Bergen's slow reveal

Our last train journey across the Nordic countries was destined for Bergen, via an overnighter in the mountain township of Vossvangen (part of the municipality of Voss). We've now covered four countries since leaving home, making most of the journey from Copenhagen to Bergen, by train.

Voss was on the itinerary only because there was a thought we'd do the Flåm Railway, a 20-kilometre long rail line between Myrdal and Flåm, a detour on the Oslo-Bergen line. Having watched the tourist hoards disembark at Myrdal (a stop before Voss) for the Flåmsbana, I was less inclined to want to pay more money to sit on another train to view more postcard-perfect scenery than we'd already seen on our 5.5-hour train trip west - lakes, fjords, waterfalls, glaciers and cute wooden hyttes - get-away cottages - perched on the water's edge. I know everyone says you've gotta do it. Sorry, but I don't feel like I'm missing out.

When we pulled into Voss station there were about 10 people left on the train. The iconic and grand looking Fleischer's Hotel is hard to miss as you pull into the station. On checking in though, we found out we were staying across and down the road a bit from the grand old building at the motel...in a series of flat-roofed boxes that obviously serve their purpose as self-serviced apartments during the summer and ski season. However, the view of the lake Vangsvatnet, across the fluorescent green, ankle-deep grass, was stunning. Worst accommodation. Best view.

As a mountain town that probably thrives on the winter ski trade, Vossvangen has obviously capitalised on offering lots of outdoor activities - gondola rides to the top of the mountain, skydiving, paragliding, gliding, boating, fishing, kayaking. Instead, we walked down the main street, watched a wedding party arrive at the church, ate lunch at a quirky little kaffe/bar decked out in furniture and trimmings from the local secondhand shop, serving fresh local food, beer and cider, before buying some bits and pieces at the local supermarket and spending too much time trying to find the cheapest bottle of red wine we could (it came from Portugal). Soaking up the feel of a place isn't always about doing stuff.

World heritage Bergen and whiskey

Bergen isn't a city that grabs your attention on arrival. The railway station is one of the smallest and quietest city stations we've encountered so far, despite its grand facade. Thankfully, our hotel was just across the cobblestoned street. Being mid-morning on a Sunday, there was no chance of checking in, so we dumped our bags and walked into the city to see what we could see.

Having a friend back home with good local knowledge of the area (thanks, Paul), we at least had a bit of a list of things to check out. It wasn't one of those cities that I'd got around to researching much before leaving home, and there wasn't anything on the agenda that was an absolute 'must-do'. I think we were both getting to a point where we were a little over the sightseeing and feeling like having to fit so much in.

We popped into the packed Visitor Information Centre near the fish markets to grab some brochures to give us some idea of what we might do with 2.5 days in town. It was easy to see we were in tourist central, with the waterfront around the fish markets and down towards the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bryggen, with its crooked, coloured shop fronts and former houses, and even more crooked, ancient joinery of the undercover walkways creating a rabbit warren of shops, restaurants and studios behind. We actually lost time wandering through Bryggen, learning more about the original site, the massive undertaking of restoring the remaining buildings, many of which have been lost to fires over the centuries, and the traditional building methods employed in the day. There are also more artists studios and souvenir shops than you can imagine - at least one per 100 tourists (yes, I made that up). It killed about four and a half hours anyway.

After a pricey shared lunch on the cruise ship strip, where Carlsberg beers cost A$15 for a midi, we wandered back through town to see if we could check-in at our hotel. Much to our surprise, and some scepticism, we were 'upgraded' to the villas next door (the previous night had ruined the surprise). The Villa Terminus was built during the period 1769–1770, and formed part of the "benevolent foundation" for elderly in need, established by merchant and trust-fund founder Zander (Alexander) Kaae (1712–1765). It's had many other lives since. The listed building has been renovated with Nordic-style designer furnishing throughout. The steep stairs and dark, crooked hallways take a bit of navigating with luggage, but otherwise, it's very nice.

Villa Terminus, Bergen

The big attraction of Hotel Terminus for me when choosing the accommodation was the whiskey bar. The menu of which is the most extensive listing of whiskey I've seen anywhere, even Scotland. And they specialise in Scotch single malts. Hard to know where to start, except they start in price at A$25-A$35/glass and go up to A$8,500. We had dinner at the whiskey bar as well, and I did enjoy an IPA-infused whiskey from Glenfiddich. Can't say I could taste the IPA, but it was very drinkable all the same and my first whiskey since leaving home.

Quitely revealing her hidden creative

My friend, Paul said there was more to see of Bergen than she had originally revealed on our arrival. He assured me she has lots of public art, but having come from Oslo where it's everywhere, I was struggling to see how Bergen was holding up its end of the deal.

Having done our homework a bit more thoroughly overnight, we had some sort of plan for Day Two, which included a mountain and some art galleries - five being within a block of our hotel. In my research, I'd also discovered Bergen has a contemporary sound art gallery. Walking past it on our way into the city, we started to see street art in the form of murals, stencils and small freehand works around every corner...and guerilla art on chipboard at the base of buildings under renovation. Bergen, you cheeky thing!

First activity for the day, other than finding street art, was to scale Ulriken, the mountain above the city. There are a few options for getting up there, including using your god-given legs to carry you up there (and back), or part walk/part cable-car it...or bus it to the cable car. We opted for the latter. I'm not great with heights, but my knees and hips aren't coping with slopes and stairs all that well either despite having busted my fitness tracker goals for days on end. All the way up in the cable car, I'm assuring myself that hundreds have done this without anything going wrong. It was kinda cool to see the tops of trees and imagine it from a birds-eye view; I just couldn't look down. When we got to the top and the cable car stopped just short of the landing platform and rocked in the wind while it aligned to bring us closer. My breathing may have stopped momentarily.

