Norway: winter by the fjord

Report Serge Barret / Photos Alain Parinet

"Vikings here, Vikings there... But what is it with the French and Vikings at the moment? It's all they talk aboutsays Arve Lindgren, manager of the convention office in Bergen, Norway. I wonder if the recently broadcast Vikings TV series might have something to do with it?"Probably. But undoubtedly also their attachment to history and heritage. In any case, the French in search of distant Norman origins are in for a treat: references to the conquering people who terrified the early Middle Ages are, with varying degrees of success, everywhere in Norway. In museums, of course, but also in souvenir shops, restaurants, and sometimes even in reconstructed villages, part eco-museum, part amusement park, which don't hesitate to stage amateur actors, or to invite the public to take part in costume parties complete with helmets, horns, animal skins and all that. As long as you put aside your restraint and let yourself be drawn into the dance, it can be great fun, especially as part of an incentive operation.

Slowly, the rain hits the windows

But for the time being, the Vikings are not on today's agenda, since the recent opening of a direct route from Paris operated by Joon in 2hrs 15mins means that we are landing directly at Bergen, Norway's second city. Bergen in the rain, as usual, you might say. The city 'benefits' from a microclimate that drenches it copiously for around 270 days a year. But that's not such a bad thing, as Bergen is above all a city of interiors. At the same time, it has developed a particular art of living, with warm decorations, a pretty mix of dark wood, brown wood and painted wood, and the rest of the time listening - in the warmth - to the rain on the windows.

In the end, it's in the rain that you really appreciate its charm; when its quays runThe cobbled streets leading down to the harbour sparkle with silver, and the cafés and restaurants are packed to the rafters, enlivened by the presence of a large student population celebrating anything and everything, preferably loudly. This includes Bryggen, a historic district listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you can leave the old woods behind and indulge in a slightly more rock'n'roll atmosphere.

Wood, almost all wood in Bryggen: on the gabled houses lining the quayside, in the alleyways that are sometimes so narrow you can touch the shingled walls that line them with open arms; in the covered passageways, squares and backyards, in the passageways that run along the entire storey of the houses, but also, and surprisingly, on the floors of the streets. All of which makes a feeling of intermingled interiors and exteriors. This district, which bears witness to medieval Nordic architecture, was the home of the merchants of the Hanseatic League, in other words, the German trade organisation that controlled trade in Northern Europe at the end of the Middle Ages.

Austere chiaroscuro

Of course, with so much wood, it was ravaged many times by major fires, notably in 1476, 1702, 1756, 1944 and 1955. But each time it was rebuilt identically, and it would be hard to tell the preserved from the rebuilt, for example in the group of houses that now house the Hanseatic Museum, one of the must-sees when visiting Bergen. After the ground floor, with its display of dried cod and the tools needed to prepare it, you take a steep staircase up to the first floor. And there it is, a dazzling plunge into history! The austere chiaroscuro of northern countries, a maze of corridors, pulleys on the ceiling, a dining room dimly lit by stained-glass windows, an accounts office and enclosed beds, the master's and especially those of the children, who were crammed into just four rooms.

Because while there were no women, there were children. They came from Germany at the age of 11 and toiled from morning till night... Clearly, it wasn't fun every day in those houses. But that was the way of these strange German merchants, who thought of every profit except life itself. It wasn't until the Renaissance that the Norwegians were able to put an end to this cumbersome organisation, which functioned like a state within a state for two centuries, from 1350 onwards.

This is not the only house you can visit. Just around the corner is the Schotstuene, which features the ligu meeting and banqueting roomse, and, just about everywhere too, a host of restaurants with low ceilings and clumsy floors, as well as lace boutiques, antique shops and dealers in Norwegian jumpers, which are very expensive but very fashionable these last few winters in European capitals.

