DEEL 3

Zaterday 16 June 2012

Reine - Kabelvåg: 133km

We hit the road to Kabelvåg. We stop half way at in Stamsund, but the small fishing village does not live up to our expecations based on what the Rough Guide told us. We carry on along a very nice coast line on the south shore of the island of Vestvågøya. We follow the coast until the bridge to Austvågøya. From there it is a short drive to Kabelvåg. Ik thought we had booked a cottage at the Tyskhella Rorbu, but the reception is closed. With some difficulty I manage to get the phone number and the office turns out to be somewhere in the village centre: "It is the yellow house you should be looking for", is the somewhat vague direction we are given. We do find it however. Our Rorbu is not ready yet and we have to wait for an hour. We do that drinking a soft drink outside the café/restaurant Præstenbrygga on the central square, that is a bit oversized for a small place like this. After an hour the cottage has been cleaned and we can drive there. We find out we have rented a Statsbu. That is a fisherman's hostel, built in 1932 by the government for the benefit of the fishermen. They got better housing conditions and become less dependent on the greedy owners of the Rorbu, who used to charge a large proportion of the fisher's catch as a rent. The house is situated nicely on the waterfront is relatively spacious. Each house has been diveded up into 4 appartments, two downstairs and two upstairs. Our downstairs appartment gives access to a terrace. The kitchen is slightly primitive, but offers enough equipment to cook us dinner.

Erik goes out shopping for dinner and lunch. Around 5 we have dinner followed by coffee at Præstenbrygga. After that we drive to Henningsvær, about 18 km back along the road we came. The village is at the end of an isthmus (followed by tow bridges to an island). It is picturesquely set against the backdrop of huge snow capped mountains. The evening sun makes it even more enjoyable. We walk around the village before return to our cottage in Kabelvåg. Back in our cottage we watch some Dutch tv on our computer (there is no tv) and turn in for the night.  i

Weather: sunny, 16°C/61°F.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Kabelvåg - Harstad: 152km

We are on our way to Harstad. Harstad is on the Vesterålen-islands. We pass a fair number of tunnels and bridges before we reach Hinøya one of the Vesterålen islands. The mountains are lower here, the landscape is more rural and agricultural and we see more houses and farms than on the Lofoten. We drive along a number of beautiful fjords. We reach the jetty at Flesnes for the ferry to Refsnes crossing the Gullesfjord. The crossing takes around 20 minutes. Then it is another 45 minutes to Harstad. We have booked a room at the Clarion Hotel Atlanticus. Fine hotel on the quays. After installing ourselves in the room we drive on to the medieval Trondenes church. The church dates back to the 14^th century and has served as fortress for some time. It is a stone structure surrounded by a defensive wall. Unfortunately this chuch does not open for visitor before next weekend. We have coffee on the outdoor terrace of the historic museum also on the Trondenes peninsula about a 2.5 km out of Harstad. Then we want to have a look at the Adolf Gun, the largest piece of artillery from the Second World War. It is located on a working military barracks of the Norwegian Army. Guided tours are available from the 18th of June, so we are one day early. There is nothing we can do about that so we return to Harstad, which is not a very attractive place and on a Sunday as good as dead. Back to the hotel. I make my way to the gym for excecises. Later in the evening we make use of the dinner buffet, which is included in the room price. It is not top notch, but good enough to eat and above all it is free. 

Later that evening we go out for coffee at the café Metzo downtown. At 8.45 it is time for the Netherlands' final match in the group phase of the Euro 2012 tournament. The Dutch team suffers its third and final defeat 2-1 against Portugal. il

Weather: 17°C/63°F. Sunny morning, overcast later. Some rain in the afternoon. 

