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| The morning view from the house |
Today was another prefect Norwegian summer's day! Truly an idyllic holiday day in beautiful setting and beautiful weather. If there was any criticising to be done the wind was a touch strong at times, but really; it was perfect.
The day started slowly, long, long after the sun rose. As we're in Norway, in the summer, the sun is up before 5:00 am (local) and sets well after 10:00 pm. And that time frame is only because we're in the south of Norway. Up North, of course, they have continuous sunlight.
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| Cate swimming in Eigebrekk |
Cate was up early for a swim in the pool. The air temperature was probably in the teens but the water temperature was 27.5 degrees celcius. She impressed Wibecke by doing the Australian crawl for several lengths of the 10 m pool. By the time that frivolity had ended, Tim was up, showered, and ready for the day, so he accompanied Wibecke and Bernt down to "Golden Beach" for their morning dip in the ocean and coffee with the neighhbours. Wibecke swam with the neighbours, but Bernt and Tim held court on the quai, serving coffee made by Bernt and one of the neighbours, Trude. Hans and Annalise were there too. It was very social. This is apparently the custom for the Eigebrekk 'locals' (residents and regular holiday visitors) and is charming and communal at the same time.
In good time, we repaired to the house where Wibecke had prepared breakfast for everyone. After breakfast (about 10:30 am), we all piled into the car for our tourist adventure around the district and to Mandal. Wibecke drove us along the North Sea Road that hugged the coast and showed off the natural sights and the various settlements and holiday locations that are built along the coast.
We first visited a famous island site of Skernoy (the locals translate it as "Star Island") - so much of the coast involves islands close to the mainland, separated by navigable channels, including islands strung together by bridges and causeways - where photos from the bridge that crossed over the channel were used in Norwegian travel advertising. This site was literally minutes from where we were staying and just as picturesque as you might imagine. The photos Tim captured will hardly do it justice.
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| The postcard town | The high, narrow bridge over to "Star Island" |
More driving through gorgeous, rugged, coastal Norway, sometimes with (holiday) houses, sometimes with small-holdings, and sometimes just nature, to Farestad, a small village/town on another island. A stop here to admire the scenery and the little town. Tim tried to capture the ambience with photos, but may have failed.
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| The river at Farestad | House on the steep river bank at Farestad |
More driving through winding, narrow roads, with commentary from Wibecke and Bernt of different aspects of the environment, or the architecture, or the history of the location, until we arrived in Mandal proper. Mandal is a town/city of about 15,000 people that has been established for nearly 100 years, being the consolidation of towns in the area from before that. It has a district - the 'old town' - that contains 'traditional' (southern) Norwegian style houses (Cate decribes them as 'doll houses' because of their symmetrical style and small features) and cobblestone roadways. It is achingly quaint and quiet beautiful.
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| The huge wooden church in Mandal (from behind) |
We visited the largest wooden church in the Northern Hemisphere (I think Berndt said) that seats 1,500 parishoners, when operational. As the picture shows, it is undergoing repair and restoration at the moment.
We then parked the car under a mountain (as you do) and wandered through the retail district of Mandal, where there was a market going on and many visitors browsing the shops. Tim bought himself some souvenirs of his visit to Mandal.
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| The original post office, now a fashion shop | Originally a hotel, now the local newspaper office |
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| Marketplace | Narrow alleys between old buildings |
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| Marketplace scenes |
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| Enjoying ice cream in Mandal |
We wandered along for a while, though it was quite hot in the sun, this being between Noon and 1:00 pm. We stopped at an icecream shop for an icecream and then Wibecke proposed that rather than visiting a restaurant for lunch as planned and dealing with the crowds and potentially slow service, we might acquire some fresh salmon wraps from the local fish market and retire to the house to eat them on the deck of the swimming pool. This excellent suggestion was accepted after negotiating that Cate and Tim might buy lunch for the party tomorrow and put into immediate action.
Wibecke and Christina visited the fish market to acquire the lunch and Berndt, Cate and Tim wandered along the riverside sight-seeing more of the town with Berndt's helpful narration to colour in the picture.
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| Mandal riverfront panorama pastiche |
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| Recently-built cultural centre "Buen" | New footbridge from the town centre to the Buen |
After acquiring lunch (delayed because of the large number of customers at the fish market), Wibecke drove us around to the "sea sand beach" so that we could see the "laksestien" (roughly, salmon ladders) for which Mandal is famous. These triangular pyramid structures stand at the mouth of the Mandal River and were used by salmon fisherman to watch for the returning salmon in the spawning season. The Mandal River is famed for its salmon stocks. The laksestien figure on the birthday gift that Wibecke and Berndt so kindly gave to Cate and also on the souvenirs bought by Tim. They are the signature image of Mandal.
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| The river leaving Mandal to the sea | Looking from the river mouth back towards Mandal |
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| The river mouth with laksestein | The sea sand beach, with Norwegian sun bathers |
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| Two laksestein on the river bank | The 'signature' laksestein on a rocky island at the river mouth |
We returned home to eat the beautiful lunch acquired by Wibecke and Christina on the deck by the pool. Another luxury moment in our luxury holiday.
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| Lunch |
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Cate presiding over the pool after lunch,
while Berndt cleared leaves and bugs |
The rest of the afternoon was spent whiling away the time either reading, or napping. Then a grand dinner, again prepared by Wibecke. Truly, Cate and Tim are being treated as royalty in Norway; and loving it!
Tomorrow, we are to visit the southernmost lighthouse in Norway, which will be another exciting and wonder-filled trip.
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