Norwegian Ålesund is situated on seven islands washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean
Norway is a fairy-tale land. According to all laws of reality, a landscape like the fjords cannot exist, with bizarre cliffs that go to the sky at one end and equally sheer and incomprehensible into the depths, under water at the other. These picturesque and seemingly harmless bodies of water, resembling ordinary rivers, cannot live by the laws of the ocean – kilometers of depth, warm and cold currents, tsunamis that throw ships onto a mountain. And yet, all of this exists. A correspondent for Lenta.ru traveled to the shores of the Atlantic to marvel at this beauty.
Focus on Water
Until you see Norwegian water, you won’t believe that the so-called “color of sea wave” really exists in nature. Even in Aivazovsky’s paintings it is more modest, but there the sea is creatively reworked into a pictorial image. But here are the fjords, which are not sea at all, but something like bays, only narrow and long. Along their waters, barges, ferries and large ships ply; on the shores, cities and villages live a normal life, ports and industrial enterprises operate, oil is extracted and processed in full swing. And the water is clean. So clean that all visitors to Norway are specially informed: you can drink tap water! Indeed, it tastes much better than what is sold in bottles in our country.
There is a lot of water in Norway. Its transparency and unusual color greatly disturb all visitors in the first days. Local guides have even developed measures to combat this anxiety. They explain in an accessible way the origin of the unnatural purity and turquoise color of the water in the Norwegian fjords: this water comes from melting glaciers, the rock filters it to crystal clarity, and the blue-green color indicates that the molecular structure of the water has been altered by the pressure of a multi-ton layer of ice.
In Fjærland, at the foot of the towering ice-covered mountains of Jostedalsbreen, there is a Glacier Museum, which clearly explains how this ordinary miracle happens with water. Using a special device, you can yourself press water out of ice and see how its crystal color changes from dirty gray to bright vitriolic. But even with all the inexorable force of laboratory evidence, the scientific theory applied to the magical Norwegian water looks unconvincing.
A State Fairy Tale
Water is not the only Norwegian miracle. It also seems incredible that a country where only three percent of land is suitable for agriculture not only feeds itself well, but also exports organic products to other countries. Moreover, many of these products are national exclusives, such as brown goat cheese from the Gudbrandsdal valley or the warmest sheep wool.
Why does the not-so-fertile land of harsh rocks give the country such abundance? Probably there is also some magic in this, not for nothing that in our age of information technology they still believe in trolls and elves, in evil and good spirits, and in historical chronicles the real history of Norway is firmly intertwined with national fairy tales.
There is also a state fairy tale – about how in the 1960s, in a poor agricultural country, rich oil deposits were suddenly found, and this completely changed the lives of all its citizens. I repeat: all. The oil reserves miraculously did not become the property of a narrow circle of oil industrialists, but were declared national property. Now Norway has firmly established itself at the forefront of countries with the highest quality of life. The state provides its citizens with free education, healthcare, and pensions equal to the salary of a skilled worker, and also sets aside money “for a rainy day” – in the so-called future generations fund. This tale of a smart state is sad to hear not only for Russian citizens.
Why are Norwegians so lucky? Maybe this happy people really got some special magic land? One of the answers to this question, which torments many visitors, lies far away, in a distant kingdom, on the shore of the sea-ocean, on seven islands, in a miracle city called Ålesund.
New Atlantis
Everyone who comes to Ålesund is first taken to its outskirts, to the top of Mount Aksla, where there is an observation deck. From there you can see that the city is located on seven islands and is very similar to Venice, only perhaps more beautiful.
The city, surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, with wide canals instead of central streets, resembles a fairy-tale Atlantis that changed its mind about sinking. It amazes with its perfect beauty and seems painted, unreal. It seems as if it all appeared at the wave of a magic wand, in an instant. Like in that fairy tale where everything the artist painted in his fantasies became reality. And this is not far from the truth.
In the winter of 1904, the name of Ålesund was in all the world’s newspapers. On a cold and windy night, a terrible fire occurred that completely destroyed an entire city on the Atlantic coast. The fire was so merciless and swift that it seemed even the water in the city canals was burning – it could not stop the flames that jumped from one house to another. The old town was almost entirely wooden, like most Norwegian cities; the large boat sheds, the boats themselves, the piers, and the streets were all made of wood. Ålesund became easy prey for the fire element.
In Europe and America, fundraisers were announced to help the fire victims, ships with humanitarian aid were sent, neighboring Germany and Sweden took in the elderly, children, and women evacuated from Ålesund. The men stayed to rebuild the city from scratch.
Shaken by the tragedy that occurred in far-off Norway, the best European architects created projects for the reviving city, many doing it for free or for symbolic money. The luxurious Art Nouveau style (Jugendstil, as it is called in German in Norway) that dominated art at the time defined the image of the future city and the integrity of its architectural solution.
Pipes were laid under the streets and sidewalks to carry seawater so that the roads would not ice up in winter. That was a bold technological solution at the time, which fully justified itself: there is no ice on the steep – from hill to hill – streets and alleys of Ålesund. The system of heating the road surface with the waters of the warm current still operates in the city today.
