It would be fair to say that Oslo and I didn’t really hit it off. I got there on a Friday night after driving all day from Copenhagen. The old centre was filled with drunken hooligans and my dinner was slop. The next day, the odd pile of spew on the pavement from the night before’s revellers.
I was annoyed about that. I really wanted to like it. Norway has a cracking flag for starters. I was having uncharitable thoughts about the descendants of vikings when I recognised that I’d been spoiled in Copenhagen and needed to try harder.
In such situations cultural institutions are a great “go to”. And Oslo has plenty. A museum for Henrik Ibsen in the apartment where he wrote his last 2 plays. The National Museum houses the original version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, along with an eclectic mix of craft, textiles, design and sculpture. A museum dedicated to one of the city’s most famous sons, Alfred Nobel, and the prize he created in his will.
The road from Oslo to Bergen is a stunning journey over mountain passes, past glaciers and down through fjords to the sea.
Bergen itself is far more to my taste than Oslo. It is a lovely old port town, most of its centre UNESCO protected. My hotel is in an ancient weatherboard on an old cobblestone lane way. There are no TVs in the rooms. They have a brasserie good enough to eat at more than once, with a lobster bisque worth ordering more than once.
Can’t choose between love of mountains and love of sea? Or love of rolling green farmlands and the beach? Don’t then. Live in Norway and enjoy both in the same place. Some walking required, mind. Or a boat.
I haven’t been to Alaska but this is surely the most striking coastline on the planet.
Where I slept: Charmante Skostredet Hotel: One of the most charming hotels you will ever stay, tucked away in the weather board lined alleyways of Bergen, the entire area a UNESCO heritage site.
Where I ate: I ate at the hotel it was so good I went back the next night and ordered the same thing.
