About fifteen years ago I stepped off a plane into Oslo Airport. It was the first time I had left the United States (sorry, Niagara Falls, you don't count). The next two weeks in Norway changed my life. After that trip, I was addicted to traveling. In the next three years, before I graduated high school, I visited 9 other countries. My love of travel was probably one of the main reasons I chose archaeology as my field of study. It's why I didn't freak out when my husband came home one day and announced The Company wanted to move us to Luxembourg. That first trip abroad gets credit for a lot in my life. Why? There is no place on earth like Norway. Ever since I left, I was obsessed with getting back.
Last month I did.
A trip to Norway takes some planning. It's wild. It's a little unpredictable. It's expensive. The thing is, though, it is totally worth it. I say this with complete sincerity, Norway must to be on your bucket list. It
must.
We had nine days and the goal was to get a full sampling of Norway's widest section. Norway is one of the few countries in Europe where wild camping is permitted, meaning you pitch a tent pretty much wherever you want. As much as we've been craving a proper backpacking trip that doesn't involve campgrounds, friteries, and Dutch RVs, we wanted to spend some time there first to get a feel for the terrain, the weather, and the people. We didn't want our only visit to be spent entirely in the backcountry without getting to know the place a little bit. So, we rented a VW Golf and did a road trip circuit which started and ended in Oslo with pauses in Fossbergom, Bergen, Odda, Valle, and Kristiansand.
We didn't linger in Oslo on the first day. We immediately hit the road, passing by Lillehammer, and began following the Otta River towards the mountains. It didn't take long before we realized that this was, hands down, going to be our favorite trip of the year.
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In Fossbergom
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The Lom Stave Church
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The first day ended in Fossbergom, home to the magnificent Lom Stave Church, the start of the Fylkesvei 55, and our second favorite restaurant in Europe (the Fossheim Turisthotell restaurant). With the smell of the old tarred wooden church, the sound of the waterfall, the relaxed friendliness of the locals, and the warm ambiance of a 120 year old hotel, all the emotions from being in Norway the first time came flooding back.
I'm not going to go into a point by point description of our trip, I'll just pass along some of the highlights. From Fossbergom we drove Rt. 55 over the Jotunheimen Mountains down into fjord country.
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The most beautiful and longest roadway tunnel on earth
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Then it was on to Bergen, my favorite Norwegian city. We spent an entire day above Bergen hiking the route from Mt. Ulriken to Fløyen, which was the most painful, challenging, and humbling hike of my life. Dinner that night was in the old Bergen Fish Market, and, let me tell you, canned beer and fish & chips never tasted so good.
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Bergen Harbor
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Mountain trail.
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From Bergen we headed back to the mountains (because we're obsessed) towards the old industrial city of Odda. This is when we also turned away from the tourist area of Norway. Odda ended up being the most surprising place we visited. Despite its prime location at the southern end of Sørfjorden and its proximity to one of Norway's most famous natural wonders, the Trolltunga, Odda looks and feels like it was transplanted from West Virginia mining country. The paint is peeling, the shops are all abandoned, the locals don't seem to have any zest for life, and the only place to eat in town is a disturbingly raucous and sticky buffet/carry out place. It was fascinating to find a spot untouched by Norway's recent oil prosperity. It was like stepping back in time, a time that I'm sure the country isn't keen on returning to. That night, while I slowly digested the rubbery pizza from the town's one restaurant, I watched the light fade over the fjord. Netflix's
Lillehammer fittingly flickered on TV (with the English subtitles unfortunately missing). It was well past midnight and the sky was still quite bright. I laughed, remembering how this troubled my friends and I on that first trip. We had all felt a little zombie like thanks to restless nights caused by the excitement and the midnight sun.
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Midnight in Odda
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Then it was south towards Valle. There were more mountain passes, tunnels, ferries, and waterfalls. Oh, the waterfalls! I was constantly asking my husband to pull the car over all week so I could shoot the mirror clear fjords and the graceful falls. But, while it was the hardest place to shoot, the Låtefossen blew all the other falls away.
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Låtefossen
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I mean, look at that place! I have a lot of favorite shots from this trip, but I think this one takes the prize of number one. Norway is absolutely dripping with waterfalls. But, as you can see, this one is massive and pours out below the road. You end up right under the thing. This made shooting rather challenging because of all the water. Norway had a pretty wet month, so the falls were roaring. The narrow spots other photographers have used to get down to the river were completely submerged. One false move would have you in the midst of the tumult, never to surface again. And, of course, the mist coming off the falls covered the lens pretty quick. I only had a short period of time to get the exposures I wanted before I'd have to wipe it down. Thankfully, I've been practicing with my ND filters quite a bit and was able to get the exposures on the first attempt. Also, mercifully, no one stepped in my frame. I'm satisfied with how this turned out, but it taught me that if I want to shoot in conditions like this regularly I should definitely invest in a weather-sealed system!
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Fjord Ferry
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Our drive south ended in the shipping city of Kristiansand. After a day spent in the tiny hamlet of Valle, where dinner was a gas station burger and the most exciting thing to do was watch people park their RVs, the relatively small city of Kristiansand felt like a bustling metropolis. We had also left the mountains and fjords far behind and the flat expanse of the harbor prickling with masts felt oddly disquieting.
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Kristiansand
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Then it was on to Oslo and the final days. I could honestly could have skipped Oslo all together. Its current revitalization/destruction projects make it more difficult to navigate by car than Rome and it has taken on a steady undercurrent of social unrest, like many European cities. But, it is home to some of the best museums I've ever been to and archaeologists go to a lot of museums. Of course, the Viking Ship Museum is a bit archaic in its presentation, but the ships themselves are unmissable. However it is the Folk Museum and the Fram Museum that make the museum district worth a day in Oslo. Norway is dotted in old farms,with big red barns, and turf roofed outbuildings. The Folk Museum gives you the chance to step inside them. You can see what it like to live on a modern farm or a 15th century one, and anything in between. For me, this was a fabulous photography experience. Instead of sweeping landscapes, I was getting the chance to capture the details of rural Norwegian life from the present and past.
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15th Century cowshed loft
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So, Norway? I'm still coming down from that trip. I was concerned that the imagination of my youth would create unrealistic expectations, but Scandinavia's most beautiful country (at least in my opinion) didn't disappoint. It has changed some in 15 years, yes. There's more development in the countryside. It is definitely more expensive. But, it still stops me in my tracks. The fjords, the falls, the jumbles of rocks thrown from some unknown height, the endless tunnels, the relaxed and personable locals, the food, the leisurely speed limits, the lifeless peaks, and the lush valleys, every single bit of Norway seized me yet again. Guys, I'm totally and hopelessly in love. I fell hard in high school I don't think I'm ever going to shake the place. It's in me. It's way more fun exploring with a Golf and my husband than it was on a bus with a bunch of high school students and teachers. I think we got a great sense of the country on this trip, and we're hoping we can go again sometime with some backpacks and a tent. So, yeah, I'm still obsessed with getting back.
Unsurprisingly, I have a ton of shots from Norway. You can see my countryside shots in the
Norwegian Countryside gallery and a handful of city shots in the
Norwegian Cities gallery. I'll be revisiting some of these photos in later posts. There's a ton to write about from the drive on Rt. 55 and that day on Mt. Ulriken deserves its own post.
