5/29 -- Visit Fish Farm and Transfer to Hurtigruten Ship

Although snow was forecast for Bergen today and rain was possible, it was mostly pleasant, if windy. We got a late start and left for the Oygarden Aquaculture Center on one of Norway's many islands. The landscape we saw was much rockier and barren than the Norway we have seen so far.

We arrived in time for lunch, and then watched a movie about the  Norwegian fish farming industry and the Blom company specifically. They are a mid-sized company here. The movie detailed the entire fish raising process from eggs to production and emphasized a lot of the steps they take to make aquaculture safe and affordable. After the movie, we got a chance to visit a nearby fish farm. One of the best parts of the visit was the speedboat ride there and back. The boat seats were straddled, sort of like riding a well-padded skinny horse.We got a chance to ask questions and a lot of the issues we have read about concerning farmed fish were asked and answered in ways that suggest that at least in Norway, that the industry is well-regulated and many of the early problems with sea lice and escaping fish were well-understood and addressed.

Johan in front of a graphic of a pen. They hold 114,000 fish.

This pond holds steelhead trout, and there were a few
jumping all the time, but they apparently were camera shy.

It was pretty chilly, but didn't rain til we were done.

The blue blob is a little fish introduced to the pens to help
keep them clean.

View from the front of the boat on the way back.

The big gray building in the back is the museum.

Back on land, we got a pancake and either raspberry or strawberry jam before heading upstairs to a museum to learn more. We have heard before that the oil and gas industry here has been a boon to the populace, and our tour guide gave us examples of  how it has helped. Before oil riches, much of Norway's archipelago was accessible only by boats and ferries. Oil money provided the  means to build bridges and roads and significantly facilitated travel to the mainland. We were told that the museum we were in would have been impossible without  oil money at the same time that the guide recognized that this was a two-edged sword.

Early people here were fisher-farmers and it was hard work.
The growing season was limited and there were more big
rocks that tillable soil.

This is what a bedroom looked like in a typical two room
cottage.

This is called a 4 our boat. To get to Bergen from here required
9 hours of rowing each way.

This is similar to the whaling harpoon I wrote about
yesterday without the grenade. When the fins were
extended, it provided a much firmer hold on the whale.

This is a model of one of the deep water
oil rigs -- it goes down about 1500 feet.

We headed back to Bergen and our ship and got checked in. We explored a bit and considered a heavily discounted upgrade to a suite (primarily because our room is on the promenade deck and the suite was  not) but we decided to decline the great deal. Our first dinner was buffet style and the food was good. I am not that keen on fish, and those like me were advised to have the non-fish options early, because they would become more rare as we head up the coast. Fortunately at the introductory briefing, they said they publish the fixed menu each noon and if you want something else, you can ask.We will be on the boat for 6 days before disembarking at Kirkenes.

Interestingly, in emailing our guide for the next tour, we discovered he is living in one of  our first ports of call tomorrow, so we made arrangements to meet him early!

5/28 -- Explore Bergen

We started the morning with a walk to a fishing museum, located in an antique fish warehouse.

On the way, we passed a store with this rocking horse,
but Jim noticed it's really a rocking MOOSE.

Fishing has been a key industry in Norway for about forever. The building is  made of trimmed and notched logs with 'knee' pieces for strength. It looked like where the tree had branched out, but it was the bottom part of the tree and the root which made an 'L' shape and was trimmed to support the beams and window openings.

We learned about the history of herring fishing and how it crashed and has come back. In the old days before fishing got so mechanized, there were those who thought the oceans could never be fished out. And when you look at the challenges of the old fishermen, you can see why they felt that way. Herring fishing required the cooperation of several small boats and depending on finding the fish.Once technology improved, the many little guys became a few big guys: the modern equipment is so expensive and the fishing limits so tight, that only a few firms can afford to fish for herring anymore.

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Herring boat, the green thing next to it is called a fish
binoculars and lets the fisherman see where the fish are.

