...Norway...

Tammay and I travelled to Norway on August 2nd 2010. We flew from London Gatwick to Bergen, basically sleeping through the entire flight.

Bergen

We had thought to get the bus into town but after joining the end of a queue that looked to have the potential to be rather slow and troublesome we decided that a taxi was a much better option.

Bergen

We stayed at the Det Hanseatiske Hotell which had a great location next to the waterfront.

Torget fish market

After checking in we walked around the Torget fish market on the waterfront, picking up a couple of small crayfish sandwiches for lunch – at £6 a piece, people aren't kidding when they say Norway is expensive!

Bergen

Bergen is known for rain with about 2 in every 3 days of the year being wet but we seemed to be lucky.

Bergen's old town

We walked around the older parts of the town.

Floibanen funicular railway

We took the Floibanen Funicular railway to the top of the mountain for some great views over Bergen.

A view of Bergen

Bergen

After returning to the bottom of the mountain we wandered around town a little more and had dinner.

Bergen

Flam

August 3rd. Picked up our hire car (an Audi A3 that had been delivered just that morning!) and drove to Flam. We took the 12:20 Flamsbana (Scenic train) to Myrdal and back.

Flamsbana

The Flamsbana took us up the valley.

Flamsbana

The views along the journey were really good.

Kjosfossen Waterfall

We stopped at the Kjosfossen Waterfall along the way.

Kjosfossen Waterfall

Me at the Kjosfossen Waterfall.

Flamsbana

Tammay enjoying the journey.

Flamsbana

Along the way we passed a number of small stations like this one.

Flam

Upon returning to Flam we bought a picnic from a little supermarket.

Flam

We ate it in the sun, enjoying views of the Aurlandsfjorden.

Ardalsfjorden ferry

We drove on to Marifjora, making use of a car ferry to cross the Ardalsfjorden.

Ardalsfjorden ferry

Views along the Ardalsfjorden from the ferry.

Ardalsfjorden ferry

Torvis Hotell

We checked in at the Torvis Hotell.

Marifjora

We walked along the shore line for an hour or so and had dinner in the Torvis Cafe. Although we wern't exactly that far north, it was around 21:30 that we noticed that it was still very light, something that wasn't obvious in Bergen.

Journey to Mundal

August 4th. We made the short drive (over a crazily priced toll road) to Mundal stopping at a glacial lake along the way.

Glacial lake

A small glacial lake and a view of the Boyabreen arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier.

Glacial lake

Tammay at the glacial lake.

Mundal

We drove on to Mundal which is known as the book town of Norway.

Mundal

Sognefjord

We had lunch on the bank of Fjaelandsfjord, enjoying the spectacular views.

Ferry to Balestrand

A 90 minute ferry ride from Mundal took us to Balestrand.

Ferry to Balestrand

A walk from Saurdal

We took the advice of the Rough Guide and drove 6km up a steep single track gravel road to Saurdal where there was supposed to be a very nice loop walk around a lake. Unfortunately the trail took us to two separate junctions and we had no idea which route we should have taken at either... Munkeggi or Hanevikstolen, Saurdalen or Hanevikelvi? We shall never know!

The view from Saurdal

In the end the trail seemed to get less and less defined as we ascended up the mountain, to the point were we decided to make the most of the view and turn around.

On our drive back we took the ferry from Balestrand to Hella and then stopped at Omar's Pizzaria in Sogndal. We sat outside with our family sized margherita.

Horse trekking

August 5th. After an early breakfast we made the short drive to the Breheimsenteret Glacier Museum (just outside Gjerde) and booked a horse trekking trip with Raudskarvfjellet Turriding.

Horse trekking

We met our guides, Eleanor & Heidi and 4 fellow trekkers.

Horse trekking

After rounding up our horses from the hill side we spent about an hour grooming them and saddling up.

Horse trekking

All kitted up and ready to go!

Horse trekking

The trek took us along the floor of the valley towards the Nigardsbreen glacial arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier. My horse was always keen to stop for a snack.

Horse trekking

The weather was once again perfect. We stopped for lunch around a tent our guides had left.

Horse trekking

After lunch we rode back towards the trekking centre, zig zagging the many rivers and streams flowing down from the glacier. We spent a lot more time in the water on the way back and my feet got soaked!

Horse trekking

The last leg of the journey back to base took us along the road.

Torvis Hotell

Our room, with a view of the Gaupnefjorden. That evening our host gave a talk on the history of Marifjora and the hotel. We stayed at the hotel for our evening meal which turned out to be one of the better meals of the holiday but then again it did cost more than £100.

Torvis Hotell

August 6th. We checked out of the Torvis Hotell.

The journey to Gudbrands-juvet

We decided to take the slightly more direct route to Gudbrands-juvet, which was to be our next destination, however it still took us hours about 7 hours in all – a mixture of the narrow winding roads, the encredibly slow drivers and a lunch break.

The journey to Gudbrands-juvet

We had lunch in Geiranger at Cafe Ole. Geiranger seemed to be a nice little town but had been overrun with tourists from a huge cruise ship docked at the head of the fjord. We had our first rain of the trip but only for an hour or so while we drove.

