{"id":16990,"date":"2022-07-07T19:31:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T23:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16990"},"modified":"2022-07-07T19:31:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T23:31:14","slug":"norway-journal-day-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16990","title":{"rendered":"Norway Journal, Day 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/
View of Hafrsfjord from Yterroy. You’ve read about the Hafrsfjord in my Erling books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 18:<\/strong> A big day for me. I got up in good time to get going to put my Viking togs on and get some breakfast before we headed out for a fjord cruise. It was raining as predicted, but clear skies were obviously coming on. We caught a big motorized catamaran doing a circular course through the Hafrsfjord. Our first stop was Ytter\u00f8y, an ancient peninsula where there\u2019s a \u201cbygdeborg\u201d (a hill fort for local defense). We debarked and took a walking tour that involved a lot of climbing to the top of the hill, where there was a performance of Haraldskvadet <\/em>(the skaldic poem about the Battle of Hafrsfjord) by a singing group (quite nice). Further on, a group with lurs (long, wooden traditional Norwegian horns) did an instrumental\/performance piece that meant nothing at all to me. Perhaps it\u2019s the sort of thing the Vikings really listened to, but to me it seemed postmodern and atonal. Our trip back down the hill was rather rugged, and involved some very steep descents. Some of the people around me were watching to make sure the old man in Viking clothes didn\u2019t fall, which I have to admit was reasonable. The final descent had no handrails at all and seemed to me genuinely too dangerous for public use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Another one of those plexiglass installations to spark the imagination.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then there was a long walk along the shoreline (sometimes on top of half-submerged rocks). Happily, I came through neither broken on the rocks nor soaked. Finally we made it back to the quay, and caught another catamaran to M\u00f8llebukta, where the Viking market was being held. We walked around, and then my hosts left me by myself. I assumed they would take the further legs of the boat tour, but I guess they actually spent their time at the market. Their nephew the Viking enthusiast was with them, so it may have been to please him as much as me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
One of the Viking ships on the Hafrsfjord.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was quite a deal. I\u2019m told it\u2019s far from the largest Viking market in Norway, but it was the biggest this American had ever seen. Hundreds of reenactors with their tents and sales stands ranged along several paths through an area around a brook. All kinds of goods for sale, artisans demonstrating their skills, the odd fight show or Viking game. We had a brief spot of rain, but the day had cleared up essentially. Beautiful weather, crumb-hungry seagulls swooping around, and in the distance the unforgettable Sverd I Fjell monument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Viking battle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I found my friends from Vikingklubben Karm\u00f8y, and they generously offered me a stool, where I took my seat. Except for a walk around to see what there was to see at one point, I stayed there, happy to be playing Viking in Erling Skjalgsson\u2019s personal domain. The Karm\u00f8y people were good to talk to, and I was quietly and serenely happy. I\u2019d been waiting for this day since I was 12 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Me with the leader of Vikingklubben Karmoy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 4:30 my hosts began to leave, and so we went to Sola for pizza (I like to think of it as feasting at Sola), and then home to wind down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great day in my life. I will not demean it with a joke. I feel very happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 18: A big day for me. I got up in good time to get going to put my Viking togs on and get some breakfast before we headed out for a fjord cruise. It was raining as predicted, but clear skies were obviously coming on. We caught a big motorized catamaran doing a circular … Continue reading Norway Journal, Day 8<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[4052,2047,4093,3272],"class_list":["post-16990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hafrsfjord-festival","tag-norway","tag-vikingklubben-karmoy","tag-vikings"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16990"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16992,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16990\/revisions\/16992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}