European Holiday 2025 - Bergen, Norway

My wife and I loved Bergen.  It probably didn't hurt that the journey to get there (see previous post) was the most amazing train/bus journey I have ever experienced.  The views as we travelled through the mountain region of Hardangervidda National Park were a highlight, with snow and ice covering the ground despite the Summer Sun in the sky.  We even stopped for a few minutes at Finse which featured on the big screen as the planet Hoth in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back".

Our hotel in Bergen was located on the historic harbour opposite the picturesque Bryggen.  After checking in and grabbing some dinner from a Norwegian hamburger shop ("Holy Cow") we walked around the dock to the UNESCO world heritage site with its bright coloured buildings and triangular shaped roofs.

While exploring the area and entering many of the shops, we suddenly realised that despite the deceptively beautiful blue sky above, and the many other tourists around us, the time was actually 11pm !  That was a strange experience.

The next morning it was time to explore.  We found this telephone box containing a community library beside the harbour.

We also found a Nitri book store as we had in Oslo.  Such a well presented store.  I couldn't find any James Bond titles however they did have an Agatha Christie book display which included a companion book to her novels in which you could fill in the details of each crime novel you read such as the synopsis, the victim and the killer(s).  This might be an interesting idea to duplicate for the James Bond novels.

On the opposite side of Strandgaten was Ark Beyer.  Like Nitri we were already familiar with the Ark chain from Oslo.  A lovely, well laid out book store with friendly and helpful staff.

Near the harbour was Outland Bergen, a massive pop-culture store selling everything from games to collectables figures.  They also had a large collection of books for sale which were mostly sci-fi, fantasy and anime.  Regardless I couldn't find many James Bond items available, but with the last Bond film "No Time To Die" having been released in 2021 it's probably not a surprise.

A little further away were two other book stores, Boksalongen Bokhandel...

... and Litteraturhuset.  Both of these book stores were in the midst of a literary event where authors spoke.  However as the event was in Norwegian language we didn't partake.

And finally, when we were at Bergen airport and sadly about to leave, we encountered another Ark bookstore.  Yes, they did have a copy of Anthony Horowitz's latest Bond novel "With A Mind To Kill".  A bookstore in Europe at the moment wouldn't be complete without one !

Here's some non-book related photos from our time in wonderful Bergen:

View of the historic harbour and Bryggen from our hotel room window (when I held my phone out far enough).  Note the blue sky despite this photo being taken at 2am when I woke and decided to see if the Sun had set yet

View of Bergen after travelling the funicular up a mountain close by.  On this day we caught up with a lovely American couple, Pete and Deb, who we'd first met on our way by tram to Frogner and Vigeland Park in Oslo

We also went for a hike with Pete and Deb atop the mountain, and proceeded to get lost on one of the short hiking trails.  But we had a lovely afternoon, the weather was brilliant, the views were impressive and the company was great

Some stairs at one of the Bryggen buildings.  I'm not sure Health and Safety officials in Australia would allow these stairs to still be used, but Norway seems to be a lot more common sense in their approach to laws

And some random photos from Bergen, with the last two taken at the airport

European Holiday 2025 - Oslo, Norway

My wife and I are currently taking a replacement bus service instead of our scheduled train.  The views outside the windows of mountains with huge fjords at their base are incredible.

Obviously we'd booked the entire train journey from Oslo to Bergen, but track problems after Voss meant we were forced to disembark there and scramble with our luggage for any of the six buses we were told were awaiting us train passengers.

As our full bus pulled away from the train station my wife and I both felt very fortunate.  We watched as other passengers were still trying to board their bus, while others stood, confused expressions on their faces, waiting beside their luggage with crossed fingers for more buses to arrive soon.  I think someone at the train company had calculated wrong as six buses weren't enough.

We even had a poor woman who explained to the driver she'd put her luggage under our bus only to find no spare seats as she boarded.  It was a shamozzle.  The kind of shamozzle that becomes a holiday story that will be repeated forever by every passenger on our train today.

Oslo was beautiful.   We both found the city relaxing to explore, the buildings were interesting, the waterways very scenic, the art controversial... and unlike Sorrento, Paris or Nice, no one lit a cigarette or puffed a vape while we ate in a restaurant.  In fact we saw few people smoking at all, which was an interesting phenomenon considering we were still in Europe.

Upon venturing from our hotel located near Central Station we came upon Bok & Media.  A lovely book store that it turned out had no James Bond novels as it only sold religious books and items.   The friendly guys behind the counter had already allowed me to take some photos so here they are anyway:

Next up was Norli Eldorado book store selling both Nordic and English language books.  My wife loved this store.  And the staff were great.  They even disappeared for a couple of minutes to rummage through their store room before returning with an English language copy of "Casino Royale" their computer inventory said was supposed to be on the shelf.

At Central Station there was also Ark Bok Handel.  This store had all the books required to accompany a person on a train journey to elsewhere in Norway, or perhaps even an adjoining country.  As with most of the stores I visited on this holiday there was the obligatory copy of Anthony Horowitz's "With A Mind To Kill".

These were the three book stores we visited in Oslo.  I'm sure there were plenty more we could have visited but we didn't want to spend all our time book hunting.  Instead we located some record stores where I purchased CD's created by the Norwegian music artist who had inspired us to travel to this country: Susanne Sundfor.  

If you've seen the film "Oblivion" starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman you've already heard Susanne's amazing voice as she sings the theme song in the closing credits.  One day I hope she'll be offered the opportunity to sing a James Bond theme song, afterall another Norwegian band, A-ha, have already sung "The Living Daylights" back in 1987.  Here's four of her albums:

Here's some more photos from Oslo:

The famous bronze tiger statue outside Central Station

Oslo Opera House where it's possible to walk on the roof

One of many copies of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch at Munch Museum

The Royal Palace

Oslo harbour

The actual Kon Tiki raft

Norwegian flag while on a ferry cruise in the harbour

Akershus Fortress on the harbour

Sculptures made of human figures in Frogner and Vigeland Park