 

 Monday 18 June 2012

Harstad - Melbu - Svolvær: 158km

The serve a great breakfast at the Clarion Collection Hotel Atlanticus. There is a drunken guest in the breakfast room, but he does not bother us. Today we drive most of route we came on yesterday. After the ferry to Refsnes we turn in the direction of Sortland, however on the isladn of Langøya. We get there via a high and long bridge spanning the Sortlandssund. On this island of the Vesterålen we follow the Eastern coastline until Melbu. The route to Melbu is very green. Lots of farms and forests. And quite a number of settlements, at least againt North Norwegian standards. In Melbu we have to wait for an hour for the next ferry to Fiskebøl. We kill the time with shopping at the local super market. The crossing toFiskebøl on the Lofoten takes 25 minutes. From there it is another 30 minutes to Svolvær, the largest town in the Lofoten. He we drive to Svinøya, an islet with lots of Rorbuer cottages. We have rented one. Nice little house and stylishly furbished with waterfront views. The doors and ceiling are quite low so we cannot help bumping our heads a couple of times.  When we have settled in we go and have a look at downtown Svolvaer. We have coffee and cake at the bakery. After that we walk around a bit, but Svolvær is not spoilt for sights. There are lots of services like schools, a hospital and some supersized shops. The town's only charm is its setting in a beautiful scenery. But we are a bit exhausted and don't feel like venturing out much. We could have taken a closer look at the typically shaped mountain peak, which is popular among climbers.  \

After our home cooked meal we watch Spain beat Croatia 1-0.

Weather: some cloud and sunny spells. No rain. 15°C/59°F.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Svolvær - Skutvik - Bodø: 2 hour ferry crossing and 238 km drive

We have breakfast in our cottage and then drive out to the harbour for our crossing to the mainland. The boat leaves promplly at 8.15. It is a smooth crossing and we first call on the island of Skrova aan. This apparently a destination for day trekkers. We continue for our crossing to Skutvik. We arrive there at 10.30. From there we drive towards the E6 or the Atlantic highway. First we pass the village of Hamarøy and the farmstead of Hamsund, the childhood house of Nobel Prize laureate and author Knut Hamsun (1859-1952). Hamsun grew up in this area in modest circumstances. Later he got international acclaim for his innovative novel Hunger (Sult). In 1917 he received the Nobel Prize for literature. In his later work the bond between man and his native earth becomes more prominent in his work. For Hamsun that relates to this region. During the Second World War and occupation he supported the Nazis and became a very controversial figure. He even had meetings with Hitler and Goebbels. It was not until recently that his work is getting a more positive critique in his home country. A few kilometres further down the road we see a goose standing by the side of the road. We take some pictures, but the animal is not bothered in the least. Then we have the best part of 3  hours left for our journey to Bodø. The highway, the E6, takes us through countless tunnels along the coast, lakes and fjord. It is the only road, as Norway is merely 20 km wide in this part of the country. Now and then the road takes to higher grounds where the lakes are still frozen. We do not see any villages of significance until we reach Fauske. We stop here for coffee. I have been here before, some 30 years ago. Then it is another hour through brand new tunnels to Bodø. There we stay again at the Youth Hostel. We are fined Nkr 500 (75 euro) for parking to close to a bus stop. The parking wardens are very much on the ball here. We have dinner in the Hostel's kitchen (accompanied with a bottle of wine from the Vinmonopolet) and go out for coffee at the Melkebaren - a café cum ice cream parlour downtown. Then we watch another football match in our room: England-Ukraine, 1-0.

Weather: clouds with sunny spells.16°C/61°F

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Bodø - Oslo: 1 hr and 10 mins flight

We get up a bit early and go for breakfast in the railway station's restaurant (included in the Hostel price). After that we drive up to the airport. Not more than 5 minutes. We hand in the car key and get the advice to pay the parking ticket ourselves at any post office in Norway. We drop off our bags and stop for coffee in the cafeteria. After the security check we wait for our boarding call for our SAS flight to Oslo. We leave on time at 10.20am and arrive around 11.30 at Gardemoen airport. We have to wait a while for our bags before we can buy tickets for the Flytog (170kr.) from a ticket machine. This is the high speed train to Central Oslo. We could have just as easily swiped our credit card through a terminal and use the card as a railway ticket. The high speed train does the 80 km in 20 minutes. It leaves every ten minutes. In Oslo we deposit our bags in safe at the railway station and walk over to the Norwegian Opera, the new music and dance theatre on the quays of the Oslofjord. It is an impressive bright building with sloping roofs that can be climbed. The slopes are used as a sunbahting spot but also as stands for open air concerts like earlier this week by Justin Bieber. At 2pm we have booked a guided tour through the building by a former opera singer. We are led backstage, along costume and stage workshops and have a look in the hall itself. The stairs and galleries that give acces to the balconies form a spiral, but the width of the floor and the floor itself is uneven (on purpose) which plays games with your sense of orientation. 

