June 28, 2014 we arose in Bergen eager for adventure. The day held the potential to offer Tom his first opportunity to walk where his ancestors had trod.
Breakfast was a scrumptious, way over the top buffet. Of course, having fresh and smoked salmon remained on the top of Tom's list. We dined next to a family with young children and enjoyed watching 2 year old shenanigans. To depart it was necessary to roll our luggage through the dining room. Surely the diners got a chuckle out of the Americans loaded to the gill.
It was sad to leave Bergen unexplored; but, the desk clerk called a cab and we were soon delivered to the car rental office. Tension mounted as the prospect of driving in a foreign country where we didn't speak the language loomed. It grew tenser still when we realized that Ann had forgotten her drivers license, so Tom would have to do all the driving. We "moved in" to our nice ride and fired up the GPS.
Click on any image to enlarge it.
Perhaps the hardest navigation of the trip was trying to find the way out of the parking lot. The exit route wasn't apparent and we couldn't read the signs. We found ourselves taking a detour up a steep one way drive to a hillside office building. The consolation prize was a good view. We retraced our path to the lot and finally negotiated our way to freedom.
E39 - our route
It soon became apparent that Tom's hard work in preparing our Garmin nüvi was going to pay big dividends! "Jill" gave us right on the mark information necessary to depart from Bergen on E39 for Haugesund. Gratefully, the GPSr indicated the speed limit because we couldn't find that information on signs. That's a bit nerve-wracking when speed is monitored by cameras and fines are 10% of your annual wage. We didn't particularly want to pad the Norwegian treasury for the luxury of rapid transit.
Gorgeous vistas surrounded us from Bergen to Halhjem.
Our arrival for the Halhjem-Sandvikvåg ferry was perfect. Ann again noticed that we entered the ferry through what looked like jaws. It resembled a Jonah experience as we descended into the belly of the boat. It got even worse as the car in front of us was the last in the parking line. We weren't sure where to go and no one was there to direct us. We pulled into the next lane, but weren't the first in that lane when we got to the front. It's very disconcerting when everything is new! It was a bit of a scramble to pack in, leave the car, and dodge traffic to get to the elevator. The huge room was like a sea of cars. We decided to leave a trail of bread crumbs so we could find ours when it was time to depart.
Halhjem-Sandvikvåg ferry route
It was a cold, blustery day with storms looming. The boat was bustling with people, but no one else was outside. Of course, we didn't bow to the wind. It did get the last laugh with Ann's hair!
We were pleased not to need these.
Cafe info
Salmon farm?
A sister ferry
Back on land we found this beautiful bridge.
This little girl reminded us not to speed, but it took us a while to interpret the sign.
We traveled south on E39 enjoying the changing terrain. Unfortunately we didn't take time for stop for pictures. That's another task for our next trip. We left E39 on Rv47 for Haugesund.When it was time for a pit stop we spotted a little waterside park. These maps at the park suddenly took the trip from a feast for the eyes to a genealogical quest. Sveio. That name looked familiar.
Sveio Kommune
From the map of Sveio Kommune: "Sveio is about 246 km squared with 4700 inhabitants, and a coastline of 300 km. The major thoughroad E39, also called Kyststamvegen (the Coastal Road), passes through Sveio and thus, opens up a fantastic scenery, you'll find a rich variety of natural adventures: The North Sea and the fjords with sloping naked rocks, heather moors, forest and mountains. The sea and lakes are rich in fish, the fauna unusually varied." This suddenly felt very personal. Perhaps Tom's ancestors would have traveled this path!
Sveio
Perhaps Tom's ancestors worshiped here.
Three labels on the map were among the listings in our database. Sveio, Hovda, and Tveit. We went straight to the kommune office to see if we could find any information on Sakarias Trondson, Tom's maternal 4x great grandfather. We entered the building bursting with excitement and were greeted with the most gracious, helpful people that one could hope to encounter. Their enthusiasm grew to match ours as others were called in to help with the search. Unfortunately, neither the farm books nor the databases included our Sakarias or his family. In spite of being a dead end for finding information, the embracing, helpful kommune staff inspired hope and courage for our quest. They seemed delighted that we were interested in finding Norwegian ancestors. This experience turned out to be a foretaste of many such delightful experiences.
We approached Haugesund and soon discovered the limitations of our GPS maps. They covered all of Scandinavia, so details were scarce. We had the name and address of our hotel, but couldn't locate it with the GPSr. Gratefully Tom had spent time studying maps of Haugesund before leaving home, so he started gleaning details from memory. We finally found the hotel, but it had no parking. URG! Tom pulled up on the sidewalk and left Ann to guard the car. That's when she noticed some vagrant types hanging out across the street and began to wonder what in the world we had gotten into!
First Hotel Henderson City, Haugesund
Further inspection revealed that our hotel didn't appear to be a place of lodging. Hmm...Tom returned and shared that we had to unload everything so he could go find parking. The pack animals got it all inside and Ann sat with our luggage in the lobby to wait....and wait....and wait for him to return. Evidently Ann sat long enough for the staff to forget that she was there because the desk clerk got into a spat with an employee. Several women came, spoke with the desk clerk, and left. Finally Tom returned, worse for the wear. The desk clerk had not given him correct directions to parking and it's tough to know if you're in an appropriate lot when you can't read the signs. We moved into our tiny, stuffy, interesting room. Massive exposed structural beams took up a lot of space, another indication that this was not built for lodging. We opened the window hoping for some air, but it was not effective ventilation in the unseasonable heat. Our view of the city beckoned exploration of this small port, but after a brief walk downtown we headed south to Karmoy Island.
The view from our room
Ann's groused enough about the hotel. All's well that ends well. The building was built for a bank and had served as one for many years. There were interesting displays of the antique banking equipment. Our tiny room was sufficient except for the inadequate ventilation and thus the heat. Breakfast was nice, but under the top unlike over the top Oslo and Bergen breakfasts. The location of the hotel and the women who came and went in the lobby left unanswered questions. We will find different accommodations if we return.
These fishermen beckoned us to the sea.
Tom found his boat "Baldie".
Ann found her ride, a kayak,
And, yes, they sell big farm machinery.
Haugesund worked well as a launching place for our genealogical exploration of Karmoy Island and Hordaland. Here again, it was hard to leave the area unexplored. It's a pretty area and there is much Viking history documented. We could definitely return and play here.
