After a short flight from Stockholm, we landed in Bergen, Norway. Talk about upping the ante. Every place we have been so far has been more beautiful than the last. Bergen is gorgeous. Rows of ancient, coloured, wooden houses line the various harbours, leaning this way and that as if holding each other up and giving the city an indescribable charm. It looks as though if you plucked one out of the middle of a row, the rest would fall down like a deck of cards.

The city is lucky to have these houses, since they were marked for demolition just before the Second World War. An ammunition ship was sabotaged in the harbour during the war, blowing up with such a huge explosion that it destroyed much of the city on the southern side of the harbour. The city had to rebuild the southern side, postponing the demolition of the beautiful old wooden houses on the northern side. They were eventually protected by unesco and now can never be destroyed.

A note about Scandinavian people. They have a casual efficiency about them. The way they work and the way they dress. They are friendly, yet no nonsense. They are very organised, and almost universally stunning to look at. They wear muted colours like beiges, whites and greys, never tight-fitting, but relaxed and functional and very stylish. Even their language is relaxed and efficient: thank you is “tuk tuk” and hello is “hey hey”. In the airport it seems kind of incongruous for a security worker to greet you with “hey, hey!” while confiscating your toothpaste.

After dinner on the first night in Bergen, we took the funicular up the mountain to share the incredible views with the resident herd of goats.

The next day we spent walking around this beautiful city enjoying the unique character of the place.

The following day was a big one. We headed to the train station and took the train to Flåm. This train ride is voted one of the most beautiful in the world and for good reason. We spent the journey running from one side of the train to the other to take in the spectacular scenery, mountains on either side with hundreds of waterfalls draped down their sides like ribbons. Brightly coloured villages were sprinkled around their bases on lush green blankets of grass.

From Flåm, we took a bus ride past glaciers, traversing majestic fjords on ferries, or simply driving all the way around their circumferences. After driving down a steep, snaking, switchback road to sea level, we finished our journey at a tiny village called Gerainger. Nestled next to a fjord, this quaint little place has waterfalls belting down the mountains everywhere you turn, our hotel ideally placed halfway up the mountain to take full advantage of the breathtaking views of the fjord.

We were now further north, and the sun, rather than rising and setting, traverses across the sky. Dusk is at 11:30pm and dawn at 3:30am.

The next morning, after donning the most attractive alpine suits, we embarked on a speed boat ride around the fjord. The boat was small and narrow, with only room for six passengers. The seats were arranged in pairs and resembled saddles, since you had to throw your leg over them and straddle them to sit. In front of each seat was a bar to hold, which made it feel like you were riding a horse. Once we took off, it felt even more like riding a horse when the driver started fanging it over the wakes of the ferries causing the boat to buck like a bronco! It was heaps of fun and also overwhelming with the mountains towering over us on either side of the fjord and the waterfalls on either side draping down like veils from 300 metres above us. This included the seven sisters, which are seven waterfalls drifting down the cliff face like chiffon. They are unesco protected and the most photographed waterfalls in Norway.

There are still farms halfway up the mountains, where the only way to visit is to hike up from the waters below. It’s a monumental effort for the farmers to bring their goats cheese down the mountain, sell it and then hike all the way back up again. There is a legendary story about a farmer 200 years ago who had a rope ladder dangling down as part of his hike home. Whenever he saw the tax man coming on his boat along the fjord, he’d hike the ladder up, making his property impossible to access. Eventually the tax man came along with dynamite and blasted a trail to his house. Death and taxes: you can’t avoid them.

After this we drove to a farm that was accessible by road rather than a massive hike. We met Anette, who sang a traditional song for us in the traditional costume she wore at her wedding. She also wore it to sing for the King and Queen of Norway, who had their wedding here a couple of years ago. The farm buildings, built in the 1500s, sported the traditional sod roofs sprouting bushes, grass and flowers. We entered one of the houses and had home made apple cake and coffee at a huge, rough-hewn timber table, where Anette’s family had been eating for 500 years.

We spent some time in the town centre and then climbed the 300 steps next to a waterfall leading to our hotel. One of the guys on our tour, John, was also climbing those steps and he saw a man standing at the lookout taking a photograph of a woman in front of the waterfall. They couldn’t speak English so, using hand gestures, John asked them if they would like a photo taken together. They looked at each other and then nodded. John borrowed the man’s phone and took a photo of them together. He then gave the phone back to the guy, who promptly turned around and gave the phone to the woman, after which they both walked off in different directions! Apparently, they didn’t even know each other!