture some details.
So, at this point, you enter from Romarheimsfjord into what was once a lake but is now Mofjord, which is about 7 km long and named after the settlement located at the end of the fjord.
As we approached the settlement of Mo, I saw on the left-hand side the impressive Kvernhusfossen waterfall, which is about 120 meters high.
The excursion here involved only passing by the settlement of Mo, turning the boat around and returning to Bergen the same way. However, we first passed by another waterfall on the opposite side of the fjord and got quite close to it. This one is called Bergsåa Waterfall (Bergsåafossen).
Here I also made a short video.
We then headed towards the settlement of Mo, which we passed by with the boat. The scenery was so charming that I had to include a few photos and a short video clip here, too.
From here, there is also a wonderful view of Mofjord and the surrounding mountains, including the Kvernhusfossen waterfall.
Now we headed back at full speed and that continued until we got to pass through the Mostraumen channel again, where we significantly slowed down.
And then the boat took us past vertical cliffs once more, this time within Romarheimsfjord, but still near Mostraumen. There is a waterfall here, although significantly smaller than the ones we had seen before. We passed so close that it felt like you could almost reach out and touch the rocks with your hand.
Since Romarheimsfjord is about 11 km long, the navigation through it was both sufficiently fast and long enough. With the position of the sun now making it better to stay on the boat's stern deck, the wind was also less intense.
During this return journey, I unexpectedly found myself immersed in the absolutely magical "Solveig's Song," a piece of incidental music composed by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) in 1875 for the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). This makes sense given that both Grieg and Ibsen were Norwegians, while Grieg was even born and died in Bergen. On the other hand, many years ago, I took solo singing lessons and even occasionally practiced singing this beautiful melody, though not very successfully.
In any case, I remembered this wonderful song and, while absorbing the beauty of the Norwegian fjords, I entertained myself by humming “la-la-la” to the melody. It wasn’t completely terrible, but it was significant that my rendition was somewhat lost to the wind due to the movement of the boat and the air. So, in the end, it was easier for everyone.
Here’s one of the beautiful versions you can find online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TUhk00H86g performed by famous Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø. I’m not ashamed to admit that it is much better to listen to her than to me.
In the meantime, the ship's captain, unaware of the marvels happening on his deck, brought us into the Osterfjord area, which is 27 km long.
There, as at the beginning of the excursion, we passed under the Nordhordland Bridge again, which I had written about in the previous sequel of my travel stories from Norway.
And here is a map showing where I travelled during my stay in Norway, also pointing out the locations mentioned in this part of the story.
In any case, this excursion I took today lasts several hours, while the return to Bergen was not only interesting because I could view the old part of the city from the boat and imagine how seafarers might have approached it in ancient times, but it also gave me the opportunity to have some time for additional activities around the city.
In the previous sequel of my travelogue, I mentioned that the bay where the port is located, as well as the entire port, is called Vågen.
The most impressive and beautiful part of Vågen was watching Bryggen, the old wharf in Bergen.
The excursion boat docked on the opposite side of the harbour from Bryggen, which was perfect for me as it allowed me to take nice photos of this picturesque part of Bergen. I took advantage of this by capturing images both while I was still on the boat and even more extensively once I disembarked.
In the next photograph, you can see on the far right that one of the buildings is covered with huge fabric case or something. This is the Hanseatic Museum, which was closed for renovations during my visit, but this is only temporary. The museum building, along with the entire Bryggen district, is a cultural heritage site listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here is also a video showing all of this while in motion:
When I finally managed to tear myself away from the stunning view of Bryggen, I set off for a walk around Bergen’s city centre. I didn’t focus too much on what each building was for; I simply enjoyed strolling through the city. Although the wind was still strong and the temperature was not high, the sun mostly managed to break through the clouds and illuminate this part of Norway, allowing me to truly enjoy the beauty of the urban details.
Speaking of the weather, I must mention that I had incredible luck during my stay in Norway, especially regarding the weather itself. While I believe that everything I visited and saw would look exceptionally magical if covered in snow, that’s only under the condition that it is bathed in sunlight, which is rarely the case if it is completely overcast. The previous day, I had enjoyed a drive around Sognefjord, but the fact remained that for most of the day, the sky was mostly covered with clouds, while the mountain peaks were shrouded in mist or low clouds.
On this day, by chance, I happened to see on the TV in the hotel restaurant during breakfast that almost all of Europe, except for Spain and the southern part of Norway, was under clouds. Yes, I really did have good luck with the weather.
Then I happened to come across a food stall offering various types of sausages and realised that I was actually a bit hungry. As soon as I saw what was on offer, I didn't hesitate for a moment. Among other things, there were reindeer sausages! I had to try them.
The sausage was incredibly delicious. Since it was game meat, it was naturally lean, which I really liked. Even the fact that they topped the sausage with some sort of jam, in addition to mustard and crispy-fried onions, which is quite common in Scandinavia but absolutely unthinkable and even unacceptable in Serbia, didn’t bother me at all. Not only because I’ve expanded my culinary horizons over time, but also because it was genuinely a good combination (especially when you set aside any prejudice).
After this delightful, tasty, but light lunch, I continued my walk around Bergen, this time along Øvregaten Street in order to approach Bryggen from the "upper" side.
Øvregaten Street was a well-known area in the past as it housed the city's main market, where craftsmen had their shops. There were cobblers, goldsmiths, furriers, tailors, woodcarvers and those who made items from reindeer and elk antlers. Today, it is a charming street with picturesque houses, but it still has many shops on the ground floor of these buildings, although now they offer quite different goods.
This street is located on an elevated area above the back part of Bryggen, so I found it interesting to see this significant part of Bergen from this side as well.
At the end of this street, within Bryggen, is Schøtstuene, one of the communal buildings that was specifically used in the past and today is part of the Hanseatic Museum. I don't know how, but I didn’t capture that part of Bryggen which is recognisable by the wall that encloses it from the upper side. However, this building is important because it was used for cooking in the past, which is a significant fact.
Since all the buildings in Bryggen were made of wood, the use of fire was strictly prohibited in them. People working in Bryggen still needed to eat and occasionally warm up. This building, Schøtstuene, was intended precisely for such purposes, and cooking for the workers was done there.
The danger of fire was always significant, while in 1955, several houses from the Hanseatic period burned to the ground. Archaeologists took advantage of this unfortunate circumstance, so excavations and research began, leading to the discovery of remains from the oldest settlement in the Bergen area from the 12th century. Various artefacts were also found, providing insights into life at that time. Most of these artefacts are now displayed in the modern Bryggens Museum, which was built next to the archaeological site. The following photograph shows the site and the rear of the museum, followed by a photograph of the museum’s front façade.
Across from the rear of the museum, there is a small park that also houses St. Mary’s Church.
It is believed that the construction of the church began in the first half of the 12th century and was completed in 1180. Of course, over time, the church has burned several times and required restoration and reconstruction, but it remains the oldest building in Bergen.
And now I could descend to the shore of Vågen Bay and explore the centre of medieval Bergen from that side.