Author: Manny Kagan

How Long to Stay in Bergen

The last stop on our cruise along the Norwegian Fjords was to the second largest city in Norway – Bergen. We decided to stay there for three days, after the cruise. It is a picturesque city with a population of about 280,000 people. Our hotel, a converted stock exchange building, was located in the heart of the city. From one window we saw the harbor and the fish market, from another, was the square with a bronze statue of Ludwig Holberg wearing a wide hat (how many people today know who he was?), which serves as the resting place for the local seagulls (I think Bergen has more of them than pigeons).

Bergen is an old port town, where trading started as early as 1020. Today the main trade comes from tourists from all over the world, primarily from Germany and England. For the Americans to feel not too far from home, there is a 7-Eleven on the Main Square with a McDonald’s and Starbucks around the corner. I will not bore you with the details of Bergen’s 1000 years of history. Instead, I will share with you why we stayed here for three days. While in Norway every employee has five (5!) weeks of paid vacation, it is a luxury for many of Americans, who when traveling abroad, try to visit as many places as transportation will take them on a shorter trip. When I travel, I prefer to explore the area leisurely, connect with the locals, visit streets away from the tourist traps, to visit museums and book stores.

Bergen is surrounded by water, and there is also a beautiful lake and a huge park at the top of a mountain, which tourists can reach by walking or taking a funicular. From Bergen you can also take a boat to see the Fjords. We were lucky with the weather, it was similar to summer weather in San Francisco; while in June (before our arrival) it rained nonstop in Bergen for twenty days. It seemed that everyone there spoke English. We felt that a three-day stay was enough for us. The next and final destination of our trip was Stockholm. You will read about it next week.

P.S. After taking photos with my two cameras on our visit to Bergen, I had difficulty to choose four images to share with you. I decided to focus on some of the encounters we had along the way. While we strive to go abroad for “special” encounters, you can have many of them at home, here in San Francisco. You can see many of my encounters in my book,“42 Encounters in San Francisco”. This book can serve as an excellent gift for anyone you want to thank on this Thanksgiving holiday or even by sharing it during your family holiday gathering.

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Why People Like to Travel Abroad

The question why people are willing to subject themselves to the rigors of foreign travel, came to me during a very brisk walk to see a famous cathedral in one of the cities we visited, whose name I do not even remember, on our journey through the Norwegian fjords. Our ship stopped in this town for two hours, during which we had to fulfill every tourist’s duty: to find a local attraction, to take an obligatory picture and to run to another “very important point of interest”. From there we would rush back, since my wife heard a story about a woman who was late and her ship sailed without her. Though I had very limited time to take yet another picture, I managed to photograph a column with a statue of some important dude on top of it. I snapped a closer photo of the statue, so I could later look back to see that the statue was of Olav Trygverson. In Wikipedia I learned that Mr. Trygvason (a slightly different spelling) was king of Norway from 995 to 1000, and according to later sagas, the great grandson of Harold Fairhair, the first king of Norway. In the image background you can see the spire of the famous cathedral, but what you do not see in the photo (but I have images as a proof), is a McDonald’s restaurant on the left, a Burger King on the right, and a 7-Eleven on the other corner.

Why do we travel so many miles, spend a lot of money, do not sleep on the plane, suffer from jet lag for days, sleep in a tiny cabin, suffer from muscle pain from a lot of walking, and eat too much food? Just to take too many photos of yet another sunset or someone’s statue? Of course each travel experience is different. My wife talked about taking another trip to Norway where we could explore the islands and drive leisurely using a ferry from one picturesque fishing village to another (Many Norwegians do not have to catch fish any more to make a living and have converted their cottages into B & B’s). On the board of our ship we met tourists from Poland, France, Sweden, Tasmania (Australia), Italy, Wales and many from Germany. Personally, I found it slightly ironic that Germans would visit and spend their money in Norway, after their parents and grandparents were occupying forces, which along with the Soviet Army created a huge amount of damage to this beautiful country. When I told my new friend from Wales that I am going to write a story about this and asked him rhetorically, “Why do people travel?” His response was, “To meet interesting people” and then immediately added; “I did not have you in mind.” Oh well. At least he agreed to be part of one of my next photo-story projects “42 Encounters with 50+ couples”.

Stay tuned.

P.S. I decided to include mixed images for this story. The statue of Olav is located in the center of Trondheim (I encourage you to read the fascinating story of his life and the interplay in geography and politics). Over one thousand years ago, Nidaros Cathedral, which was built over the burial site of Saint Olav from 1070 to 1300, and has a remarkable history. The man I met on the street of the same city called himself a pilgrim who walked to Trondheim from Oslo (somehow he had to cross water). And the last two images are of a nice fellow traveler. Perhaps there are good reasons to travel, after all; to meet interesting people, to photograph them and to share their images with you.

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What is the Arctic Circle?

This is a third story about our journey through the Norway Fijords. If you’ve never heard about the Arctic Circle, you are not alone, as neither had I. Our ship just passed the latitude 66°32’ N, known as the Arctic Circle, which is an imaginary line drawn around the northern part of the world. This is the point at which the Sun appears above the level of the horizon on the winter solstice. The Antarctic Circle which has the altitude 66°32’ S and the Arctic Circle both create the Polar Circle. Crossing the line took maybe a minute, but there are traditions connected with this momentous event, which take much longer. In one of them, a person dresses in a God of Neptune costume, and pours ice-cold water on someone’s back (we were told that this was done on the trip in the opposite direction).

