Climbing Bergen's Fløyen, and then Departing North on a Hurtigruten Cruise

We start the day with a big hike up a mountain - about a 1,000 foot climb - err, walk up a winding path.

"Fløyen  is one of the "city mountains" in Bergen, with its highest point at 1,300 ft above sea level. The name could originate from fløystangen or a weather vane that was set up to indicate the direction of the wind for sailing ships. The view of the Bergen peninsula makes Fløyfjellet a popular attraction. It has a funicular system called Fløibanen that transports passengers from the center of Bergen to a height of 320 m (1,050 ft) in roughly eight minutes."

Here's the funicular we did not take -- there was some consideration for walking up and then taking this down, but we ended up walking both ways.

Here's that "Fløystangen" or a weather vane... 

Here's a fun way down for a bit of the hike going back...

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We end the day going aboard the Hurtigruten Nordnorge.  ​We will head north from Bergen to Tromsø, with our rental car aboard.  This will provide us a waterside view of the amazing fjords of Norway as well as give us a few short visits in some coastal towns along the way.  Upon arrival at Tromsø, we'll work our way southward to see fjords, villages and cities, and the interior wilderness, from the road.

"Hurtigruten (literally  'Express Route') is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers and cars  that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports north of Tromsø.
 
Hurtigruten provides daily, year-round and consistent traffic between Bergen and Kirkenes with 34 ports of call on northbound and 33 ports of call on southbound sailings. It services all coastal areas of Norway except for that south of Bergen and Oslo.  

The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Norway has set minimum capacity requirements of 320 passengers, 120 berths and cargo for 150 Euro-pallets.  From 2021 the two companies Hurtigruten AS and Havila Kystruten AS operate the route."

Tomorrow we'll even head far up the fjords and get enveloped by these deep chasms of rock and water.

​Tonight we see some of the oil drilling industry on display - since the discovery of rich oil deposits in the Norwegian Sea in the 1960's, Norway has become a very wealthy nation.  Here we see some rigs under refurbishment - the deposits are far off shore.

We turn in for the night...