Bergen, Norway

We arrived at the Bergen Train Station on Wednesday, July 5 at about 4 in the afternoon. A transfer bus picked us up and took us directly to the Viking ship, Saturn, awaiting in the harbor. We were told that Bergen is the rainiest city in Europe, we were fortunate not to have any.

Bergen Train Station

The Saturn is a new ship, just commissioned in May 2023. Maximum guest capacity is 930.

Viking Cruise - Norway and Iceland Arctic Explorer

Deluxe veranda state room #3053 was home for two weeks.

View of Bergen Port

This is one of the last sunsets we will be seeing for a while as we head north into the land of the Midnight Sun.

Every evening the cabin steward would turn down our beds and bring us the Daily for the next day's information. This included weather forecast, arrive and departure times, activities on board and all shore excursion information.

BERGEN CITY TOUR, FANTOFT STAVE CHURCH & EDVARD GRIEG HOUSE

Our morning excursion began with a drive through suburban Bergen.

This Stave church was built entirely of wood in 1150. It was moved to its present location in 1883 to preserve this Norwegian heritage site from being demolished.

The tour took us to the town of Troldhaugen. 

We were treated to a short piano recital of some of Grieg's most famous compositions.

Statue of Edvard Grieg 1843-1907

This is where famed Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg and his wife lived for 22 years.

We had a guided tour of the home's interior.

This was Edvard Grieg's Steinway

The house was built in 1885.

The Composer's Cabin where he did much of his work.

Inside the Composer's Cabin

BERGEN BY BOAT

In the afternoon's excursion, we boarded the Atloy for a Bergen City and Harbor Tour.

Wooden Houses built in the 18th century line the Bryggen Wharf.

The ancient King Hakon Hall

Bergenhus Fortress

The Saturn departed Bergen on Thursday, July 6, for Arctic Norway.

Oslo, Norway

On July second, we took a detour from our summer RV travels and flew across the pond. We left our motorhome at the new National Indoor RV (NIRV) in Nashville and flew to Oslo. We booked a two-week ocean cruise leaving from Bergen, Norway, and ending in Reykjavik, Iceland. We chose to begin our trip with a pre-cruise, two-night stop in Oslo. After arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland, we spent an additional twelve days touring Iceland via the Highway 1 "Ring Road".

We had a direct British Airways flight into London Heathrow Airport and then connected to Oslo, Norway.

We upgraded to Premium Economy, which on British Airways is the same as Business Class. We had private cubicles with lay flat seats along with a gourmet menu for the long-haul segment of our trip.

Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Downtown Oslo, homebase for two nights.

From our hotel window we could see the Oslo downtown district including the Train Station, from which we would travel to Bergen.

FROGNER AND VIGELAND SCULPTURE PARK

The park has more than 200 Sculptures from Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) in bronze, granite and forged iron. This one is named the Monolith.

The theme of the sculptures attempts to communicate the "Circle of Life," both the joy and the struggle of life.

A rose garden as well as many plants and trees were planted among the sculptures.

NORWEGIAN MARITIME MUSEUM

Within the museum is a workshop to build ships as the Vikings did over a millennium ago.

This Viking boat dates to about 900 AD.

Bow Figurehead

Polar ship Fram one of Norway's national treasures. This ship broke all the previous records of farthest north and farthest south. 

Gjoa, the first ship through the northwest passage.

Mess Hall Inside of Gjoa

We returned to the Oslo downtown district via a 10-minute ferry ride across the harbor.

The Fram museum was built around the ship.

Pots full of flowers adorned the streets of Oslo.

OSLO-BERGEN TRAIN

The next morning, we walked five minutes from our hotel to the train station and boarded for the seven-hour train journey over the mountains to meet the awaiting Viking Cruise Ship, Saturn. 

We ascended over 4,000 feet crossing the Hardangervidda plateau.

We got out at the top for a quick stretch.

This is considered one of the most beautiful train rides in the world.

We watched the snow decrease as we entered the green valley east of Bergen.

The train passed by the bridge over a fjord just outside of Bergen.