Our week started out with 4 days and 3 nights on the historic M/S Sunnhordland. We slept on the boat in port while in Bergen, spent a day on the ship riding through the fjords, and made a surprise stop in Moster at the Old Moster Church and AMFI Amphitheater for a bit of local history. We landed in Leirvik harbor on the island of Stord for two nights, and took a local bus from the ship to Western Norway University of Applied Sciences at Rommetveit. I joined for the social elements of the conference that Alex was participating in, like breakfast, lunch, tours, and dinner, but headed off to work and adventure on my own when they got into more serious sessions.
The stop in Moster was one of those special conference surprises that I love getting to witness. I don't know that Alex or I would have ever made a point to head out to Moster on our own, but to know that it has such important history for Norway and the Moster AMFI performing arts center with performances worth hopping on a ferry for, made it a great surprise in the itinerary and perhaps even an excuse to return on a future visit!
(I tried to upload a few more select photos from the trip, but after waiting 20min for two files to upload on my current connection, I gave up. So you're going to get the rest of the images as embedded Instagram posts. Don't forget to scroll through the images with the little arrows on the image.)
The town of Leirvik on Stord Island didn't have too much going on at first glance for visitors- mostly a mall and a few restaurants, but I did notice a Sunnhordland Museum that we didn't get a chance to visit while we were in town. The University in Rommetveit was a short public bus ride away, so while everyone was in conference sessions, I decided to wander the campus and see what I could find. The views and landscaped walks down to the water made for some beautiful scenery, and at the waterside I found some local history on burial cairns and a perfect spot to sit and journal for a while.
After our second night in Leirvik, we decided to head back into Bergen early to relax for a bit before meeting up with more local colleagues. Alex has had ongoing collaborations in Bergen for over a decade, so it's almost like a third home full of familiar faces and places at this point.
We've seen most of the major sights in the city together, so at this point, it's usually the minor sites or personal areas that we haven't really explored yet. This is when local friends showing us around becomes such a wonderful experience. We get to see the areas that are important and meaningful to them, which we may not have found on our own or had reason to visit otherwise.
The stop in Moster was one of those special conference surprises that I love getting to witness. I don't know that Alex or I would have ever made a point to head out to Moster on our own, but to know that it has such important history for Norway and the Moster AMFI performing arts center with performances worth hopping on a ferry for, made it a great surprise in the itinerary and perhaps even an excuse to return on a future visit!
(I tried to upload a few more select photos from the trip, but after waiting 20min for two files to upload on my current connection, I gave up. So you're going to get the rest of the images as embedded Instagram posts. Don't forget to scroll through the images with the little arrows on the image.)
The town of Leirvik on Stord Island didn't have too much going on at first glance for visitors- mostly a mall and a few restaurants, but I did notice a Sunnhordland Museum that we didn't get a chance to visit while we were in town. The University in Rommetveit was a short public bus ride away, so while everyone was in conference sessions, I decided to wander the campus and see what I could find. The views and landscaped walks down to the water made for some beautiful scenery, and at the waterside I found some local history on burial cairns and a perfect spot to sit and journal for a while.
After our second night in Leirvik, we decided to head back into Bergen early to relax for a bit before meeting up with more local colleagues. Alex has had ongoing collaborations in Bergen for over a decade, so it's almost like a third home full of familiar faces and places at this point.
We've seen most of the major sights in the city together, so at this point, it's usually the minor sites or personal areas that we haven't really explored yet. This is when local friends showing us around becomes such a wonderful experience. We get to see the areas that are important and meaningful to them, which we may not have found on our own or had reason to visit otherwise.
This visit we got a chance to explore Skuteviken, Salhus, and Hindnesfjordland all because they have personal significance and connection for our friend Sigrid Jordal Havre. Places that once again, without a local sharing their connection and importance we may not have discovered on our own.
As soon as we arrived in Norway, I started asking people if they did anything to celebrate summer solstice, known here as midsummer's eve. Most people shared that they would head to a local fjordside bonfire, but that there is also a tradition for Norway to create a record-breaking midsummer bonfire. I did get a small taste of a local community coming together around the beach and bonfire, combined with plenty of fjordside views and wildflowers. I did not however, stay up all night to celebrate in twilight madness... but Alex did!
Our next week will be spent slowly making our way to Helsinki by way of Örebro and Stockholm. I've been doing ancestry research for the last few years and found that many of Swedish ancestors are from the Örebro area, and since I've always gained more interesting ancestry insights by visiting in person, I thought it would be interesting to make a stop along the way to see what can be learned locally!