After the tour we buy a  72 hour Oslo pass  at the tourist office. THis allows us unlimited travel on public transport and free access to dozens of museums and attractions. We take the tram to Cochs Pensjonat on the edge of the Slottspark near the royal palace. We are very tired, but the street below our window is under reconstruction and there is a hell of a noise. Erik asks for a room at the back of the hotel and that is no problem.

Later we have dinner al fresco across the street at Lorry's pub and restaurant. The food is fine and reasonably priced.

We walk off dinner in the slottspark and take some pictures of the palace guards. \

Weather: in Oslo 19°C/66°F. Sunny

Thursday 21 June 2012

We do some shopping at the  Kiwi supermarkt and eat our breakfast in our spacious room. We then go for coffee at the café next door called Kaffebrenneriet before we walk to the nearest post office to pay our parking ticket. It is bright and sunny day. We take the bus to the Munch-museum on the other side of the city. It takes us 20 minutes to get there. The museum does not open before 10am so we have to wait for a bit. The museum's collection is not too big and consists only of Munch's own collection which he left to the Norwegian state at the time of his death.  Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is by far the most famous Norwegian painter. We start right at the museum's centrepiece, The Scream (1893). It is not the first Screaam - that one is in the National Museum - but a very fine one. The painting is flanked by two works dating back to the same period: Anxiety (1894) and Despair (1893). Next is an exhibition around the painting Puberty, a nude of a young girl, followed by paintings around different themes and from various periods of Munch's carreer. After some 45 minutes we have covered the lot. Security has been tightened a bit, since thieves took the Scream from the wall a few years ago walked out the front door with it in broad daylight! Fortunately the painting was recoverd and so were the vilains. These days we have to pass through airport style security checks.

After the museum we take the bus to Vigelandpark. We both have been here before, but it remains an extraordinary attraction: all those statues of nude men and women in a perfect composition, depicting all phases of life and emotions. It culminates in a 20 metre high obelisk, representing the circle of life according to Vigeland. Entwined manfigures, who play, fight, learn, love, eat and sleap. Vigeland started work on the park in 1924 and had not finished it when he died 20 years later. We take the underground and tram back to the pensjonat.

In the afternoon we explore the city centre. The side walk café's are filled and the Norwegians enjoy the fine weather. We drink a lovely cocktail at Ett Glas, a gay bar in Rosencrantsgaten around the corner from the central boulevard Karl Johansgate. We return to the hotel and later at night we take a tram to  Arakataka, a fine restaurant in an unlikely neighbourhood, where we have a great dinner: Erik has a lamb shank and take a Hake fillet. For desert Erik has a rhubarber mousse while I choose a apple granité. 

Back at the pensjonat we watch the Czech Republic play against Portugal. Portugal wins 1-0 with a goal by Ronaldo.

Weather: sunny 21°C/70°F.