When we got outside on the mountain, the first thing to hit you isn't the view - it's the wind. Oh. My. Goodness. Taking the obligatory panoramic shot of the city below on the phone was a feat of strength in itself. I wonder how many have lost their phones in the attempt? Despite my obvious deficiencies when it comes to being a mountain goat, we headed down a path for a walk through the mountain meadows below the viewing platform. Even these easy paths are pretty rough going and believe me, I was working out the easiest paths of them all. We heard the sheep grazing on the mountain, their neck bells ringing melodically through the wind. That was what we were aiming for - close enough to get some sheep shots and to admire their picturesque mountain home, before heading back up to the windless enclosure of the kaffe.

Back down in the city, our plans seemed to come unstuck with uncertainty. Cam had quite obviously had second thoughts about wanting to see more art. He opted for a walk to the view point on the southern side of the harbour instead, while I was keen to get to the stretch of four KODE galleries that run along Rasmus Meyer allé near Byparken. So, that's what we did. We did meet up later in the afternoon, and continued on the art viewing together before heading to the local supermarket to find dinner; the budget not extending to yet another Terminus Whiskey Bar offering of a single malt with slow-roasted pork and veggies.

The KODE gallery art was surprising - a lot of old and modern masters, with a strong focus on those of Norwegian origins (excluding Picasso & co). One exhibition that caught my attention, and spanned across two KODE galleries was a collaborative group show by three Norwegian artists (two ceramicists and a textile artist), who work at scale. The works were stunning in combination. However, it was the statement made by one of the artists, Margit Tingleff, that made me start to think about why we create art at all.

I live in an age where I'm not really needed. My pots don't fulfil any utility function other than that they can tell stories about other times and other utility functions. They have acquired the utility that art possesses, i.e. they can open people's minds and trigger wonder, joy and indignation. - Margit Tingleff.

Along with words from Munch in one of the modern art exhibitions on show, these words have started to inform where I'm heading with Eye of the Corvus, which is getting closer to its end as this holiday phase ends. The emails from the residency have been coming thick and fast this past week.

Art is the opposite of nature. A work of art comes from the inner soul of a human being. Art is the picture's form brought into being through human nerves - heart - brain - eye. - Munch, 1907-08


Torbjørn Kvasbø, Red form (ceramic sculpture) & Kari Dyrdal, Red Sea (digital weave)

Maintaining the pace

Our last full day in Bergen before flying to Iceland, and there was some repacking to do after having done pretty much as we liked travelling by train with no border checks between the Nordic nations. It's a game of illusions that I'll have to play by myself on the trip home.

Cam was determined to swim in Nordic waters before getting to Iceland. So, while I repacked bags he headed to Nordnes Sjobad bathing place for a quick swim in 17 degrees fjordic water. Beforehand, he'd walked around Bergunhus Festning (Fortress), taking in the view from the walls and having a look inside the tower (complete with skeleton).

I was waiting for the galleries to open - two of them opened at 12 noon, one at 11am. Satisfied I'd managed to get my big bag under 23kg, and my carry on looking like it didn't weigh 10+kg, I headed out into an incredibly warm later summer's day for Bergen - 25 degrees and blue skies. Not having any luck finding the contemporary sound gallery open, I headed for KRAFT Centre for Contemporary Craft and Kunsthall 3.14 across from the fish markets in an unassuming old bank with ART on the front (everything is very understated here). On the ground floor facing the square of Vågsallmenningen is KRAFT, with three exhibition spaces showing a wide variety of works. One of the most striking being a site-specific installation in the old bank vault by Kari Aasen. I had a lovely conversation with the young woman manning the space about KRAFT, life in Bergen vs. Oslo, and art more generally.

Works by Kari Aasen in the downstairs bank vault at KRAFT, Bergen

Upstairs is gallery, Kunsthall 3.14, with three works of great variety, a colourfully mesmerising collaboration by US-based group, Fallen Fruit, to a video in the upstairs vault called Touch Tours (including a photographic book with braille), to a series of sound works played on a parabolic speaker in the foyer to the upstairs floor (that's a collaboration with that sound gallery I'd been wanting to see, Lydgalleriet). So, vastly different but working beautifully together thanks to great curation by Malin Barth and what's obviously a great working relationship with Lydgalleriet.

One of the things I was told at the gallery, was that the arts community of Bergen collaborate, cooperate and include all art forms, working together creatively. You notice it even in the cross-promotion between spaces. Public and private working together as well, on exhibitions and creating an experience across spaces, that blur the lines somewhat. A really great experience from an art lover's perspective.

Street art reveals itself in all sorts of nooks and crannies around Bergen too. You don't notice it so much if you stick to the main thoroughfares, although there are plenty of bronze busts around too. I took a few narrow alleys back in behind Bryggen, stopping to photograph some of the stencil works I found along the way. I've found, as a rule, the tourist hordes don't like walking down the darker, narrow lanes, so it's a good way to get around them.

I was to rendezvous with Cam back at the fish markets for lunch - our last one in Bergen. Paella was on the menu - a choice of squid, mussels or prawns - in big servings for A$40. Yes, please!

Keen to see the final KODE space (#1), we headed back to Byparken with that intention, only to decide when we got there, I wasn't in the mood for any more art. Sometimes you just need to digest what you've consumed earlier. Instead, we went to the central bus station near our hotel to see if we could get tickets for the airport bus tomorrow. Nope. You have to buy them online or on the bus (where you're charged a surcharge). Cam says the tram is cheaper and a couple hundred metres closer, but it takes twice as long to get to the airport. So, that's another nope from me.

Next stop: Reykjavik, Iceland