Alesund, Norway’s Living History

“The Norwegians sure take their sun seriously, don’t they?” said Pop after he saw that we were fellow Americans touring Norway. We’d just zoomed past a few townspeople sunbathing in their backyards and a guy mowing his lawn shirtless. It was a hot, sunny day in Alesund, a popular fjord town and cruise ship port on Norway’s West coast, and the old man had climbed aboard our Hop On, Hop Off bus. Baseball cap sunk down to his eyes, I noticed he was no spring chicken and wondered why he was all alone.  He said he was from Houston but had spent some time in NYC during the war (Pop gone wild, probably). He seemed to be having a good time solo, kinda like a bachelor on the town. To be honest, I think being alone in Norway at the end of May had a hand in it.

Photo by Sverre Hjørnevik-Fjord Norway

With just the three of us on the bus, we donned the headsets for the tour commentary and picked up speed crossing a bridge heading for the Aquarium, where the fjord meets the Atlantic, the wind blowing through the open windows and a fantastic view out to sea with mountains all around. It seemed an unlikely place for an Aquarium but as Norway is all about fish, the city was justly proud of the new attraction built into the coastal landscape. Suddenly we got a loud blast of static in our ears. Pop flashed us and the conductor a big grin yelling, “Refund!” Pop’s joke was lost on the conductor, who was pre-meditating tomorrow when the tiny bus would graduate to super-size to accommodate the passengers of not one but two cruise ships.

His preoccupation was understandable; I’d already taken note of how much business cruises were bringing into Norway after only four days in Oslo.  But in that span of time I also noticed something else and it wasn’t about the travel business. Many Norwegians had an offbeat humor that surfaced right away in conversation. Sentences might end with a chuckle or an odd comment that poked fun at themselves or some custom in their country. They were really laid back and quick to laugh. Pop could have tapped into this too which is why he was so ready to joke with them about the malfunctioning audio system. But the poor nervous conductor wasn’t in on it!

In fact, Pop’s first comment was dead on accurate … the Norwegians were taking the hot sun VERY seriously. The almost blessed state of the weather and their easy going temperament were good signs; we were embarking on a road trip through the Nordfjord region and these observations were catalysts to get going. Our itinerary would wind its way through places locked in time, their natural beauty so awesome it would be difficult to believe. But first, there was Alesund, out of a fantasy and legendary long before we got there.

Over a long weekend in Oslo, someone said that the unlikely heat wave had brought a late bloom to the countryside and as the little Rauma Railway train climbed its way from Dombas to Andalsnes, through one of Norway’s spectacular natural regions, we noticed fields of yellow dandelions. With snow-capped peaks above us and the occasional gushing waterfall, I came to understand how the hundreds of fjords all over Norway were formed. To be perfectly clear, when you go fjord hunting in Norway, you find water everywhere.

After the better part of a day reaching Alesund, the jewel-like coastal town which is the gateway to the Geiranger Fjord at its northern end, we found ourselves at 6 pm facing a shining midday sun. Like another time not long ago, the midnight sun fueled us, something so great it should be bottled. Our starting point was at once embedded in memory, for Alesund is no ordinary place but in fact, an exquisite rendering of Art Nouveau architecture, and sitting placid in the early evening sunshine it was something to behold.  That first night seemed endless and after a very late dinner we marveled at the illuminated midnight sky on the walk back to the hotel. It took only a day to appreciate the yin and yang of this mystical city on the water which was devastated by fire on a winter’s night in 1904, laying 850 houses in ashes and 10,000 people homeless. In a span of 3 years, practically the whole town was rebuilt in the Jugendstil (the youth style i.e. Art Nouveau) with a myriad of turrets, spires and medieval ornaments. This creative movement was flourishing all over Europe for some 15 years. But, Norway, too? The charming buildings painted canary yellow, salmon and rose, some ornamented with dragons which dubbed it the Norwegian Dragon Style, are unique to the country and have earned Alesund UNESCO World Heritage status.

