By Athena Lucero
Recently I journeyed to the kingdom of Norway in Scandinavia, "Land of the Midnight Sun" at the top of the world in northern Europe. This slender country faces the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea and is 1,500 miles long as the crow flies. But stretch out the craggy coastline to include almost 12,000 fjords and more than 45,000 islands and it becomes a staggering 50,000 miles.
When I arrived in Oslo the weather was hot — even though part of the country is inside the Arctic Circle. But wonderful Norwegian summers are normal here thanks to the warm Gulf Stream currents. And the sun never sets between May and September, leaving the lights on for all to enjoy some of the most dramatic landscapes on the planet.
My introduction to Norway was by way of trains, boats and buses on "Norway in a Nutshell," the Oslo-Flam-Bergen-and-towns-in-between round-trip tour, the country's first, created in the late 1800s by Thomas Cook, the founder of packaged tours.
Oslo is Norway's capital, the country's financial and cultural hub, and its most populous city with 634,000 inhabitants. Parks, cafes, shops and museums were abuzz as I discovered extraordinary landmarks on a walking tour around the harbor with my energetic guide, Lory Roberts, who had played golf until 11 p.m. the night before.
The moment was surreal inside the City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place every Dec. 10, "right where we are standing," Roberts said inside the Great Hall. The award honors an individual who, as Alfred Nobel wrote in his last will, "...shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations."
Five minutes away, the Nobel Peace Center that opened in 2005 by King Harald V of Norway is a provocative and interactive venue for all ages that inspires thought, education and discussion about conflict and peace. I tiptoed through the mesmerizing Nobel Field, an illuminated "garden" co-created by American designer David Small that honors each peace prize laureate.
On the harbor's edge we wandered the cobblestone paths of the 13th-century Akershus Fortress a block from my hotel. Still a military stronghold, the fortress houses the Royal Mausoleum and the Royal Chapel, where we quietly walked in on a wedding rehearsal. It's also a relaxing place with grassy grounds and views of the fjord. (I later returned to Festningen brasserie, a fortress hot spot for dining where at 9:30 p.m. in broad daylight I delighted in peeling a bucketful of sweet succulent shrimp.)
A short ferry ride took us to the fascinating Viking Ship Museum on Bygdoy Peninsula, where I discovered the Viking ritual of burial ships. The massive Gokstad, one of the best-preserved ships on exhibit, included its contents of astonishing grave offerings buried with the noble deceased to take to the afterlife.
Inside the nearby Kon-Tiki Museum, the primitive reed vessel sailed and the maps used by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl and his crew in 1947 brought to life the powerful story of their history-making crossing over the Pacific Ocean.
The next leg of the tour was on board the Bergen Railway, northern Europe's highest stretch of train tracks. Starting at sea level, we passed peaceful farms along river banks; then rising elevations opened to a mountain wilderness of forests, high cliffs and crashing waterfalls until we reached Finse, the highest station at 4,000 feet.
At Myrdal station we changed to the Flam Railway, another engineering masterpiece and one of the world's steepest rail lines, for the descent into Flam, a village of 400 inhabitants just 6.5 feet above sea level. Trains and ships with passengers from around the world converge at this depot in the wild and launch site for fjord excursions.
I stayed the night at Flamsbrygga, a rustic hotel with an award-winning microbrewery where traditional Nordic dishes paired with great beer-tasting made for a good night's slumber.
On the trek west to Bergen I imagined the first intrepid men and women who blazed this trail by horseback and on foot as we floated effortlessly through the Aurlandsfjord and the World Heritage Site Naerofjord to Gudvangen, boarded a coach for a breathtaking mountain road trip to Voss, then caught a train that whisked us off to the coast.
Bergen's busy train station is smack in the heart of Norway's second-largest city and was a 10-minute walk from my lodging. Surrounded by mountains and a jungle of fjords, Bergen was the country's first capital and a major player in the powerful Hanseatic shipping alliance between the 12th and17th centuries. The remains of its ancient wharf, Bryggen, and the merchants' quarter is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today's Bergen is youthful and cosmopolitan with an international population of 273,000. It's renowned for world-class arts and culture, including an avant-garde music scene considered among the best in Europe. At its historic Fish Market, fishmongers sell the freshest catch from the fjords, rivers, lakes and shoals — salmon, cod, stockfish, halibut and trout, lobster, crab, mussels, scallops and shrimp.
A visit to Bergen really is not complete without hopping onto the popular funicular (wheelchair accessible) that has operated since 1918. The steep ride 2,800 feet up to Mount Floiyen transports guests in seven minutes to a restaurant, play area for kids, hiking trails, and stunning vistas of Bergen, the old wharf and the sea.
Norway is rich not only in wild natural beauty but also in oil after its discovery off the coast during the late 1960s. It's among the world's top oil exporters and the oil capital of Europe, and the port city of Stavanger is the hub of the country's oil industry. So before returning to Oslo I booked a 45-minute flight south to Stavanger and discovered a fabulous destination with a lively harbor, a haven for gastronomy, shops, art galleries, museums and the charm of Old Stavanger - all within walking of my hotel.
Who knew that the Petroleum Museum could be so much fun? Through interactive and entertaining exhibits I got the full lowdown on petrol — where it comes from, how it is produced and how it is used.
But before the oil boom, fishing and canning (brisling and fish balls) were Norway's main industries. A visit to the Canning Museum housed in a former canning factory was a glimpse into Stavanger's once thriving past - machines, former living quarters, photographs and film footage of workers, and fantastic displays of vintage labels brought history back to life.
Stavanger is also the access city for the adventurous from around the world who hike two and a half hours to Pulpit Rock, a natural flat-topped formation the size of a helicopter landing pad. For the rest of us, though, the next best thing is a cruise on the Lysefjorden for a neck-breaking view from below of the granite mountain plateau that towers like a skyscraper almost 2,000 feet above the fjord.
In a nutshell, Norway, in more ways than one, really is at the top of the world.
WHEN YOU GO
The dollar's current favorable exchange rate makes this year a great time to travel to Norway: $1equals 7.9 NOK (Norwegian Kroners)
To get there: www.scandinavianair.com
To get around: Bus passes are available at www.nor-way.no, train passes at www.nsb.no. (The website offers the option of reading it in English.)
For general information: www.visitnorway.com, www.visitoslo.com, www.visitbergen.com, www.regionstavanger.com
Go to www.fjordpass.com for up to 50 percent discounts on hotels, car rentals and attractions.
For tours: www.fjordtours.com.
I stayed in modern, comfortable hotels everywhere I went: Grims Grenka Hotel, Oslo: www.firsthotels.com; Flamsbrygga Hotel, Flam: www.flamsbrygga.no; Basic Hotel, Bergen: www.basichotels.no; Comfort Hotel Square, Stavanger: www.nordicchoicehotels.com.
Athena Lucero is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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