I had pleasure of visiting Norway for 4 days at the beginning of this month. It’s a very clean and structured country and very Scandinavian - much like Stockholm. Straight after landing we were caught a train to Oslo then waited at the station to catch a bigger train to Bergen (1758 NOK for 2 people).
It’s a 7-hour journey, however the train has free WiFI and a restaurant car (with a fairly limited menu, but they do have beer). I’d highly recommend the train ride. You get excellent views of the country-side and the best part was we hit snow towards the end.
After 7 hours we finally arrived in Bergen. Whilst Bergen was small and intimate I’d say probably 2-3 days is enough to see this city. We only stayed for one night and managed to squeeze quite a lot in. Undoubtedly the best thing to do is to visit Fløyen. A spot up the mountain roughly 320m above sea level. From here you get the best view of Bergen city (170 NOK for two people).
After having a few meals in Bergen and checking out the fairly limited nightlife it was time to leave. We caught a bus to the airport. It is roughly 30 minutes and SAS Airlines have a convenient shuttle. From memory you pay about 180 NOK for two people. A quick 50 minute flight (with WiFi!) and we had arrived in Oslo again.
It had been a long time since my friend and I had eaten dumplings so we found a good restaurant on Trip Advisor which I can now highly recommend - http://www.tasteofchina.no/ (560 NOK for 2 people inc wine) Then we went out for drinks at some place I forgot ;(, but you can mingle with the locals and they have a heated beer garden! For breakfast the next day we went to an American diner (http://www.nighthawkdiner.com/) in the hip suburb of Grünerløkka - which reminded me a lot like Surry Hills in Sydney. The best part is they serve an all day breakfast which is a must after a late night out. Afterwards we were able to wander around and check out the local markets that happen on Saturday.
The best place we found for beers and a snack on Saturday afternoon was the Lektern Water Bar. It’s a nice open-air restaurant apparently only open in the summer. The Akershus fortress looms in the background.
For dinner on Saturday night we ate steak at a steak house. I’m a big steak connoisseur and this one was pretty average. I won’t recommend the restaurant. However the cocktails afterwards at Sudøst definitely made up for it. If you go here make sure you get the bartender named Tommy. For once I wasn’t drinking sugared water shaken by a student and actually got something decent.
That was it for Oslo apart from a quick walk around the opera house. It opened in 2008 and is definitely a feat of modern architecture. Time to head back to the airport. Buying a train ticket here is the most convient thing I’ve ever done. You simply swipe your credit card and the gates open. Again the same thing is required at the other end. Your credit card becomes your ticket. It was a beautiful day for flying and I managed to snap some pics of the Norwegian country side.
