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Norway and the North Pearls |
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Viking long ship excavated at Gokstad, Norway, in 1880 |
The Norwegian coastline is one of the Nature's gems not still well known. Entice the call of the islands encircling it like garlands, isles often not even grazed from the human presence, and where the wind is uncontested lord of sounds and silences.
In Norway the concept of normality is transformed in something of unique: in summer the sun of midnight protracts its light, winning the darkness, while in winter the boreal dawn creates a surrealistic atmosphere, nearly as a dream.
A quarter of the Norwegian territory is covered with forests, between the 500 and 1200 meters of altitude, composed above all by conifer, pine and fir trees. With growing of the latitude the forests trend to thin out and the birches start to appear. Continuing northwards, they disappear completely leaving place to expanse grassy and meadow of high mountain.
This nature so uncontaminated has insinuated in this people the eternal seduction of the adventure and travels: it is not a chance Norway is the earth of Vikings, pre-eminently explorers. But what it astonishes is how this people of navigators is extremely sensitive to the hospitality.
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Bergen harbour at sunset
Waterfall in Laerdal
Fantoft Stave Church
Thanks to the Bergen Tourist Board for the Bergen photographic material and the kind collaboration
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It is a world of lights, colors and peace. And in this natural paradise shines of own light one small town in the western part of Norway :
BERGEN
Full of fascination, with waterfalls and rivers creating mysterious atmospheres, Bergen is proud of its cultural traditions, its commerce and its marine traffic. Its 235,000 inhabitants live practically in a spectacular amphitheater scrambling up the mountain dominating the sea.
It is the gateway to the fjords, it is protected by the UNESCO becoming a World Heritage City, and it is famous for its festival (in 2000 has been one of the European Capital of Culture). The wooden houses, the narrow little roads downtown, the port and the sea makes it an unique city. The old part of the town is rich of history, and museums and galleries hold the ancient cultural inheritance still alive.
The Bryggen Museum has been equipped with a particular care and deserves a visit. Since 1976 it collects numerous archaeological findings telling the history of Bergen to the age of the Hansa (famous League of coastal cities traders in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, extended then between 13° and 17° the century also to other seafaring cities but connected with the firsts by tightened commerce links). It owns also an important runic stone collection with magical and ritual inscriptions (XII century), in addition to documents about uses and medieval customs.
Ever since the intrepid King Olav Kyrre founded it in 1070, Bergen has attracted people from all the parts of the world. Some went away but others remained deciding to make Bergen their home. Its inhabitants are therefore a cocktail of various cultures and Bergen is the most international city of Norway.
Earth of fantastic legends, sagas and Troll, elf and dragons, underground people and fairies, gods and mythical heroes, Norway has still an other amazing arrow in its bow :
HESSDALEN
It is a small valley long 12 km. located about in the center part of Norway, between Bergen and Trondheim, where the red deer peeps out among the trees, and where fascinating phenomena taken place that science has still not been able to explain.
Hessdalen is inhabited from less than 200 persons. There is a church, a school, little small small houses... and luminous globes turning in the sky! The inhabitants are reserved and they do not speak willingly about this phenomenon - after all they are accustomed by now to it. But they pay however the interest of onlookers, fans... and scientists.
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Hessdalen lights |
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In Hessdalen often appear spheres of lights that, alone or in formation, remain visible for some seconds, minutes, or hours, and then dissolve. They move in jerks, either at a low altitude or in sky, and produce very luminous shining flashes that tend to vanish in a fraction of second. |
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This phenomenon, of which exists a going back official documentation to 1981, but there is who asserts the testimonies go back to the end of 19° century, is observed and studied since years in a systematic and rigorously scientific way. In the 1984 various plans for the study of the Hessdalen phenomenon are born, to which participate Norwegian, Russian, New Zealand and Italian scientists. Finally in 1988 a permanent station of automatic observation is established in Hessdalen. |
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Science finds some difficulty to explain what are these rotating lights of various shapes, that emit sounds detectable in the radio band at low frequency, and that some times hover at middle height also for more than an hour. Other times fly slowly over the valley or fly at high speed (a radar also have recorded 8,500 meters per second). They have an irregular movement and the light can be fixed or intermittent. The colors vary from the yellow, red or blue and sometimes they can be so much strong to illuminate the land. The phenomenon, of not easy understanding, escapes at the moment to a precise classification but the international scientific community working on this search is agree on the necessity to associate to the observations more sophisticated instrumentations. |
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Norway Tourist Board - http://www.visitnorway.com Bergen Tourist Board - http://www.visitbergen.com Bergen Promotion: www.bergen-guide.com Hessdalen: http://www.hessdalen.org/ Comitato Italiano per il Progetto Hessdalen: http://www.itacomm.net/PH/ |
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