Similarly, the same thing happened with whales. A hand-thrown harpoon had a hard time bringing down a whale and relatively few were caught until the invention of the grenade harpoon . It had a mechanized launcher, and when it hit the whale, there was a mechanism to extend the spines around the head out to hold it in place and set off a grenade, killing the whale more quickly. When the whales around Norway were pretty much harvested out, the whalers discovered lots and lots of great blue whales around Antarctica and wiped out 200,000 of them in no time flat. Norway still hunts minke whales, which seem to be in a sustainable place with the limits put on them. Only Iceland and Japan also hunt whales.

A large part of the reason that Norway never joined the EU was to protect their fishing industry and they were even able to get the EU to agree to extend Norway's fishing rights to 200 miles from the coast. Other small countries with former fishing industries in the EU have found themselves competed out of their home fishing grounds by the EU rules that allow any member state to fish around any other member state. I suppose it makes for the best fish prices, but it has caused consternation in several EU countries we have visited.

In addition, there were a number of really interesting displays, including a bunch of rubber duckies. In 1992, a cargo ship from China was on its way to the US when bad weather resulting in a container with 28,000 rubber duckies falling into the ocean between Korea and Canada. They have been turning up around the world ever since and teaching scientists a lot about how ocean currents work.

Life size model of a Viking boat outside the warehouse.

The warehouses were actually built IN the
water to facilitate the ships unloading.

The warehouse had been used for what was called 'stockfish', meaning cod, which were dried.When the cod was caught, it was loaded to the top floor of the warehouse for sorting. There were over 30 grades sorted onto 3 floors, keeping the best stuff stayed on the top and filtering it on down, depending on the interests and demands of each client.

Before drying, the head was cut off and the tail was left on, which was how the fish was nailed to the drying racks. Once dried, they were bundled like hay and a key part of trade in the area. Bergen was an important trading port for hundreds of years, primarily exporting fish and importing staples like corn, which can't be grown in the short northern summer.

Next we watched a film about the end of the seal hunting business. Apparently, the only thing men wanted from the seals were there furs, and it became a big business. The gentleman who had inheirited a fur seal company told the story of how they worked and their downfall.  In the 60s and 70s Greenpeace started railing against seal hunting and picture of hunters clubbing baby seals to death went viral. The company owner commented that similar things were happening in slaughter houses, but it was hidden, so people didn't get up in arms. One year, he got 250,000 accusing and damning postcards and decided to shut down the business.

We also learned about how Bergen started as a trading post in the1100s and how trade grew and the face of the city changed with fires and new technology to become what it is today.

We had lunch in the museum dining room and afterwards, had a  local violinist play for us and tell us about her instrument. It is a nine-string viiolin, which her grandfather created. The top four strings are all that are directly played. The other five go under the neck and create additional resonance, sort of like how a 12-string guitar sounds more full than a 6-string.  She played several traditional tunes, including one that had quarter tones vs the standard piano scale of half tones- in between a G and a G#, there is space for another tone, called blue or quarter tones. They sound like a mistake but it isn't She called it a milkmaid's tune and she learned it by ear from an old wax recording. The mildmaids would accompany the sheep to the mountain and play the tune to bring the sheep close and to communicate with the other milkmaids in the area. Each tune was unique to one girl. I've uploaded 2 videos below -- the first one is a dance tune with an unusual beat -- 2 quick steps and 1 slower one. The second is the milkmaid tune. I am not sure you can hear the blue tones from a phone recording, but if you hear an off note, then you have.

Under the 4 top catgut strings, you can see 5 skinny metal strings.

Old boat motors hung in the dining room.

 Jim and I split off from the group and walked back along the waterfront. It has been pretty chilly here and I got worried that my fleece, light down, raincoat, and light cotton sweater would be inadequate to the task. Unfortunately, the sweaters I liked were expensive, so we kept walking further into town in hopes of finding a better sale farther from the cruise ships. However, farther from the cruise ships, we found normal people clothing for summer, not wool sweaters despite the fact that we may have snow here overnight and the ship will be heading north. On our way back, we saw a 'house' on the top of the hill and Jim realized it was where we had walked around at the top of the funicular yesterday.

