Stavanger to Bergen – A Coastline to Remember…

After a supremely comfortable sleep, we woke early at 6am to see Stavanger... although not conventionally ‘picture postcard’ pretty… it has a feeling of a place full of hard work and healthy sea air. A place that nature left untouched, although perhaps man has added a few port buildings!! Raw beauty that we  certainly appreciated.

After a hearty breakfast of Danish pastries(what else!), we headed around the ship on the interesting treasure trail that took in the complete ship and provided a good hour’s entertainment (after our recent efforts at treasure hunts, this was perfect practice if nothing else!

As the ship sailing serenely some 30m at times from the shore, it was a truly wonderful, breath taking journey…full of high snow lined peaks, rugged stony outcrops and then out of nowhere seemingly… a perfect grassy meadow with a brightly coloured, wood panelled farm…. picture postcard and one we will not forget (see photos)!!!!

With the ship sailing ever closer, we inched northwards in the 16hr journey to Bergen…. in and out off the small islands watching the daily life of these islanders unfold… the sheer amount of small ferries, speed boats, fishing boats and naval vessels was something to behold. These islanders clearly requires great cooperation from each other and we can’t wait to see these types of villages on our trek north to Trondheim…

But we hadn’t expected Bergen to quite capture our hearts in the way it did our parents and we’ve only scratched the surface today. It’s stunning harbour with a thriving harbour, fish market and such happy people left us wanting more. All of us feel Bergen may well follow in the footsteps of previous favourite ‘LifeinourVan’ destinations – Dubrovnik, Seville and Ille de Re… it just has that feel about it… somewhere we want to spend days exploring each and every inch of this wonderful city.

To cap it all off, we headed some 13km outside of Bergen up the fjords towards our campsite for the night at Bratlands… to be met by the most idyllic spot overlooking a lake with grassy knolls for the girls to play on… a wonderful end to a magical day…

We thought Denmark might be unbeatable… Norway has certainly put down an early challenge!!