The Quartercon Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• My Norwegian is non-existing. Does that mean I'm stuck?
  By no means. You will find that most Norwegians speak excellent English. In fact, we get most of our Science Fiction and Fantasy in English, not in our own language. So fans, in particular, have a good command of English. To the extent that there is the tradition at Norwegian cons that if there are foreigners in the hall for a panel debate, the whole debate simply switches to English.

• Who is this Bergen, Norway person, anyway?
  Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway with its 220.000 inhabitants. Situated on the Norwegian west coast, in the middle of what tourist agencies call "Fjord-land" the nature is wild, but beautiful, and easily available. Bergen is also a city with long, international traditions from the days when it was one of the main bases for the Viking raids on Britain, up through its days as a Hansa Town in the middle ages, and up to its present state as a major shipping centre. But though several memoralia remains of the long history of the town, the main tourist asset offered is the surrounding nature, the like of which you won't find many other places in the world.

• How are the travel connections?
  That very much depends on where you are coming from. If you're travelling from Great Britain, then travel connections are fairly good. There is a direct ferry running between Newcastle and Bergen three times weekly in the summer, and there are direct flights from Aberdeen, Newcastle and London several times daily. There's also a ferry from Aberdeen to Bergen, via Lerwick.

  Travelling to Bergen by train is really only practical if you're coming from Sweden, as you would have to travel via Oslo.

  Coming from continental Europe is slightly more complex. There really are few alternatives to flying, but on the other hand, there are direct flights from several European cities, in particular in Germany. A very common connection is flying via Copenhagen, Denmark. But a ferry connection between Ijmuiden in Holland and Bergen has been announced as starting this summer.

• Accomodation in Bergen
  Bergen is littered with hotels in just about every price class, from youth hostels to the very, very expensive business hotels. However, since mid-August is a very busy tourist season, booking well in advance, even for the youth hostels, is highly recommended. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with the con organizers if you want more information on the this, or need help in getting accomodation. For a limited number of foreign fans, private accomdation may be possible to organize.

• Living expences
  Here's the catch. Norway is expensive. Very expensive, by most standards. In particular fluids with alcoholic content comes at prices likely to shock many. Which is why Norwegians travelling abroad always are very careful to get their quota of Tax Free goods.

  The price for eating out isn't much higher than what you'll find in most other parts of North-Western Europe. The higher cost of living in Norway comes mostly from the prices on basic food articles. This is much more noticeable to someone running a daily household than to someone eating out. Which is what most people visiting for only a few days will be doing anyway.

• What sorts of food does restaurants serve?
  There is a small number of Oriental and Italian restaurants. Unfortunately, unlike most other places in Europe, these are actually among the more expensive restaurants, with a few exceptions. However, there is a large number of restaurants offering traditional Norwegian cooking. Due to the fact that Norway has always had a low food-production, with the exception of fish, Norwegian cooking has two main branchings, evolving from trying to do as many interesting things as possible with fish, and from trying to take advantage of non-fish products as far as possible. In particular the latter has had results that many foreigners find strange, and often interesting.

  There is a large number of restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the convention site, including both vegetarian, Italian, traditional Norwegian, and Chinese.

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  bjornts@ii.uib.no