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Colorful wooden buildings line the waterfront in Bergen. Below: Salted, dried cod is a common sight in fish markets along the Norwegian Coast
From the windy peak of Mount Aksla (418 steps up from town guide and modern historians concede that the saintly king was
park) I got a panoramic view of it all, crowded on to a giant actually something of a brutal thug.) In Tromso, I joined cruis-
fish-hook-shaped peninsula. At nearby Atlanterhavsparken ers for a dog sledding adventure. After changing into thick, win-
Aquarium, I got a fisheye view of the cod terized jumpsuits, we had time to cuddle with
that swim off the coast and have made husky puppies before setting out. The pups’
Alesund the largest exporter of seafood parents seemed as excited as we were to hit the
in Norway. trail. “Yip-yip” meant go – and we were off in a
In Trondheim, I started my day with spray of ice crystals kicked up by 32 powerful
locals at Baklandet Skydsstation, a small paws. Glorious.
neighborhood restaurant where I stuffed The next day, we stood at Nordkapp, near
myself on hot-from-the-griddle waf- the windblown top of the world. There’s a mu-
fles served with gobs of help-yourself seum there and a metal globe. But in winter,
whipped cream, lingonberry preserves surroundings are vast, desolate and forbidding.
and brown goat cheese. Owner/chef / The single 8-mile access road opens only twice
waitress Gurli Riis Holmen insisted I a day; commuters convoy in and out, behind a
sample from among 100+ bottles of snowplow.
aquavit she offers. It would have been That evening, near Mehamn, the world’s
impolite to refuse. northernmost mainland town, we wrestled
I worked off Gurli’s treats by climbing once again into Michelin-man polar suits, cov-
170 steps to the top of Nidaros Cathedral, ered our faces with woolen balaclavas, added
the national church of Norway. It was helmets and fleece-lined leather gloves. After a
built beginning in 1070 over the grave of two-minute driving lesson, we set out on snow-
Olav II, the canonized Viking king who mobiles, single file into the pitch darkness of
became Norway’s patron saint. (Our the tundra – our night lighted only by the ma-
32 Wine Dine & Travel 2016