To prevent a tragedy like the one that had occurred from ever happening again, the streets of the new city were made very wide so that random sparks would be harmless to neighboring houses. And it was decided to build all houses from stone. Even the roofs in Ålesund are now stone – made of gray slate resembling fish scales. From above, from an airplane, the city looks very much like a long silver fish swimming through the ocean water.
Ålesund, incidentally, is named after a valuable fish – the conger eel. Some say it is because of the shape of the winding narrow strait that divides the city into islands; others believe it is because the best smoked eel in the world is prepared here.
It is said there was an idea to rename the newly rebuilt city on the site of the conflagration, as it turned out too beautiful to bear a simple fish name – to give it something more elevated and romantic. But the townspeople would not hear of it. Fish – that sounds proud in Norway!
In just three years, Ålesund literally rose from the ashes, becoming one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture, a living textbook of urban planning, an open-air museum. A monument to human courage and mercy.
Time Machine
In the old pharmacy in the city center, there is a small city museum with a “time machine.” You step into a little booth, press a button – and find yourself at the beginning of the 20th century.
Here are collected photographs and old film footage showing the destruction and stages of the city's restoration, and the living voices of witnesses to the events are heard. A woman who was a little girl in 1904 tells that the homeless people were tormented more than the cold by the smell of burnt fish oil, which prevented the refugees from eating for several days. One of the builders speaks with gratitude about the young German architect who patiently taught ordinary workers to read complex blueprints. A priest shows a charred wooden shack – the only dwelling to survive the fire, where a fervently believing old man lived: God saved him, did not let him perish in the flames.
On shelves along the walls are touching items: balls and dolls blackened with soot with the names of their former owners, a builder's shoes, drawings by a local artist, fishermen's talismans.
By the way, the fishermen of Ålesund put out to sea soon after the fire, and the fish processing plant was restored first, when they themselves were still living in tents and dugouts. After all, fish was the main source of income, the main revenue item for the city treasury.
It was like that then, and it is the same now. In Ålesund there is a fishing museum – quite small but remarkable. In addition to clearly presenting the entire history of fishing by humans from ancient times to the present day, you can participate in a unique event – a tasting of fish oil. Where else will you see people voluntarily swallowing this and discussing the subtleties of taste?
If you are a polite person, do not admit your dislike for such a valuable and useful substance. But you can easily admit to a dislike for squid – Norwegians for some reason do not consider them edible and treat them like marine garbage. Perhaps, with such a wealth of choice, they can afford it: a great deal of fish and other seafood is caught in Norway, and all of it is of excellent quality. Norwegians are very proud of their fish.
On the Water and Under Water
The streets of modern Ålesund can be walked like museum halls, stopping at every house as if at a painting, examining the color and ideal texture of the facade, elaborate cornices, carved doors and grilles, the smooth lines of the frames, small elegant flower beds where even weeds and fallen leaves seem a fitting illustration of one of Art Nouveau's favorite themes – the contemplation of transience.
A toy city-attraction in adult size. Along the streets full of water, small yachts and boats sail and moor right at the sidewalks. And the sidewalks along the canal-streets are made of planks, resembling ship's gangplanks. They sag under the feet of passersby and slap against the unrealistically clean water.
There is a balcony where a man peacefully smokes a newspaper, his slippers almost brushed by a wave from a passing boat. A good view from these apartments overlooking the canal: against the background of the ocean distance – the carved lace of pointed roofs with wrought-iron weather vanes and figured ridge crests, in the huge windows of the first floors the mirror-like reflection of the rippling water.
By the way, why are there such huge windows on the first floors? Because they were not windows before, but gates through which fish were loaded. Fishing boats dropped anchor right at these gates, and the houses were ordinary fish warehouses. They became residential only about 40-50 years ago, and the idea of housing people there was at first much ridiculed – they said that the smell of fish would never be removed from those walls, no matter what reconstructions and renovations. They were wrong: now this is the most prestigious housing in the city.
Why build fish warehouses of such stunning beauty? Hard to say. But try to find at least one ugly building in this city. There are none.
Some streets of Ålesund end in steps leading into the water. Where can you descend these stone staircases covered with soft algae? To the underwater level of the fairy-tale city?
Something magical is hidden underwater – tunnels connecting islands. This is without exaggeration a marvel of engineering. The tunnels are laid under the seabed at a depth of 137 meters, and they are quite long – from four to ten kilometers. The road goes along the coast, and then suddenly dives underwater. Your ears pop a bit – it's very deep, but the road is well lit, there's even a breeze – air conditioning systems circulate fresh air. If the driver is tired, he can rest at a special area where there is a phone just in case.
However, such tunnels are not only in Ålesund. Quite recently, a multi-kilometer underwater road was laid to a Norwegian village with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, so that people would not feel cut off from civilization. Of course, building tunnels in the ocean is an expensive affair, but the authorities considered that oil money should provide the most convenient and safe roads everywhere, even in the most remote provinces.
After all, it's not for nothing that the Norwegians got such a magical land and a fabulously generous ocean with turquoise fjords. Fair enough. They treat their riches and each other with respect and sincere love. In the end, every nation deserves what it has.