On the Road to Bergen (Norway)

We did not surrender to jetlag, and started the day early to pick up our rental car. The rooms of the Best Western hotel we stayed overnight had the spartan charm of a youth hostel but their breakfast buffet was first class. We hit the road by 9 AM.

Somewhere along the route we stopped at a glass factory and museum but we didn't visit as we felt that we were already falling behind schedule.

The roads were in fairly good condition, and the weather started out beautifully. We imagined that it could have been a nice trip on motorcycles, too.

The gorgeous vistas reminded us of places we've seen in other parts of the world such as Canada.

You could imagine being in the Okanagan Valley in BC...

...or somewhere in Kananaskis Country in Alberta.

We climbed higher and higher, and the roads became smaller and smaller...

Our car, a Nissan Juke did a good job so far but we dearly missed our Audi on this route.

We entered the famous Fjordland and found ourselves surrounded by huge and steep mountain walls.

Vegetation became sparse as we continued our climb into the mountains. Soon the thermometer took a dive down to 0C (32F) and below.

The center-line ceased to exist and the roads became narrower and twistier. What the...?

It slowed us down a fair bit and we had another 250 km ahead of us. But we had sun and blue skies an a clear view... at least for a while.

It didn't worry us too much except for the fact that there was almost no other traffic encounter.

The mountain pass impressed us with stunning vistas of snow capped mountains and glaciers.

And then we hit the clouds and it started snowing. Did it really have to?

We suddenly became very happy about the fact that we drove a 4WD. Eventually the road descended in twists and hairpin turns.

We drove through countless tunnels (the longest being 11km) and were welcomed by more breathtaking views and a climate change. This must be were the Trolls (mystic figures of the Scandinavian folklore) live.

Vegetation became greener again, temperatures where climbing higher, and it started raining for a while.

But in between we had dry spells in which the clouds were torn apart by wind gusts and opened up grand vistas of Norway's signature landscape.

The final leg to Bergen was uneventful as we were driving into dawn, and traffic had picked up a little (there must be a vehicle somewhere in that picture).

We arrived in Bergen, the second largest city of Norway at 5PM, after an eight hour drive for a distance of 480km (300 mls).

View towards Bryggen quais.

The town was incorporated in 1070, it was Norway's capital once, and still is Europe's rain capital.
2,250 mm (89 in)  in Bergen compared to 1,588 mm (62.5 in) in Vancouver area. And here I thought it would rain a lot at the We(s)t Coast. I will never complain ever again about the weather in Vancouver.