Easter Mountain Walks

Norwegians traditionally go to the mountains for easter. The aim, for most, is to go cross country skiing...and there is something about taking oranges and kitkat like chocolates called Kvikk lunsj with you. J and I, however, decided against battling the crowds and the traffic to go snowboarding, and decided instead to stay in the almost deserted Bergen and hike some of the 7 mountains that surround the city. We climbed a couple last year and decided we better get a move on if we wanted to conquer the rest before we move to Tromsø in June. During the long weekend of this easter we therefore hiked 2 more - Lyderhorn and Damsgårdfjellet.

Lyderhorn was first.

Although we are technically not supposed to, J and I love to let the dogs off the lead and have them free range on the mountain. Mina absolutely loves it and is a born mountain dog. He trots and hops and scrambles up slippery rock faces, making it all look super easy. Moj goes rather slow in comparison because being a male he has to stop, sniff and piss every few steps of course. Both of them were fantastically well behaved though. Mina went ahead and found the tracks, would stop and wait for us at each little ridge top and both came or waited when they were told to. Amazing. Here is Mina all smiles at the top - doesn't she just look right at home?
We chose to do Lyderhorn on a day when the weather was far from perfect. It was overcast, a little drizzly and there was an absolutely bone chilling cold wind at the top, but if you wait for perfect weather for walking in Bergen then you may never leave your house! This just meant that our view was a little diminished, but you still got a pretty amazing 360degree panaorama of islands, ocean, snow capped mountains and city.
Today when we did Damsgårdfjellet though, the weather was absolutely perfect! Clear skies and sunny! Probably about 16 degrees, with a lovely soft cooling breeze. It was a classic fantastic spring day in Bergen. Here is the view we had while we sipped our thermos coffee.

While Lyderhorn gives you a stunning view over the islands around Sotra on the ocean side of Bergen, Damsgårdfjellet gives you a great view into the heart of the city.
And over to the snow capped mountains where most people are off skiing over easter.
Even though it is a bit of a slog to get there...
The delightful views from the top of these mountains makes it all worth the effort.
Hopefully we can manage the last three before we leave, but I'll keep you posted. xxx

Istanbul in dots

Inspired by Dr Kylie and a room of my own, I have decided to do a quick blog on our trip to Istanbul, that just lists some highlights in dot point style. And here we go....

* Being met at the airport by a guy holding a sign with my name on it
* For J, being allowed to smoke on the bus driven by the guy who met us at the airport holding a sign with my name on it.
* Cruising the crazy backstreets of the dodgy neighbourhood around our 5 star business hotel and checking out the way people lived.

* Having a colleague with me to confirm that these were in fact the worst and most frustrating project meetings in the whole entire world
* All the free nibblies (nuts, carrot sticks, popcorn) that came with drinks in the hotel bar after long long days of boring boring meetings
* Having J there with me to share drinks in the bar after long long days of boring boring meetings
* The heated outdoor swimming pool - 39 degrees - and the steamroom in the hotel fitness centre
* Cruising the local food market and taking in all the sights and smells

* J would say the turkish delight and turkish tea
* I would say the prolific availability of baklava
* Leaving the business hotel and heading into the old city to stay
* Discovering the blue mosque out our bedroom window
* Drinking free wine on the rooftop terrace as the sun went down
* The walk home along the waterfront after dinner
* The crazy meal in a random local restaurant where the waiters just kept bring delicious dish after delicous dish
* Finally seeing the Grand Bazaar
* Finally finding my perfect brown leather travel bag, at the Grand Bazaar...I am soooo looking forward to using it for my next travel in a couple of weeks...shame that Birmingham and Amsterdam don't offer quite the same sense of exotic allure as Istanbul...oh well, can't be spoilt rotten all the time :) xxx