The first part again was spectacular, going up a scenic highway for several hours and viewed many of the highest mountains of Norway. It was also the day I saw many Dutch. Seems this is an area many Dutch tourists visit, I can understand why. In general I do not see a lot of tourists, if many Dutch and some Germans.
The second part of the day was one of the worst. Although my visit to the very old wooden church of Borgund was rather nice, it started to rain again and from there to Bergen it was dark, darker and darkest as I had to pass many, many tunnels in the rain.
From Wikipedia
Borgund stave church (Borgund stavkyrkje) is a stave church located in Lærdal, Norway. It is classified as a triple nave stave church of the so-called Borgund-type. This is also the best preserved of Norway's 28 extant stave churches. It was probably built in the end of the 12th century, and has not changed structure or had a major reconstruction since that date.
The church site shows evidence of a previous building, which can point to an earlier church or perhaps an old pagan temple that had been taken into use as a church. The interior of the church, except for the pulpit and the altarpiece, is mainly free from the post-Reformation decorations seen in most other stave churches. An authentic medieval square-shaped baptismal font made of soapstone is still a part of the interior.
Several runic inscriptions are found on the walls of the church, one reads: Tor wrote these runes in the evening at the St. Olav’s Mass.
Borgund stave church is owned by Fortidsminneforeningen (The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments).
There is a replica of the Borgund stave church in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA.
I ended up in the Radisson SAS hotel in the center of Bergen and that is something you should financially not do to often.
In Bergen it is said to rain 250 days a year and guess what …..
From Wikipedia
Bergen (help·info) is a city, a municipality, and a former county, in the county of Hordaland, Norway.
The city of Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Bergen landdistrikt was merged with Bergen January 1, 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen July 1, 1915. The rural municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg and Åsane were merged with Bergen January 1, 1972. Bergen lost its status as a separate county the same date.
Bergen was the largest city in Norway until 1840 (when it was passed by Oslo). The city is divided into 8 boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad and Åsane.
The city is located on the south-western coast of Norway, in the county of Hordaland, with its center situated between a group of mountains known collectively as de syv fjell ("the seven mountains"), although the number of mountains is a matter of definition. The first to name them "the seven mountains" was Ludvig Holberg, inspired by the seven hills of Rome. Bergen is recognized as the unofficial capital of the region known as West Norway, and also recognized and marketed as the gateway city to the world famous fjords of Norway and for that reason it has become Norway's largest – and one of Europe's largest cruise ship ports of call. Furthermore, Bergen's inter-municipal harbour is by far Norway's largest port and also one of Europe's largest ports according to the inter-municipal company Port of Bergen.[1]
Time magazine named the city one of Europe's 14 "secret capitals" (August 2004), where Bergen's capital reign is acknowledged within maritime businesses and activities such as aquaculture and marine research, with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) (the second-largest in Europe) as the leading institution. Bergen is also the main base for the Royal Norwegian Navy (at Haakonsvern) and its international airport Flesland is the main heliport for the huge Norwegian North Sea oil and gas industry, from where thousands of offshore workers commute to their work places onboard the many oil and gas rigs and platforms.
Bergen was one of nine European cities honoured with the title European City of Culture in 2000.[2]
