Bergen is a beautiful city, after Olso the largest, but according to connoisseurs more beautiful than Oslo. It lies in a bay surrounded by 'yes' ... mountains. We are moored at the quay (fortunately to another boat and not to the car tyres ourselves) and that reminds us a bit of Porto. We lie there for three days. The first day after arrival Toine goes to sleep and I go shopping with the girls. It is a lot more expensive here than in the Netherlands. Often 1.5 to 2 times as much. Especially eating out and groceries. For the rest we sit on the boat in the sun and enjoy the hustle and bustle around us.
The second day we took a long hike over the ridges above Bergen. More than four hours over small paths, up and down hills with a beautiful view. Unfortunately it was drizzling and there was a lot of wind... but surely we had to put an end to continuous sunshine? The way up with a cable car and the way back down with the mountain train to the center. We come back at the end of the afternoon, worn out and with tired muscles (at least we are, the girls don't suffer from anything). And then we treat ourselves to delicious raw and marinated salmon from the market with a glass of white wine on our own boat, again in the sun.
The third day we made a long trip of first five hours on a speedboat through the Sognefjord (one of the three big fjords) . Beautiful along small islands and further into the fjord with higher and higher mountains with eternal snow and glaciers. With a lunch stop in Fläm, at the end of the fjord. A little too touristy place. Then with the mountain train from Fläm to Mitral ... a spectacular trip in which the train climbs in one hour to 866 meters altitude. In between a stop at a huge waterfall where two nymphs sing a Norwegian song. And at the end the train makes a 180 degree turn. A nice experience. The last two hours back to Bergen we sit in the express train that runs between Oslo and Bergen.
On Tuesday the 19th of July we leave Bergen for the south to explore the area of the Hardangerfjord (the second big fjord) for the rest of the week. The first stop is at a beautiful anchorage in a deep bay Lysevagen on the island of Lysoy. In the middle of nature, anchored with a line from the back to the shore, we lie like a 'house'. A bit rainy, but with the bimini on we're still dry and 'in the middle of nature', and with raincoats on we just take a walk over the island past the colonial home of Ole Bulle, an important Norwegian who did a lot for the music world of Norway and spent the last years of his life there at the end of the last century.
The next day we sail in the drizzle via the Raunefjord to the Bjornafjord. Just before the narrow entrance of the Godoy sund we get two more heavy rain showers. We find an excellent place to spend the night at a jetty in front of a bankrupt hotel, with a beautiful environment around us. At the end of the afternoon it's getting busier and busier with a lot of boats coming in. And then the sun breaks through again and we eat delicious fried spiderplantains (with normal bananas instead of plantains) and hot sauce with rosé wine.
The day after, the sun continues to shine all day long. You never know exactly what the weather will be like here. The weather predictors we normally use are not really reliable because of the local effect. Well, we just wait and see every day. There is never a strong wind and two hours of sailing after motorbikes we cover the 30 miles to Sundall. Via the Bjornefojord through the narrow Lukksund (with which we are lucky to have a current of 3 knots), to the Hardangerfjord. We sail a little deeper into the Hardangerfjord and then straight into the side arm Maurangerfjord. The mountains around us are getting higher and higher. Sundall is a small village with a camping site with a few floating jetties with a nice view on the famous glacier Bondhusbreen. It is even so hot that the bimini have to go on this time against the sun and the girls even go swimming (in the water that is 12 degrees ..brrrr).
The next morning it's cloudy again and a lot fresher. We'd like to take a closer look at that Bondhusbreen glacier. And in the end it will be a trip of almost 6 hours. Very nice and tiring. First the path from the valley up to a lake with a beautiful green-blue color. Then the path gets narrower and more difficult over three waterfalls (one of which is very exciting with just no wet feet). The last part up we reach the stone field with another climb to the glacier. Most of them turn around, only real climbers continue ... and so do we (through Toine and Marinthe). It's a long climb without a clear path, but at the end it's too steep and dangerous for us to turn around. Much to Marinthe's dissatisfaction. As long as the paths are small and difficult Marinthe is always (far) ahead!
The glacier used to come much lower and then they carried ice cubes from the glacier to the village that was shipped all over Europe (to hotels and large households for cooling food). Back at the boat it starts raining harder and harder and unlike yesterday it is suddenly the coldest day so far. We eat hamburgers with fries (we got them in the camping kiosk). And in the evening we play 'bare butt' (card game), with the cockpit tent on and the heating on.
The last day of the second week we sail in the drizzle out of the Hardangerfjord to Husnes. A nice marina with all kinds of facilities including a washing machine and bicycles that you can use to go to the supermarket. We read on the news that there has been a bomb attack in Oslo with a few dead, and on an island with a party meeting of the People's Party a disguised cop shooting around and about 85 people dead. What a bizarre event and an enormously disturbed person who can do such a thing. Luckily a long way from us!
Every evening we play a game with the four of us (alternately playing poker, hunting hearts, bare butts or genius) and then we crawl into bed, often quite late, while it's still completely light. It's never really dark here, only dusk between 1.00 and 3.30 am. Strange!
What do the girls do a lot when we sail .... they read all the books of Carry Slee (which you actually have to be 12 or 13 years or older for). They write their own book (in the style of Carry Slee). Especially Eline is very far away and writes very nice (who did she get that from? Not from us!).
And so we have a great second week of holiday. Halfway there!