King of Fjords

Early morning outside our hotel - other locals even took photos of the cool-looking mist:



After storing our luggage at our hotel and with overnight bags in tow, we headed into Bergen city center. Tourists commonly use the “Norway in a Nutshell” travel agency that provides packaged train / bus / boat tickets for customizable itineraries in southern and western Norway.

I had booked the Sognefjord in a Nutshell pictured below:



The first leg was about 5 hours through the inlets and fjords of Norway’s longest and deepest fjord called Sognefjord and nicknamed the “King of Fjords”. Our daily selfie on the express ferry:



The region where the Sognefjord meets the glaciers and Norway's highest peaks is considered one of the world's most beautiful travel destinations. We headed to the ferry deck to enjoy the vistas, wind, and meeting other tourists…









There were quaint villages and stops along the way where locals and tourists disembarked…



We then entered Nærøyfjord which is a UNESCO World Heritage site with a beautiful waterfall. The ferry crewman didn’t seem as excited to see it - so I asked him how many times he had seen it and he replied “many”, but when I asked him the name, he didn’t know. We think it’s Lægdafossen…





More steep cliffs as we entered Aurlandsfjord:









At the end of Aurlandsfjord is the city of Flåm where I ate a Jarlsberg cheese (originally Norwegian which I didn’t realize) and ham sandwich and shared with Rachel their famous "kanelbolle" or cinnamon roll:



We looped the town and the factory store that invented the penny loafer and then boarded the Flåm Railway or Flåmsbana. Apparently, it’s one of the world’s most famous railway journeys that took over 20 years to build, has 20 tunnels and is 20 kilometers long. Shockingly, 18 of the 20 tunnels were built by hand and it’s Northern Europe's steepest railway looking over Flåm valley…









We chatted with some folks from Philadelphia and we were a little bewildered by this performance as we disembarked for 5 minutes at Kjosfossen where folks dressed in red dresses essentially were raving - they were like sirens called huldras - famous in Scandinavian folklore, but the effect was a little lost as the waterfall was basically a drizzle in this warm season…





We finally arrived at Myrdal where we transferred to the train back to Bergen. You could see a glacier from the station and as we watched the train link up with more cars:





The train was quite empty and didn’t always open the doors for all the stops to the dismay of a few tourists. But we enjoyed more valley views:





In lieu of returning all the way to Bergen, I opted to book us for an overnight in Voss as we would come back through for our Norway in a Nutshell package tomorrow. Voss has a lovely lake where we enjoyed soft serve and iced coffee:





Instead of staying at one of the large lake resorts, I had booked us at Store Ringheim Hotel & Restaurant, a farm on the hilltop with farm-to-table cuisine. A shuttle can be called to bring you up the hillside from the train / bus station…



For dinner, we sat next to a window with a horse statue and I ordered a local cider (which the area is known for) while Rachel enjoyed some sparkling cava:





The food was clean and tasty as we shared local cheeses, trout, and vegetables and both started with pumpkin soup. The dessert was a light cheesecake:



We walked around after dinner and enjoyed the grounds and vistas:





Today, I continued to listen to Dolly Parton’s music as she was truly a national treasure. Coincidentally, I also had bought tickets to her new musical a few weeks ago which will open in January. Being in rural Norway isn’t quite Tennessee, but found listening to her music relaxing while taking in all the scenery of the mountains, glacial lakes, and fjords…

Sicilian Costa

Some morning snaps from our farm stay:





We enjoyed breakfast and headed west about 30 minutes to Agrigento which apparently has been named the Italian capital of culture for 2025.

However, our goal was to visit the Valley of the Temples or the Valle dei Templi which is one of the main attractions of Sicily and one of the largest archaeological parks in Europe. It’s not really in a valley, but located on a ridge and surrounded by valleys.

We parked at the east entrance and we’re pretty sure the man behind us in the ticket line sat next to us at dinner on Ortigia Island in Siracusa.

The first temple was the Temple of Giunone dedicated to Juno or Hera:









Here’s our Temple selfie:



The tourist route is quite linear and you walk along the ridge viewing the valley and ocean while walking through some tree groves. You also see various niches in walls and on the ground used as catacombs:







The highlight was definitely the Temple of Concordia which is incredibly intact:















And here’s our Temple selfie:



The last major temple was the Temple of Ercole or Heracles:





There were more ruins and a villa built by a British soldier, but as the route was linear, we decided to head back to the east entrance. I overheard a tour guide explaining how the tour buses will meet them at the west exit, so they didn’t have to double back. We offered for Mama Kim to rest at the west exit while we returned to retrieve the rental car and drive around, but she wanted to walk back with us - she was a real trooper.

As we neared the parking lot, we heard a car with a honking horn playing the Godfather theme song. I later learned Justin recorded a video as he went ahead to pay for parking and had asked them to play it again. He remarked to me “how do you tell me you’re in Sicily without telling me?” We had a good chuckle.

We then drive about 20 minutes west and down to the beach. We parked on a hill and navigated some steep steps. The water was so blue and we enjoyed some refreshments, snacks, and of course an arancini ball at a shack:







Our goal here was to see the Scala dei Turchi or “Turkish Steps”. This too was apparently in the show “Inspector Montalbano”, but also is very Instagrammable. However, we opted not to climb the steps for the pure white background.





As I explained our itinerary and possibilities the day before, the family said they definitely wanted to see the temple at Selinunte which is on the coast. I told them I thought they’d be temple-d out and I was right. So instead of stopping on the way to our next farm stay, we headed straight there which took less than two hours. A picture from the drive:



We were given explicit instructions on how to find our next farm stay and had to drive through a vineyard for about 20 minutes after the main road. It’s called Agriturismo Tenute Pispisa Segesta and according to the lovely Miriam who took care of us, has been in their family for hundreds of years. The restaurant started first and they later added the lodging.

They grow wine, olive oil, and various vegetables. She also said it’s popular with locals as proven by the very large first communion party that was being held upon our arrival. There were many young children running around, one of whom I think was asking me if I was going into the pool, but I responded I couldn’t speak Italian. Some photos of the property:







The WiFi is a little spotty, so my mom and I headed out to see if we could enjoy the Segestan thermal baths (also called Polle del Crimiso). They are natural hydrothermal springs and the sulfur is supposed to be very healing. We found the fancy club that pipes in the water into the concrete pool, but you have to pay €18 per person which my mom did not want to do for the less than 30 minutes we planned to be there. But we were really in search of the natural rock pools where the locals go for free.

Although Miriam tried to explain to me as well as an Italian man we saw, I managed to find myself in the middle of a farm. But I routed back and figured out the “off the beaten path” parking as we saw several campers and people changing out of their bathing suits on the road. My mom and I ventured a little bit, but when we learned it was about another ten more minutes, we decided to head back because we had dinner reservations at the farm. What an adventure though and I now know how to get there if I ever return.

For dinner, we enjoyed various crostini, eggplant caponata, busiata pastas, Sicilian meat rolls, and salad. All very fresh and delicious:



We enjoyed chatting with Miriam some more as she explained she learned her English by interacting with guests and was impressed that Justin only studied one year of Italian in college. I manage to end up speaking Spanish to folks who don’t speak English, but we’re definitely getting by!