Vrijday 22 June 2012

We have breakfast in our room and coffee at Kaffebrenneriet next door. We take the tram downtown and walk towards the waterfront behind the City Hall. There wait for the departure of the hop-on-hop-off mini-cruise, which is included with our   72 hrs Oslo Pass. The boat trip takes from the Town Hall quay to the opera. Next is a bee line around the island of Hovedøya - an islet filled with summer cottages - towards the Bygdøy peninsula, where the major museums are. Those museums (Norwegian Folk museum, Viking Ship Museum, Fram Museum en Kontiki Museum) we have visited on previous trips to Oslo, so we stay in our seats for the final leg back to the Town Hall. At noon we join the guided tour through the town hall. The idea for a new town hall came up after Norway got its full independence in 1905. The construction was held up by the German occupation between 1940 and 1945. In 1950 the building, designed by Poulsen en Arneberg was finally and officially opened. It is a modern building with two large towers, that house the offices. They are resting on a low rise building which open to the public. Here we find the reception hall and the council's meeting room. The concentrates on the art in the enormous hall. The art is nationalist and historical. One wall painting tells the story of the war time occupation, the other has social and mythical background. The large hall is also the scene for the annual award ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize. A few days before our visit the Birmese winner of 1991, got her ceremony because her house arrest prevented her from attending at the time. We also get a look at the reception rooms on the first floor, except for the wedding hall, which heavily used today. A couple goes in every ten minutes. This way we miss out on Edvard Munch's only painting the building. In a corridor we see a presentation of gifts the city received from highly placed visitors like the glass plate our Queen Beatrix gave in 1986 when she was here on State visit. After the visit we have a coffee at Kaffebrenneriet on the waterfront. Next on our list is the Nobel Peace Center, devoted to peace and the Prize winners since 1901. 

At the end of the afternoon we take the Holmenkollen train to the Ski jump tower with the same name. The rail road is now part of the underground system, but is special in the sense that it continuously climbs from below ground to a height of 270 meters above sea level. And that is not the end of our ascent, which takes another 15 minutes uphill to the Ski museum and the entrance to the  Holmenkollen Jump Tower, Norway's national Ski stadium. The new tower was opened in 2010. It is 60 meters high and the slope 96 meters long. The first tower was built here in 1892. The tower has been adapted and rebuilt 19 times since then. Once up there we are rewarded with a magnificent view of Oslo and its surroundings. The weather gods are in a good mood: Oslo is bathing in sun light. The Norwegian Ski Museum is in the base of the tower.

We take the underground back into town and with tram and bus we get back to Cochs pensjonat and immediately on to  Peppes Pizza for a substantial Norwegian style Pizza. Peppes is all around in Norway, but this is the first time we actually sit down in one. Not bad at all, certainly a mark up from the Pizza Hut. Later in the evening we go out and drop in on the gay bar The London Pub. After a pint (45 kroner) we move on to Ett Glas, where we had a cocktail the day before. The crowd is a bit trendier her and somewhat younger. The bar has an open front looking out at the Grand Hotell. After a drink we go back to the hotel and watch the second half of Germany against Greece. The Mannnschaft wins easily with 4 goals to one.

Weather: partly cloudy with lots of sunshine. 18°C/64°F.

Saturday 23 June 2012

Oslo - Amsterdam - Rotterdam: 1 hour and 50 minutes flight

It  is a cloudy morning, but certainly not cold. We take our bags and enjoy another coffee Kaffebrenneriet. Then we take the tram to the railway station, where lock away our bags. We walk into town at shop for some souvenirs at Norway Designs on Stortinggata. We then stroll to the waterfront and walk down the Akersbrygge quay. This a redevelopment of a former shipyard. Lots of appartments, offices, restaurants and shops, among which the infamous Lofoten Fiskerestaurant.

We enjoy the views a some sunshine as well. We walk around the harbour towards the fortress Akershusfestning and the cruise terminal, but there is no cruise ship moored this time round. We have drink outside, but very dark clouds are approaching and we go for the shops for shelter. We end up the department store of  Steen & Ström. A grand upmarket store with lots of fashion, but lots more expensive than at home. We leave the store to prevent further torture and walk towards the railway station. Once their a torrential rainstorm comes down. We arrived just in time. We retrieve our bags and make our way to the Flytog train to Gardemoen airport. On Saturdays the train departs every 15 minutes and we have the 2.25 train. 20 minutes later we are at the airport. We drop off our bags and clear security. Than it is just a matter of waiting for our flight to be called. We take off at 5.25 and the flight is uneventful.

At Amsterdam Airport our bags are off the belt before we know it and on we go to the high speed train back home to Rotterdam

weather: cloudy 17°C/63°F

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