Me enjoying the view

As I braved the freezing cold wind (yes I know I was only wearing shorts), Tammay took this atmospheric photo from inside the warm car.

Our room

As we got closer to our destination it became apparent we had entered 'strawberry country' with every other roadside property being a strawberry farm with a stall out front. We checked in at Juvet Landskapshotell (Juvet Landscape Hotel) at about 5pm. The room had a glass wall, giving us great views of the mountains and river Juvet below.

Our room

As seen from the outside!

Jordbaerstoya

We had an evening meal at Jordbaerstoya which was a 10km drive – for 8pm on a Friday night it was rather quiet! That evening we spent a couple of hours in the hot tub and steam room.

Midnight sun

By midnight the sky was still blue and I had to prove to Tammay that I could quite easily read by the sky light. We fell asleep to the sound of the river flowing beneath our room.

Juvet Landskapshotell

August 7th. Breakfast was a short walk from our room at the Juvet Cafe.

The head of Norddalsfjorden

Following the advice of a local we drove through Valldal and past the head of Norddalsfjorden which gave this great view. Apparently small whales are often sighted here, but not today.

Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet

We drove on to Kaldhussaetra where we were able to park the car. We picked up a trail and walked the rest of the way around Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet, a large lake.

Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet

Tammay next to the lake Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet.

Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet and beyond

As we continued on we passed a succession of small lakes and waterfalls.

Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet and beyond

It was another glorious day and we sat in the sun eating lunch. The walk back to the car only took about an hour.

Heimste Kaldhussaetervatnet and beyond

When we got back to the hotel we cooked pasta for ourself in the 'barn' kitchen, far tastier than most of the other meals we had had in Norway, Tammay should open an Italian restaurant here!

River Juvet

August 8th. A lazy day. After breakfast at the Juvet Cafe we went back to the room. We took a walk along the river behind the cafe.

River Juvet

We whiled away about an hour skimming stones and trying to hit a small tree branch caught in a eddie.

River Juvet

We returned to the cafe for chocolate cake and coffee.

The spa area

We went back to our room and bought a punnet of strawberries from a stall outside the cafe – we had expected them to be about £10 but were a more reasonable £4... clearly a benefit of being in strawberry country!

The spa area

We spent a couple of hours enjoying yet another sunny day in the spa area, moving back and forth from the hot tub, steam room and ice cold shower!

River Juvet

The river Juvet running next to our room.

River Juvet

Me next to the river Juvet.

River Juvet

The spa area

We also cooked ourselves another pasta dinner and ate it on the sun deck, overlooking the river.

The journey to Andalsnes

August 9th. An early start. We drove on to Andalsnes where we were due to drop off the hire car.

The journey to Andalsnes

As I took a couple of photos the wind rappidly carried the mist towards me.

The journey to Andalsnes

Trolls' Ladder

It took quite a while before we emerged from the mist but there was still a lot of low cloud and fog about. This is a view of the Trollstigen or "Trolls' Ladder" from part way down. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a better shot from higher up the mountain.

We arrived outside the 'Avis' shop as instructed by our agent however it looked very closed. After thinking about simply parking the car outside and dropping the keys in the post box (and taking a video recording) I decided it would be better to call the Avis Assist Helpline... it turns out our agent was wrong and this was a paper shop – their actual office was about a mile away. After driving nearly 1000km in our brand new Audi in the last few meters before the train station a badger ran out into the road in front of the car. I didn't even get a chance to slow down. Suprisingly there was no damage to the car.

Train to Oslo

We boarded the train from Andalsnes to Oslo via Dombas. At 6 hours it was a long but scenic journey.

Train to Oslo

We had some spectacular views from the train along the journey.

Stortinget

We checked in at the Rica G20 hotel. After a brief wander around town we went to The Grand Cafe for a good dinner. After another wander around town we sat on the lawn in front of the Stortinget – The Parlament Building.

Det Kongelige

We also walked up to Det Kongelige – The Royal Palace in Oslo.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

August 10th. The Munch murals exhibit at the Oslo University was closed so we went to the Munch room at the National Gallery. We then took the tram to Vigelandsparken – The Vigeland Sculpture Park.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

Tammay at the Vigeland Sculpture Park.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

We walked around the Grunerlokka region of Oslo and had lunch in the sun in front of Bistro Brocante, a great little cafe where we had one of the few good meals of our trip. After lunch we went to the House of Oslo, a shopping centre with 20 interior design shops.

Tour de Norway

By the time we got back to the square in front of the parlament building the Tour of Norway for kids had started so we sat with a coffee from another little cafe. We had a rest back at the hotel and went for dinner at the The Grand Cafe.

August 11th. Our last day. The weather finally gave way and we had rain, however if it had to rain, this was a good day for it! In the morning we took the subway to Toyen for the Munch Museum to satisfy Tammay's need for a little culture. We then looked around a few shops, but given the price of everything in Norway we weren't planning on buying anything. We also took a look inside the Domkirke cathedral and then stopped at Cafe Bacchus in the Basarhallene (large circular building) for a lazy coffee and lunch. We looked around a few more shops in the Oslo City shopping centre. The walk from the hotel to the station was a little too short for a taxi but felt a little long in the rain. We took the Airport Express to Oslo airport for our flight back to London Heathrow.