Norway
Next stop on our two weeks in Scandinavia was Norway and, as I expected, getting there really was half the fun! We did an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, which left at 5.30pm and arrived on Monday at 9.00am. We had our own cabin (which had a stunning view of the coast and the islands we passed along the way) and were given a free bottle of champagne! I even had time for a spa. The weather was perfect, and I took a stunning photo of the sunset at one end of the ship and a rainbow at the other - it was quite the experience.
Monday we cruised into Oslo, a truly beautiful way to arrive. We visited the viking ship museum out on the Oslo peninsular and then caught a ferry back to the inner city. Since the weather was so good, we took another ferry cruise around the harbour to one of the islands (Langoyene), and then walked around Akershus Festning, a medieval fortress on the waterfront. After wandering around in the sun a bit more, we grabbed our bags and hopped on board the train West, to Flam.
The train journey was spectacular to say the least. It rose to 1200m above sea level, where lakes were covered with ice, and hills covered with snow, despite it being June and almost the moddle of Summer! Then, the Flam railway takes less than an hour, down into Flam, more than 800m down, past a number of waterfalls into a very cute town at the end of a Fjord. It was still light at 10.30pm!
We spent the next three nights in a cute little cabin in Flam camping ground. It's hard to describe without seeing the photos (which I promise I will get on the net in the next month or two), but basically we had three days of beautiful sunshine, fresh, clean air and it was just nice and relaxing. We did a little bit of shopping (I bought two solid marble polar bears), did a cruise around the Fjords, did a really cool kayak on a fjord (even fed some goats!) and did a big walk into the upper valley of Flam. But generally it was a laid-back, relaxing time. The Flam church in the upper valley was built in 1667! It really did feel like paradise, especially once the massive cruise ships left during the evening. But the camping ground was just the ticket for a quiet, relaxing stay in an amazing place - Fiona and Adarsh - its a must visit!
Sadly, it couldn't last forever. We had another nice train ride back into Oslo, where we met our friend "rain" yet again. And again it was a bit of a downer. But we did go around the shops, visited the National Gallery, Royal Palace and the Storting - Norwegian Parliament. We did a tour of the Parliament and I found it quite fascinating. Norwegian history is very interesting indeed - as the country has been passed around quite a bit from country to country before true independence in 1905; and now it rakes in massive amounts of money from oil in the North Sea.
And that was Norway. I really liked Oslo (more than Fiona did) - a small and very intimate city. Our visit to Oslo was a bit spoiled by the rain, but there was just a vibe and a feel about it that I really liked, more than Copenhagen. But there's no doubt that the highlight so far was Flam and the stunning western fjords. Anyone going to Norway should definitely make the effort to go across Norway, especially via that brilliant train trip. Although I would go back to Norway again tomorrow (and hopefully we will get to Bergen and see more of the West Coast) it is probably the most expensive of the three countries - and you'll need every penny you have. Last stop, Stockholm...
Monday we cruised into Oslo, a truly beautiful way to arrive. We visited the viking ship museum out on the Oslo peninsular and then caught a ferry back to the inner city. Since the weather was so good, we took another ferry cruise around the harbour to one of the islands (Langoyene), and then walked around Akershus Festning, a medieval fortress on the waterfront. After wandering around in the sun a bit more, we grabbed our bags and hopped on board the train West, to Flam.
The train journey was spectacular to say the least. It rose to 1200m above sea level, where lakes were covered with ice, and hills covered with snow, despite it being June and almost the moddle of Summer! Then, the Flam railway takes less than an hour, down into Flam, more than 800m down, past a number of waterfalls into a very cute town at the end of a Fjord. It was still light at 10.30pm!
We spent the next three nights in a cute little cabin in Flam camping ground. It's hard to describe without seeing the photos (which I promise I will get on the net in the next month or two), but basically we had three days of beautiful sunshine, fresh, clean air and it was just nice and relaxing. We did a little bit of shopping (I bought two solid marble polar bears), did a cruise around the Fjords, did a really cool kayak on a fjord (even fed some goats!) and did a big walk into the upper valley of Flam. But generally it was a laid-back, relaxing time. The Flam church in the upper valley was built in 1667! It really did feel like paradise, especially once the massive cruise ships left during the evening. But the camping ground was just the ticket for a quiet, relaxing stay in an amazing place - Fiona and Adarsh - its a must visit!
Sadly, it couldn't last forever. We had another nice train ride back into Oslo, where we met our friend "rain" yet again. And again it was a bit of a downer. But we did go around the shops, visited the National Gallery, Royal Palace and the Storting - Norwegian Parliament. We did a tour of the Parliament and I found it quite fascinating. Norwegian history is very interesting indeed - as the country has been passed around quite a bit from country to country before true independence in 1905; and now it rakes in massive amounts of money from oil in the North Sea.
And that was Norway. I really liked Oslo (more than Fiona did) - a small and very intimate city. Our visit to Oslo was a bit spoiled by the rain, but there was just a vibe and a feel about it that I really liked, more than Copenhagen. But there's no doubt that the highlight so far was Flam and the stunning western fjords. Anyone going to Norway should definitely make the effort to go across Norway, especially via that brilliant train trip. Although I would go back to Norway again tomorrow (and hopefully we will get to Bergen and see more of the West Coast) it is probably the most expensive of the three countries - and you'll need every penny you have. Last stop, Stockholm...
posted by Steve at 12:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home