Fall Trip to Bekkjarvik with the Lung Cancer Association

 A bus. A ferry. A small town. A new adventure in Norway!

Bekkjarvik. Dining hall on the right, art gallery ahead

A couple of months ago, I joined Lungekreftforeningen. They paid me back on Nov. 16, with a Fall Tour for members and friends. We took a bus, crossed on a ferry to an island southwest of Bergen, and drove on to Bekkjarvik. We had a 2-course meal there, with Ørjan Johannessen in the kitchen. He has a Michelin star and is well-known for serving wonderful courses from local and nearby sources with the highest quality. I had Fish Soup, Bekkjarvik style, and a dessert. The soup had salmon and cod in it, no shrimp, with a drizzle of basil oil. Delicious. 

The dessert was an excellent creation: layers of different flavors surrounded with crunchy and smooth textures. A smooth lemon sorbet rode on chocolate pudding, with a touch of caramel at the bottom. This was surrounded by a berry/cherry sauce and crumbles that resembled Grape Nuts but tasted like graham crackers. My mouth is watering just writing about it!

The entertainment during lunch was watching the sun/downpour/blue sky/hail outside the glass wall, and laughing when the curved roof let waterdrops fall on us during a hail attack. Quintessential fall weather. 

Christmas is breaking out in the quay

One of the downpours, seen from the ferry

Bekkjarvik is tiny, built around a little quay. There's a Christmas tree in the middle of the harbor, and the whole town is in festive decorations. All the buildings have white wood siding. Besides the famous restaurant, there is a shopping mall which, Tardis-like, is much bigger on the inside. My friend Craig is in the process of buying a new house, so we really enjoyed furniture and electronics shopping. 

The courtyard in the shopping mall

The guest house is backed up against a garden with paths that wind through rhododendrons, decorative grasses, plants that we couldn't name, until suddenly... a view of the surrounding water! We admired the view for about 30 seconds before the bitter wind sent us back down. We joined our group in the art gallery. The residents are amazingly creative, with glass, fabric, painting and woodcuts on display, all of high quality. 

I'm looking forward to the Christmas season. Are you? What will you be doing? I will be in Bergen, enjoying pinnekjøtt, lutefisk and other traditional foods, visiting our Christmas market, and planning my next blog post.