However, despite this exceptional heritage, the city should not be confined to this industrious world, even if it is medieval. For, in addition to its extremely dynamic port side and its not-to-be-missed morning fish market, Bergen has more recently become famous once again on the international stage. Artistic this time, thanks to the immense composer and conductor that was Edvard Griegborn in Bergen in 1843. His music, full of Norwegian sensibility, mountains, fjords and peasant weddings, can be heard in a contemporary auditorium perfectly integrated into the landscape and located in the outskirts of Bergen.

Even better: you can visit his house, the Troldhaugen villa, just a stone's throw away. You're plunged into a Victorian world, a bit of a straitjacket, intact, with period furniture, a piano, paintings and black-and-white souvenir photos. This is where the genius composed some of his masterpiecesAnd more particularly in an isolated cabin that he had had built especially for the occasion. A glamorous cocktail party in the auditorium was the perfect way to follow, especially as the next day's tour took in far less sophisticated territory: wild Norway, with its snow-capped mountains, pastel houses covered in layers and layers of snow, and shady fjords, steep, motionless and silent in their endless winter.

A bumpy train in the great white

After a transfer by regional train, we board the Flamsbana, in other words the famous tourist train from Myrdal to Flam. With a difference in altitude of 850 metres for a 20 km journey, a narrow track that bumps along in the great white, bottomless precipices, steep slopes, avalanche paths in the distance, tunnel after tunnel and tons of ice that become waterfalls in the summer: the Flamsbana has not usurped its celebrity, and the landscapes that it is the only one to be able to cross - there are no roads here - are quite simply extraordinary.

The icing on the cake is a stop at the Hotel Vatnahalsen, a red-wood clad building totally isolated in the middle of nothing. The train runs four times a day, so it's a perfect place to stop for a long buffet lunch, or even an overnight dinner, featuring Norwegian specialities. Lots of salmon, of course. The place is extraordinarily hospitable The hotel's décor is truly unique: a fireplace in the lounge, a dining room typical of the Scandinavian 50s, carpets, sofas, club armchairs and lace doilies everywhere. The guest book is rightly full of praise, especially as daredevils can try their hand at tobogganing, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing as soon as they leave the hotel.

As the afternoon draws to a close, the train whistle blows as we set off for Flam, the end of the line. This small town nestling at the bottom of Aurlandsfjord is the starting point for winter activities of all kinds: climbing to a spectacular lookout when the road isn't too snowy, snowshoe walks above the fjord and, above all, mini-cruises at water's edge in an open boat that can take a dozen people.

The adventure is chilly, but fabulous. She sails for a moment on the black waters of NaeroyfjordThis Unesco-listed river winds its way from sunny openings to deep gorges, encountering a few teasing seals along the way and landing at the pontoon of the tiny village of Undredal. A real village set back in timeThe town is home to a number of colourful houses clinging to the banks of a stream, the smallest standing wooden church still in use in the whole of Norway and a one-of-a-kind bistro-grocery selling brunost, a delicious, typically Norwegian, slightly sweet sheep's milk cheese.

This short stay in the snows of the North would not be complete without a visit to an evening with a Viking flavourThey're in with the times. In this case, it will be largely reinterpreted, with the only Viking inspiration being the rather extravagant decor of the Aegir BryggeriPub: a gigantic central fireplace set in a kind of pit, wooden benches all around, a chandelier on the ceiling, animal skins and heavy stools made of rough, not to say brutal, wood. The first floor, on the other hand, is much more sophisticated, almost contemporary, and offers a unique concept of tasting five beers accompanied by appropriate dishes, just as you would organise a wine and cheese tasting. It's all very artistically presented, with great finesse, and certainly a world away from what was practised in the era that inspired it.

With beer on every table, the atmosphere is very relaxed. It will be even more relaxed a little later, when we dabble in aquavit, a flavoured potato alcohol that warms both hearts and bodies, in front of the open fire. And that's just as well, because as we leave, it's snowing into the night on the black waters of the fjord. And it's magical.