Pilgrimage to Everywhere: Twilight at Midnight in Norway

The week did not start auspiciously for us. On Monday, Deane woke early, worried about getting to the ferry on time, and Deane doesn’t wake early or worry. So we got an early start, and arrived at the ferry in Hirtshals early enough to get gas before we left, we thought, but we stopped at the kiosk to be sure. “Hurry back! The ferry is full today," the clerk warned. There were two banks in town, so when the first one said that the transaction was denied by the card issuer, I walked across the street to the second bank’s ATM. There, I got the same message. Oh well, I thought, we’ll get gas in Norway.

Back to the ferry we went, and gave our number to check in. “I have your reservation, but you’re booked for tomorrow,” the clerk informed us. We asked if we could change our reservation, but she said that because it was Norway Day, Norway’s national holiday honoring the signing of the Constitution, there were no places left. So we decided to go back to the hotel in Aalborg for another night, straighten out the debit card with the credit union, and try to change all our reservations to a day later.

We made good use of the extra day, because there’s an archaeological site in Aalborg that spans the Viking, Bronze and Iron Ages. We had not had time to visit it when we arrived, so off we went. There was a very nice museum with extensive exhibits of finds from the site. Along with the pottery, jewelry and other articles from the daily life of the people, there were some paintings portraying life and rituals. The forms and designs were quite different from what we’d seen in the southern reaches of our trip, and appeared much more akin to Celtic design.

Outside the museum was the site itself, which was a burial ground in use for centuries in the early part of the common era and before. Sheep were grazing in the site, which kept everything very well cleared (actually probably overgrazed), so we could see the oval placement of stones marking each gravesite. There were also remains of a series of longhouses placed in the same site -- the wooden posts only lasted about 30 years. And, because it is late spring, we saw lambs with their mothers, a sight we would see over and over in the coming days.

Back at the hotel, I called the credit union again, and they told me that the card was fine -- some banks just don't take international debit cards. I was able to change all our reservations to a day later. All was well. We went and got money and had the only dinner we could afford (did I mention how expensive it is in Scandinavia?), a falafel pita and a tiny pizza.

Tuesday, we drove to the Hirtshals ferry again, amazed that everything had worked out, and off we went to Norway, landing three hours later in Kristiansand. We had a few hours to explore the city, as the days are longer way up north this time of year, so we walked all the streets. The city is small but beautiful, with plantings of daffodils and narcissus and tulips in bloom. It is also very expensive. We picked up a small salad and a sandwich at a bakery without asking prices, then found out we had $28 worth of food. On the waterfront, near an old round fortress tower, a group of swans swam -- I don’t know how they were persuaded to stay, but they were there, so I got to see swans sleeping and eating, two new sights for me.

On Wednesday, we drove up the coast from Kristiansand to the second island past Stavanger, Vestre Amoy, where we had a room that turned out to be amazing. The place has several small houses, so when you rent a room, you also have access to all the shared parts of the house, which included a kitchen and a LAUNDRY! So we watched this gorgeous view and cooked dinner while our clothes laundered.

The other thing we learned is that we were really far north now, so this is what the view looked like at 10:30 pm.

We woke up way after sunrise, which apparently takes place about 4am. The owner, Lilian, who was lovely in every way, recommended a walk through a sculpture park created when Stavanger was a UN culture city in 2008. What this park turned out to be was a series of environmental sculptures set in a gorgeous landscape of fields with ewes and lambs. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera, and Deane’s has so many pictures on it that I can’t download them to the computer without a card reader, so I have no photos. However, here’s a link to the brochure we used to find our way on the couple of miles of trails and farms roads: http://www.horizonsandfragments.no/files/Folder_6s_10x21_ENGELSK.pdf.

The sculptures were designed for particular places on the landscape and were whimsical and almost magical -- a giant nest of twigs in a garden, a star carved in a flat ledge titled “Landing Pad for Angels,” giant earth berms covered in grass spelling out “Nå” (“now”). As we approached the ocean, the landscape changed and we were in wilder country on the edge of the fjord and the sea. There, we came across living art, a Norwegian Fjord horse on a Norwegian fjord. And on the way back, a sheep drama -- a lamb separated from its mother, bleating frantically. Over the hill, we heard the answering deep almost guttural bleat of the mother. The lamb took off running, then stopped and bleated again. “Baaaa,” came the response, and off it went again running over the hill.

After viewing all the sculptures, we drove to the neighboring islands, as far as we could go without getting on a ferry. We saw an old monastery:

And every turn of the road brought another new and beautiful view:

We stopped at the store for some food to cook, and we had crustacean (crayfish?) soup and garlic bread for Deane’s birthday -- no cake, too expensive. We will pick that up when we’re back in Europe.

Vestre Amoy was so relaxing that we were sad to leave, but we had to and turned south. We spent a few hours in Stavanger, where we visited the cathedral, dating from the 17th century. There were about six of these interesting portraits around the cathedral, apparently families with children, including babies who had died pale and ghostly in the front of the living members.

We drove from Stavanger to Bryne, where we dropped off our bags at the hotel and got directions to a nearby beach. We knew there were beaches somewhere, but didn’t know how to find them. This one was a sandy crescent backed by dunes.

On the landward side of the dunes, there were farms using every inch of land. The Norwegians have also really taken advantage of every way to lengthen their short season -- especially huge hydroponic greenhouses and floating row covers. The pastures are so rocky and the stone walls around them so extensive that we got a very good sense of exactly what it took to clear the land for cultivation.

Saturday, we took a drive into the mountains, making a loop around mountains, lakes and fjords. Many Norwegians have second houses in the mountains, and we could see why. The air was crystal clear and clean, and the views dazzling. We saw the beginning of the fjord that ended up in the much larger fjord by Stavanger. The sheer cliffs of the mountains made for a dramatic landscape of trees and stones.

Deane has been looking for evidence of trolls, very important in Norway. He saw evidence in the stony landscape everywhere. Here, he consults a local resident.

When we came down from the mountains, we drove once again along the coast, stopping at a lighthouse, and then a beach. There was fog in the south, but it lifted as we moved northwards. We took our time, drinking in the sounds and smells and sights, before returning to our hotel for a relaxing night.

Well rested, and thoroughly in love with Norway (wish we could afford more of it), we headed back from Bryne to Kristiansand to catch the ferry back to Denmark. First, though, we ate enough for the whole day at the hotel’s delicious breakfast buffet -- three kinds of pickled herring and fresh baked bread, among other delights.