Things to do near Drammen

Mum sent me an email. "Drammen doesn't look very exciting." She wasn't wrong. Some pretty bridges and a nice river, but I didn't get far from the train station while I was there.

What Drammen did do was let me spend a day exploring Horten (The sunny part of Norway! It rained the entire time I was there). Overlooking the fjord in a spot called Borre is the Midgard Historical Center.

Built in a barrows field, the center has a number of artifacts recovered from the field on display. Most of these were discovered when the barrows were being dug to lay train tracks.

A sword and a spearhead

The center also provided the most comprehensive information about life in the viking times that I've seen so far. The collection was small but very well curated.

This sword was intentionally bent out of shape before burial, the theory being that it had to 'die' to travel to the afterlife.

But even without the artifacts on display, my trip to Borre would have been worthwhile for one piece of information I gathered while there - details about Viking era Novgorod, the one city I am not able to visit on this trip. My research so far had given me everything I needed except one crucial detail - Holmgard, the fortified island on the Volga, was an earth fort, not a stone fort.

Long spearhead for stabbing, short spearhead for throwing

I'll happily recommend the center to anybody looking to fill a day in southern Norway. It only takes an hour or two to see the exhibits and has a good cafe, friendly staff, and is situated in an interesting and historic part of the country. They tell me it stops raining sometimes, as well.

A decorated thing that was buried. Really, that's what the card said!

The field the center is situated in is supposed to be the burial place of the Yngling kings, but given that the same claim was made of the barrows I visited in Uppsala, I'm not certain how much credit I'd give the theory. The Ynglings seem to be the subject of a Scandinavian pissing contest - I've got more buried than you do.

Barrows! Well, barrow.

The rest of the day was given over to getting to Oslo (bus to Skoppum, train to Drammen, pick my bags up, train to Skøyen, bus to Oslo). The next day; Viking ships.

This must be what Skyrim feels like

They say that in the south of Norway it rains more than 300 days a year. This has been a particularly wet year. I woke up in Stavanger and it was raining. I had breakfast and it was raining. I checked the ferry timetable and it was raining.

I went to Stavanger with the purpose of seeing the Pulpit Rock. No way was rain going to stop me. When a break in the weather came I jumped on a ferry, caught the bus and started a hike that over 150,000 tourists make every year. Many of them with their dogs.

Wooden path, not raining - so far so good.

The path was mostly made of rocks. When it was flat I stepped or jumped from one to the next, but more often than not it seemed to be going straight up or down and I realised, in a moment of nerdy shock, that this must be how my Skyrim character feels.

Sorry, Knut. You're a trooper.

A ways into the trek there was a signpost indicating that the marked path (spray-painted arrows) split in two - cliff path and hill path.

Does anybody pick the hill path? Does it even really exist? I have no idea.

Around the cliff path it became clear that the clouds, which had held off for most of my journey, would not hold off much longer.

Bit of weather coming in

With such a clear destination in mind (the rock, always the rock) it was tricky to take the time out to enjoy the views on the way up.

Not at Pulpit Rock yet, so not allowed to enjoy this

The last hundred meters or so were the most interesting. At one stage the path fell away, with a single rocky outcrop, only a few inches wide, provided the only foothold to cross. It was scary for me, difficult for people with shorter legs, and very interesting for those who had brought their dogs.

But it was all worth it for the spectacular Pulpit Rock...

...can you see it?

Six hundred meters straight up and completely encased in fog. In a rain cloud.

I took a few photos from the edge but they came out white. No view at all. A little to my left was a girl lying with her hands out over the space.

"Move forward," her boyfriend called. He was holding a camera. "It doesn't look like you're over."
"I'm not going forwards or backwards," she said. "I'm not moving anywhere."
"It's not much of a photo," he said.

As they pulled themselves upright I asked if they would mind taking my photo.

"Why don't I get one from over there?" Tiff offered. I agreed.
I sat on the edge with my feet out over... nothing. Tiff took a photo and checked the result. "Hang on a sec," she called. "I want to get another one."

Take the photo take the photo take the photo take the photo...

The record will show that I've sat in a similar spot on the Grand Canyon. This was a completely different experience. There is nothing beneath you, nothing at all. With the fog all around us, if somebody slipped off the edge they would just... disappear.

For scale; the white streak is a passing tour boat

Kyan and Tiff and I went exploring around the hill and found some spots where the cloud had cleared to get some better shots.

Just to prove I was somewhere awesome

It rained harder on the way back down. By the time I reached the bottom I was drenched, but happy that I had made the journey. In the forty minutes I had until the bus arrived, I amused myself by taking photos of the car park.

This isn't even scenery. This is just where I caught the bus.

I was exhausted. The pamphlet had said it was an eight hour round journey, but I was back inside six. I got a pizza to eat in my room (it was a really good pizza, they seem to make really good pizza in Norway), watched the Olympics, made some waffles (love these hotels) and went to bed.

Bergen by foot

"I want to get up the hill to take some photos," I told the guy at the counter. "Can I walk up?"
"Of course," he said. "There are lots of paths."
"What's the best way?"
He shrugged. "Go that way," he said, pointing to the hill. "If you get lost, make sure you're going up."

Turned out to be pretty good advice

At the top I found what at first appeared to be a children's park but turned out to be the setting of a low-budget horror film (I assume) with carved trolls and heads on stakes peering out at every turn.

Gah!

A shower and breakfast, and the rest of the day was spent exploring. I went to the university and saw the foundations of the St Catherine Church and Hospital.

The first women's hospital in Norway

I crossed a couple of bridges and took a bunch of photos I'm not posting here because they're not really of anything. I was staying at the end of an historical area, a bunch of buildings which, if the information outside them can be believed, are sinking into the fjord.

Bright colours indicate wealth

I was also next to a castle (with lots of families having picnics on the walls, in spite of the rain), a remnant from Bergen's days as a member of the Hanseatic League. One of the major structures within was the Rosencrantz Tower.

No Gildenstern Bridge, sorry

And, of course, Haakon's Hall.

Obviously

My last act for the day was to work out how to get the bus to Stavanger and prepare for the six hour ride.

I'm Bergen

Every few hours I would wake as the engines roared to life to pull us out from a pier. The ferry kept operating all through the night. Combined with the white night (the sun sets at night in the north, but it never really gets dark) it made for a strange sleep. I found it reassuring after a while; I never woke up wondering where I was.

I rose at what I thought was breakfast time but turned out to be not-quite-breakfast time and went to take some photos. I had to be careful not to stray too far. With an average passenger age around 86 I suspected there would be a rush for breakfast as soon as it opened.

Everyone wanted a photo of this little house

It was too windy to stay outside all day, and long stretches of bare coast provided few photo opportunities, but I felt bad sitting inside and reading (though I am reading Justin Cronin's The Passage and it is fantastic). In the end I tried to find a seat close to a window and the bow where I could check for upcoming photo opportunities.

There were many

As we approached Bergen the scenery changed. The hills and mountains became greener, the houses which had been built on strips between the slopes and the sea were built further up.

Still lots of cool islands

Entering the city from the water gives an appreciation for its layout I never got again, once I was wandering around it. Bergen is spread all about the fjord, anywhere there is land to build on.

But still very green, in summer

It was late when we got in. I had to wait for the next day to get a good view of the city from above.