The trip thus Far (Norway).....
has been good. It's Been a week now and it has flown by but at the same time felt like a long time away from our home in London. On Friday the 20th of August we drove up to Newcastle to take the ferry over to Bergen, Norway. All of our stuff fit into the rear and a little behind the passenger seat. All in all perfect for the trip. Only now we realised that even though we paired down to what we thought were the basics, we both still packed too much clothing!The drive up to Newcastle was good as it was Sunday and the roads were largely empty. The Smart car is speed limited in our version to just short of 90 mph and I tested this several times on the way up. No matter how hard you press it won't go any faster. Believe me, I tried it.
The ferry was largely uneventful but restful following all the work we did in the few days prior to leaving for the trip. Leaving work, moving house and finishing up all the renovation works to the new place, really took it's toll.
Norway is absolutely beautiful. It is a country full of mountains, fjords, rivers, and glaciers. Bergen is a beautiful city surrounded by seven mountains and seven fjords as the guidebooks say. We stayed in a hostel up in the high hills which eventually became Ulriken mountain. We climbed to the top and could see several directions to the city of Bergen and to other mountains and fjords around.
Originally the plan was to drive to the Arctic Circle through Norway. We quickly discovered that due to all the mountains and fjords there was no direct route up to the Circle and that for the same reason, speeds of 60 kmh could rarely be passed. So instead we decided to go east to Oslo, Norway's capital.
Oslo was nice and we went to the Kon Tiki museum and the Viking Ship museum. Norwegians are extremely proud of two things, their country and their history of exploration. Like most Scandinavian cities it is very clean and similar to what I have seen of Swedish cities.
The thing I will always remember about the trip to Oslo though will be the drive. Words cannot describe and the pictures that we took probably will not do the places we saw justice. The fjords are just fantastic! However the driving along all those mountain passes that sweep down to the fjords only to switchback to a mountain road are fantastic to drive even in the Smart which isn't really designed for country roads. It held its own and was a fun drive. It would be a pleasure to come back to Norway for the scenery once more but I would bring a car better suited to get the most out of the driving experience.
Lastly about Norway is that it is really, really expensive there. I could not believe the prices. London is expensive but Norway beats it by 25-50% on everything. So if you are going to Norway, pack up on travel food at your local Tesco and then go. Your wallet will thank you.
posted by NV @ 7:24 pm
2 Comments:
hey my dear people - your trip sounds amazing.. im very jealous as i sit here at my desk at work... but i hope you have a brilliant trip... also wanted to say happy birthday to you happy birthday to you dear veronika... i hadnt realized that dostys son has the same b-day funny that.... it was great to see you this summer hopefully we will meet agains soon... i send you all my love and great trip thougts (?) - xxx una
ps. i will be following you in my dreams (and on the net) x
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