Lots of Amazing Places

Six countries, ten cities, a dozen national parks, lots of natural and cultural points of interest, all in about ten weeks of roaming around in fascinating and beautiful Nordic countries.  I started with a three week visit to Norway, then a three week visit to Iceland, and wrapped it up with about three and a half weeks in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia.  Here's a brief photo summary; more details about each country are available through links in the text below.  Enjoy! NORWAY My three week visit to Norway began in Bergen, on the southwestern coast.  Among many other interesting attractions, Bergen is home to BRYGGEN, ("the dock"), a UNESCO World Heritage Site that preserves these colorful dockside buildings.  They were a set of Hansiatic trading posts established here around 1350, and they are part of the oldest section of Bergen After five days in Bergen, I hopped on a Hurtigruten coastal ferry and began to sail all the way from Bergen to the Russian bo...

Since it was only a two hour ferry ride away from Helsinki, I took a couple of days to visit Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia.  Old Town Tallinn is a well preserved medieval city that was quite interesting to visit.  But, as you'll see, music and the vibrancy of a recently freed country (from Russia, in 1991) were the emotional highlights for me during this quick visit Here's a view of the walled Old Town section of Tallinn.  Established as a "real" town in the 1200s, Tallinn became an important and wealthy port city in the 1500s through its participation in the Hanseatic League, a network of partner cities in northern Europe that controlled much of the shipping and trading throughout the region.  A few of the very old buildings have survived the ravages of repeated fires that destroyed much of the Old Town.  Most of what you see in the picture was built in the 16th through 18th centuries.  It is well maintained and very visitor friendly, and earned a UNESCO...