Photo by Sverre Hjørnevik – Fjord Norway

It was so hot the next day we were practically sunbathing eating lunch al fresco at Anno, across the street from the Jugendstilsenteret, the small museum and center for Art Nouveau at Apotekergata 16, one of 10 listed buildings that preserves the town’s history.  This is important when there’s nothing else in the whole country of Norway like Alesund. After a walking tour through Bakkegata to study a few of the protected buildings close up, like the narrowest house in town at #10 Kongens Gate, which doesn’t look wide enough for a table and 4 chairs, we wound our way there. But that was after inspecting the tiniest hotel room ever, Room #47, inside the old red lighthouse at the end of the Molja harbor seawall which barely fits a bed at the top of its winding staircase. Talk about close quarters.  Then owls and mythical animals greeted us at the entrance to the museum, a step back in time to 1907 when this former pharmacy built for the Owre family embodied an architectural movement so exuberant it stressed that beauty should be accessible to everyone. In my mind that’s quite like a perfect world and the dazzling display of craftsmanship in the museum’s intensely curated rooms illustrated this to a “t”.

Afterward we felt ready to embrace the present and spent a little time at Kunstmuseet KUBE, the center’s next door neighbor and (literally) a two story square box gallery featuring the works of contemporary Norwegian artists. The warehouse space was starkly modern and filled with light (at 5 pm) bathing Alesund artist Marianne Heske’s videomanipulated landscapes; channeling a different vibe was one of her humorous installations, Global Groove, a vast collection of kewpie doll heads crowded on a big rectangular table in the middle of the space. It was just the thing to get us laughing and brought us full circle to that funny Norwegian sense of humor.  We were curious, though. Where in the world could she have found all of those figurines and what was she trying to tell us?  Only another Alesund native could possibly have the answer. We’d have to find him or more likely, her.

And find her we did, a short stroll down the street in Moloveien, an area classified as the maritime corner which looks out to the miniscule red lighthouse. Here the old wooden buildings from 1861 are all that survived the raging fire of 1904. It has a different feeling than the rest of Alesund, almost like the beating heart of something ancient.  Marianne’s collection had nothing on the one we discovered inside a place here called Trankokeriet Antikk, and we found the soul of Alesund there, too.  Edel Rakvag’s carefully displayed gargantuan collection of antiques and curios crammed inside an 1895 boathouse is nothing less than a life’s work and passion. This is not exactly your run of the mill antiques emporium but a warehouse of mementos collected over 50 years and installed in a big wooden clapboard former cannery that stretches over 5,000 square feet on two floors. It took us quite some time to take it all in and I got to thinking how it all came to be. Fancy a Viking sailboat?  Edel’s got it.  Scouting for period china?  Edel’s your gal.  Her treasure trove of memorabilia was meticulously displayed but even more compelling was the magnificent view out to sea over the fjord, through the floor to ceiling windows of her adjoining café.

Edel sensed our awe and invited us to sit down. We ordered coffees at the espresso bar and a piece of the apple cake with homemade whipped cream. The conversation began and then the laughs came. As tired as we were from a full day of seeing the sights of Alesund, we couldn’t tear ourselves away from Edel.  She had that quirky Norwegian sensibility and an acute sense of time and place. Her take on Norwegian culture and her understanding of human nature moved us.

The building seemed to be situated at the furthest point out to sea and you could see the gulls flying back and forth, using it as their roost. I went to the open window to admire the view and Edel followed.  She told me to lean out the window and look to the right and left. On the rear façade of the building Edel and her family had built mini platforms for the gulls to nest and there were many of them sitting there. It seemed the perfect moment to take stock of our time in Alesund, remembering how the people had truly connected with nature.

The next morning brought an even hotter sun and another big Norwegian breakfast.  As we jumped in our rental car with Irene Cara blaring … “What a feeling, bein’s believin’…” I couldn’t help but laugh myself, hearing Flashdance tunes on a Norwegian radio station. We were ready to discover Norway’s awesome national tourist route to the Geiranger Fjord and then Bergen.  The midnight sun was on our side and we’d have endless hours to take that sun seriously.

*Alesund is the entrance to Norway’s famous Geirangerfjord and is slightly less than 350 miles northwest from Oslo, a scenic 7+ hour drive.  It can also be reached in about 8 hours by train from Oslo on the Dovre Railway to Dombas connecting to the Rauma Railway to Andalsnes, then by bus to the center of town. It was recently voted the most beautiful town in Norway.

www.visitalesund.com

*For more information on Norway travel, there’s no better tool than a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide.

[photomosaic]