This church, right by our hotel, is the oldest building
in Bergen.

 After a brief rest, we got the schedule for tomorrow and quickly realized that we were going to have to buy a sweater today or hope the shops opened before 10 tomorrow. Veera had planned a short tour of the area to talk about the Hanseatic League and Bryggen (as Bergen was called then), which is right next to our hotel. The hotel is hidden from the harbor side street, but is a massive building out of character with the historic buildings in the area, and new rules were put in place to prevent another such event. Digging out the garage weakened the supports of the nearby buildings, and there are varying degrees of tilt among the group we walked through. They used the same kind of construction as the fish warehouse and now house commercial buildings, some of which emphasize/house local artists.

The brick on the right is our hotel. The wooden building
didn't used to lean.

Hotel on the right, slanting walls on the left
with supports at the base to keep one
section from falling over.

The stone buildings were for cooking and secure storage.

 

A model of a dried cod (except it kept its head)

On the right, you can see more of the knee supports.

The buildings in front lean into each other.

At a time when there were few proper addresses
and fewer people who could read them,
decorations like this unicorn identified locations

Notice what a mess the entry door is.

After the tour, I decided more warmth was good and decided on a merino wool sweater, which I hope means I won't need a turtleneck tee to keep from being itchy, because they are out of season and not available. We had dinner in the hotel and will finish packing in the morning, since we don't leave until 10am. Then on to the ship!

5/27 -- Trains to Bergen, Start Exploring

We started out on the Flam Railway today, possibly the most scenic railroad in Norway. We traveled from the head of the fjord that cruise ships visit, but paralleled a river to Myrdal, where we boarded a train to Bergen. We had lunch, unpacked, and took a funicular to the top of Mt Floyen and walked back down.

The Flam Railway is very popular, but leaving on the first train (and without a cruise ship in the harbor for competition) meant that we had a whole car to ourselves, not just half. There are so many waterfalls and rapids and summer cabins, and steep mountains -- really impressive. The most impressive waterfall is Kjosfossen, where the train stopped between 2 tunnels (there are 20 of them) for us to see the waterfall and a summer time presentation by Norwegian Ballet students of a Huldra dancing to  Norwegian folk music. The Huldra is a mystical woman who can lure in men. She danced on top of and next to what looked like a ruined stone building. Based on her rapid transitions from place to place, this time, she was apparently two students.

The mass of people getting off to see the falls.

The Huldra is on the left here

And suddenly on the right here.

 

Myrdal Station

At Myrdal, we changed trains for a more modern and smoother ride the rest of the way to Bergen.

After lunch, we got to the hotel and unpacked. The hotel rooms here are fairly and compact, but this one challenges the idea of storage -- there are two hanging rods flat against the wall and 5 hangers, only 1 night stand, and not one drawer for stashing clothes for a day or two. There is a desk with 2 USB slots and a plug plus a tv and a very  nice bed, but I am living out of my suitcase more than usual. After a little time to catch up with the PC, we headed to a nearby funicular to ride up 900 feet up from the hotel. The top boasts spectacular views of the surroundings and a matching spectacular wind. I neglected to bring my warm hat, so my rain coat  hood had to suffice.

Inside the funicular -- we were at the top. Try to look past
the reflections to the track. It seemed steeper.

Bergen became an important trading point because it is at
the intersection of 2 fjords and is hard to access from land.
It was also the capitol of Norway before Olso was rebuilt.

 Veera offered us an opportunity to walk back down, so we jumped at it. With the bus and train rides the last few days, we have walked a LOT less than in the previous week. It was like a California fire road -- gravel with a reasonably gentle slope mostly, and took us through some interesting residential areas. We grabbed some lettuce, shrimp, chips, and taco sauce at a local grocery store for a $10 dinner.

Above and below: Trolls along the way.

The path down was probably about 1.5 miles and usually quite scenic.