Still in Hordaland (Norway), our next stop is Odda, a relatively small city with over 7.025 inhabitants.
As we saw in the last stop, Odda is located in a valley, which is on an arm of Hardangerfjord, itself called Sorfjorden. Odda is known for it's amazing views and hiking spots, having two of the most stunning Norwegean places; Trolltunga (Troll's tongue) and Hardanger.
The area is the 42nd largest in Norway, and the 146th largest by population (Bergen was the second).
What is a normally ~4 hour car ride was for us more than a week of activities, including: walking, running, hiking and sometimes swimming. Having fun and challenging ourselves along the way.
After this rewarding process, we were delighted with the view of the city -
There is was, covered in snow - Odda
It might have been obvious, but what surprised us the most geographically-wise, was the large amount of waterfalls and lakes, due to the location of the settlements, in valleys.
Lined within a radius of only a few kilometres, the waterfalls are: Tjørnadalsfossen, Strandfossen, Vidfoss, Espelandsfossen and Låtefoss(biggest)
We will mostly just hang out here and visit all the sites we gladly have the chance to see, including Trolltunga and Hardanger, included on the top 10 places in Norway.
Tysso I plant. Part of Smelterverk
Due to the intense migrations to work with smelters and energy generation for the country, a new dialect was born here. There are many dialects in Norway, even between very close communities the dialect can be so varied that it's not mutually inteligible.
Take your time and have a look at what we've been waiting to see here for so long!
After a well deserved 2 weeks rest, we continued our adventure from Iceland to Norway, also passing through the Faroe Islands. The entire journey was over 904 miles, both through sea and land. We thank our mages and rogues for arranging all our supplies for our stay here, including food and clothes (Luckily for us, Norway gives "right to access", right to camp for up to 2 nights on the same spot without inconvenience) since, as we have learned, life in Norway is very expensive for tourists.
A fact that we only learned on our way here (while also counting who makes the most puns with the country's name) is that Norway covers the entire coastline of Scandinavia, being the westernmost, northernmost and also easternmost of the three Scandinavian countries.
Norway covers the entire coastline of Scandinavia
Travelling by boat, practically anywhere we landed would still be 'Norway
The country's landscape is largely influenced by its shape, being very long and close to the ocean. There are more than 450.000 lakes throughout the country, giving amazing views and panoramas at any point. There are also countless islands (more than 20.000 identified) throughout, which shelters the coast from rough waters.
BERGEN
As many of us already knew, we have gotten ourselves in a world heritage city, a protected historical site with many interesting and innovative solutions, which we'll see for ourselves now.
The first stop we made was in Bergen, Norway's second largest city (after Oslo) with 250 thousand inhabitants.
The city is surrounded by seven mountains and fjords, which contributes to it's tittle of 'Europe's rainiest city', and the nickname "City of the seven Mountains"
From our research we could tell that our visits and experiences here will come mostly from the country's unique settings and solutions rather than visitor attractions, of which most are museums.
The records say the city was founded in 1070 by Olav Kyrre, and was the capital of Norway until 1299, when the title was passed to Oslo. It is a municipality in Hordaland County, today the 3rd largest by population.
The visits we are to make here include:
Edvard Grieg Museum (Troldhaugen);
Bryggen: small town from the Hanseatic League era.
Edvard Grieg, a widely known composer and pianist, and the most celebrated person from Bergen, -with numerous statues depicting his image, and many cultural entities named after him- is for us the most interesting find of this visit. He was born (15 June 1843), and died here (4 September 1907) at age 64, his and his wife's body, Nina Grieg, were buried in their former home, now made into a museum in his name, Troldhaugen.
His music is widely used in popular culture and is easily recognizable, we found that these two were the most common among us:
Although there are many more to discover, just search for his music and enjoy!
Another interesting aspect of Norwegian music is the development of the Norway Metal genre, with bands such as Burzum; a one-man Heavy-metal band by Verg Vikernes, which gets it's name from TLOTR, meaning 'Darkness' in the black speech - Ash nazg durbatulûk ash nazg gimbatul ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul (One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them) And the band Emperor, coming from Bergen.
Norway is one of Europe's most sparsely populated countries, with a population of 5 mi in a land of 385.802 km² - 50% of it being of barren mountains - (equals to 16 inhabitants per km²). It is also a very prosperous country, with free education and most basic systems, in exchange for the high taxes..
Due to this nature, we will focus in the most important cities, skipping the small stops and hopefully get to see all the regions of this enormous country.
Another 2 things surprised us once we got here; almost everyone speaks English (90% of the population), making Norway one of the most English proficient nations where English is not an official language.
Also regarding languages, there are two languages spoken; Norwegian and Sami, the latter being related to Finnish. Most Norwegians also learn French, German and/or Spanish as well, and there are also many dialects spoken around the country.
We also noticed that instead of dubbing their content, they prefer to show programs such as foreign television in their original language with subtitles, which is probably why almost everyone is fluent in English.
The other surprising fact is that Norway (Or the Kingdom of Norway) is a unitary monarchy, being so for 1.445 years, with a list of over 60 kings. The current monarch is King Herald V, with only representative power as head of state (the Prime Minister is the head of government).
As mentioned before, Norway is a very prosperous city, with extensive reserves of important resources such as petroleum, oil and natural gas, being the world's largest producer on a per capita basis outside the Middle-east. It also has the fourth highest per capita income, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund (USD 1 Trillion), world's highest Human Development Index and most importantly, the first rank on the World Happiness Report. We will look later for some practical examples of why that is.
So is life: Only after we put Norway on our map did we suddenly start seeing it everywhere, now there is a lot to see here. There is a lot of controversy about the true state of the country, with problems including immigration crisis, unemployment, socioeconomic problems and lack of privacy(some say endorsement of sick/envious behavior). Though we can't say for all of that on our own, we expect to learn much more about it, and see the country from all sides.
Edvard Grieg Museum
Museum Shuttle bus; takes to all main museums in one fare- Bus-lightrails transport in Bergen.
Bryggen, a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings in Bergen
