Norway in a nutshell

For years and years, I have wanted to do this trip and back in May on the first long weekend, I finally got to. It was as spectacular as I’d hoped it would be.

Mailie, Stuart, Kris and I flew into Bergen, the starting point of the round trip. We spent the first afternoon and evening there exploring the town. There were moments of sunshine in a town that apparently sees more rainfall than Seattle. Norway is super expensive so we kept the entertainment fairly low key with a few drinks in the hotel room (picked up duty free) and then a beers in a local restaurant that night.

The next leg of the trip was to Flam via Myrdal. We took an old railway train through some gorgeous scenery. We even saw snow, which surprised me completely! And then we came down through the green valleys, past waterfalls into the township of Flam.

We were staying there overnight so checked into our apartment and then went for a sea kayaking trip through the Aurlandsfjord. It was my first time ever kayaking and I was driving in the back with Mailie in the front. The scenery was lovely but it was really hard work going against the wind!  At the halfway point through we went for a little hike up one of the mountains before kayaking back to the little harbour – this time with me in the front and Stuart in the back which was far more enjoyable. Later on it turned out that I had managed somehow to strain my wrists and I had aching inflamed tendons for two weeks afterwards.

We stayed in, and cooked in our apartment that night having cleverly stocked up at the supermarket the day before (Flam is small and only has one pub and a tiny supermarket that wasn’t open the day we arrived).

 

The view from our apartment in Flam

Managed to get Kris & Mailie in the shot!

The next day was the ‘boat’ leg of the trip and we took our ferry down both Aurlandsfjord and Sognefjord (one of the longest at 204km and deepest in the world) to Gudvangen. The fjords were absolutely stunning, even if we were freezing cold standing outside on the boat to make the most of the view. The hot chocolate and Baileys helped keep us warm. That was the part I had most been looking forward to and the highlight of the trip for me.

Not freezing cold at all

Stunning...

From the village of Gudvangen we took a bus ride to Voss. It was a journey full of hairpin turns as we descended into the valley below past famous waterfalls and more beautiful scenery. The scenic tour didn’t stop there. After a short stopover in Voss we headed back to Bergen through valleys, along the river and past beautiful lakes famous for their salmon.

Back in Bergen for our last day, we wandered through the world heritage listed old town thanks to the ‘Hanseatic merchants’ (traders of fish and grain I think) from the 1200s. We took the cable car up the mountain and went for a walk through the forest there, had lunch and a last beer before heading back to London.

The home of cinnamon swirls

View of Bergen, after the fernicular