Norway (part 2) and Sweden

Last time we posted a blog was from half way down the Hurtigruten route. The remainder of the trip was just as beautiful and the weather was kind. Kind of hot! Trondheim is Norway's third largest city and enjoys a major role in Norwegian history. We took a fast paced walk into town early before breakfast (so as to justify the excess calories to follow). A former capital in Viking times it has lovely parks and gardens, old buildings along canals and is home to the Nidaros Cathedral, described by some as the "symbol of Norway". In the city square is a statue of King Olaf Tryggvason who enjoyed a short but turbulent reign and goes down in posterity as the King who booted out the pagan gods and paved way for the Christians.

Pleased to meet you Peter Dass: a poet from a bygone era

bikes are a great way to get around if you don't have much time in port

The best of both worlds?

More typical scenery from the southern half of the Norwegian coast

typical street scene in a coastal town. This is a coffee shop

Torghatten: the mountain with the hole in it. Of course there's a viking legend to account for the hole, but it's a long story involving seven sisters frolicking naked in a fjord and being pursued by a lecherous viking...

and finally a sunset (albeit at 11 pm)

Trondheim's Nidaros Cathedral (the tradesmen's entrance)

and the imposing gothic facade

Beautiful old wooden buildings line both sides of the River Nid in Trondheim

Lots of colour on an otherwise grey day

And so we finally made it to Bergen and then end of the Hurtigruten cruise. A beautiful old town with lovely historic, rickety but colourful trading houses along the quay. A reminder of Bergen's past trading heyday during the Hanseatic era. Last time we were here in 2008 it was relatively easy to get around but this time the joint was really jumping. Thousands of people were in town for the annual Tall Ships racing week. Seventy three tall ships of various sizes from large sloops to 4 masted big boys (the correct nautical nomenclature escapes me at the moment). Thank goodness we booked well ahead as beds were in short supply. Anyway, we enjoyed walking around the quay late at night (especially for the colourful sunset) and again early in the morning when it was less crowded. Another breakfast feast and it was time to head for Sweden and catch up with Don and Sigrid. A lot of kilometres since we said goodbye to them in St. Petersburg - pedalling for them and public transport for us.

Sailing into Bergen

Just one of many beautiful tall ships here for the races

Bergen harbour and a few of the tall ships.

Did I say the place was packed? Standing room only.

A real festival atmosphere, complete with Oompah bands

A few too many tourists in the way (of these lovely old buildings) and they weren't movin' for nobody

Bus stop busking

A bit of colour and a bit of a crowd

Big and small

The morning after: not so busy

Don and Sigrid met us at Gothenberg airport and whisked us down to Kullavik where we enjoyed catching up over wine and dinner at Bjorn and Maria's lovely home. (Bjorn being Sigrid's brother). The next few days were spent totally relaxing aboard Bjorn and Maria's yacht as we cruised around the archipelago of the west coast of Sweden.

The sparsely vegetated archipelago of Sweden's west coast provides thousands of calm anchorages (as long as you are careful getting in there)

Bjorn at the helm

and bringing home the bacon for dinner. Careful mate, those rocks are slippery

No, it's not a dunny. It's an old lighthouse. Every three days someone would bill an oil lamp which would burn continuously. The broken window has red, clear and green panels allowing sailors to see whether they are left of right of course.

Swedish crayfish. Yum

Don and Siggy enjoy the late evening glow

'Titanic' moment or just another bad hair day? 

 And on that note we leave you. Just the flight home and a short stay in WA before we catch up with everyone in person again. Looking forward to seeing you all and we hope you enjoyed seeing some of our travels.

Bruce and Sue