Our experience was not so dramatic. On the upper deck, the Captain and the first officer poured out a bottled drink called Moller’s Tran into a special spoon, which we could keep as a souvenir. Tasting the drink brought me back to my childhood memories, when my mom forced me to drink fish oil (this is what Moller’s Tran is). It is not pleasant in taste, but is supposed to be very good for your health (nowadays I take four capsules of Cod Oil a day, instead). The oil came from salmon, which Norway is known for. We were told that the Norwegian salmon you buy in the store is farm raised. Three years after the hatching it is ready to be shipped on ice to Poland or Latvia, where it is processed. Turns out, this is a cheaper and more effective way to get fish to other countries. After the Pope endorsed Norwegian salmon for the Friday Night Dinner it became a huge demand for the famous brand in Italy.

During the cruise, we tried different kinds of local fish with our meals. Food was plentiful and everything was very delicious. I had dessert three times a day (In San Francisco I rarely have any). Sitting in the dining-room looking around, listening to people who speak various languages and live in many different countries, I wondered what it takes to connect and bridge the gap between people. One answer could be – good food. There is only one problem with this idea. After having too much of good food, buffet style, I could not close my pants. My resolution is to bring my weight back to 175lb. Will keep you posted.

P.S. As crossers of the Arctic Circle, we received an official certificate, which I can frame next to my other diplomas. Besides, I have at least three witnesses, who for some reason made funny faces when it happened (perhaps the taste of the Moller’s Tran was to blame for that).

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A Once In A Lifetime Journey

The National Geographic called the Norwegian Fjord cruise “The World’s Most Beautiful Voyage”. We began it in Kirkenes (I wrote about it last week) and ended in Bergen, six days later. Some travelers take the cruise in the opposite direction or both ways. There are a total 34 stops in small places along the way. Originally, this route was a local mail and passenger route in smaller and less comfortable ships. But even now some people just move from one place to the next. I met a young Russian couple with a child from Murmansk on the ship, who came on board with their own car and were planning to get off somewhere and slowly drive back while staying overnight in small fisherman villages. Our ship had 531 passengers being served by 80 crew members. Both travelers and service people were from all over Europe. We heard different languages spoken, but the main communication was in English. The majority of the passengers were young at heart, and some were young in age – who came on the trip together with their small children.

The journey was in the Norwegian Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean. We signed up for three excursions, which were quite costly. One of the excursions we decided not to go on was to visit the “Sea Eagle Safari”, which was $200.00 per person. On some of the stops we just ventured out on our own, like a place called Hammerfest, a town established in 1789 and is known as northernmost town in the world.

The area we passed on the way used to be mostly known for its fishing production, but today the area is more known for tourism, with the homes of fisherman now functioning as B&Bs. One of the islands with the population of only 1,500 people has 5 theaters. The area is so picturesque that we talked about coming back and staying overnight in one of those places and exploring islands by car on our own. The whole experience of being on the ship was very pleasurable. Every day we were surrounded on both sides with the ever-changing Fjords, with a few homes here and there painted in red and white along the shores. It felt as the ship was just gliding past them. Our small cabin was very comfortable and the food on the ship’s restaurant was superb. We rested, read, photographed and while writing my stories, I thought about how much you might enjoy this journey, as well. Feel free to call me for advice.

P.S. As it is typical in a situation like this, I had difficulty choosing four images out of close to three thousand images that I photographed along the way.

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When Was The Last Time
You Visited Kirkenes?

Our trip to the Norwegian Fijord started in Kirkenes, where we flew in from Oslo. It is located in the Northern part of Norway, only fifteen miles from the Russian Border. What most surprised us when we got there were the signs written in Russian. Kirkenes is located close to Murmansk and there is a visa-free zone between Russia and Norway where people can visit each other. When we lived in Riga, Latvia was part of the former Soviet Union. We were taught in the Russian language in school and learned that Murmansk was a place where political prisoners were sent to camps. If we had more time in Kirkenes, we would take a bus ride to see Murmansk. But we came here just for a day.

The next morning, we boarded the ship belonging to the Hurtigruten Cruise Line, to begin our journey from Kirkenes to Bergen along the Norwegian Fjords. The same company can take you on Arctic and Antarctic Expeditions. In Wikipedia I found out that “Geologically, a fjord or fiord in English is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created by glacial erosion.” (I also learned that as a first name, Fjord translates to a very idealistic and generous person, with a strong desire to uplift humanity leading to the expression to serve others). Until 1926, Kirkenes was jointly occupied by Norway and Russia when the borders among Russia, Finland and Norway were set. It was the place that was most bombed by the Russians during World War Two. One of the local tourist attractions is a visit to the vast underground bunker built during World War Two, which provided shelters to the town’s residents.

Today the town is a tourist destination all year round, for those who want to take a cruise, see The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), or take a dog led sled drive in the winter, when you can visit the Kirkenes Snowhotel, the coolest hotel in the world. We stayed at the Thon Hotel Kirkenes, located on the bank of the river with very calming water and the view of the entrance into the Fjord. The food in town was very good. In our hotel’s restaurant there were two specials: jumbo crab, which is five times bigger than the one you can get in San Francisco (one of the local attractions is the “Jumbo Crab Safari” where you can catch your own crab monster) and reindeer meat. Reindeer are owned and herded by the local Sami people. Since I did not eat either of those local specialties, my choice was the Norwegian salmon, which for obvious reasons was much fresher and tastier than the ones we buy at Costco. In the next few weeks you will be able to read more stories about our journeys through Norway.

P.S. We were in Kirkenes during the “white nights”. The sunset started at about 8pm, and after 10pm it was still light out, as you can see from the gorgeous sunset I photographed through our hotel window. When I woke up at about 3am, the sky was already lit and covered with clouds. In the morning, the drizzling rain made the scenery look even more dramatic. Soon we bordered our ship, which you can see approaching Kirkenes. Five beautiful panoramic images, which I am sharing with you, were a good start for our journey.

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