Norway blog …
In this Norway blog we ask: is Norway the most stunning country in the world? Can it be true? We’ve been to many countries and climes, including places like New Zealand, Switzerland the Maldives, deserts, all of which are ridiculously beautiful in their own right! But Norway… there’s not many places that I’ve been brought to a standstill so often – just outrageous! If you haven’t been, go!
Although I was always excited to finally visit Norway – it’s been high on my list for … ever! … and although I’ve seen it many times on TV etc., nothing prepares you for the glory of those vistas! Even on rainy days you’ll be blown away – even when it was foggy, we were still super excited. Yet when it’s sunny – just incredible. There really just aren’t enough superlatives!
But it’s massive! Just far bigger than you imagine! Plus you’re mostly limited to 50mph, at least legally! 😉 You can literally drive for 8 hours at a time if you want to and you barely move on the map. But you don’t because you stop every ten minutes to admire the views, and you follow the trains pf cars ambling along, because you are in awe! INCREDIBLE!
We were informed when we were in Sweden that Norway was expensive, and that ‘Oslo is the only boring place in Norway’! Whether this is true of Oslo, We can’t say, as we didn’t visit – mostly due to the cost. Instead, we stayed at the Sundvollen Hotel, which is not too far away, and is one of, if not the, oldest hotel in Norway. The staff were excellent and the hotel is top notch. Views over the surrounding lakes, spotless hotel, really relaxing – high recommended.
Plus the Kings View is right next door – walk an almost vertical path for a mile and you’ll eventually be congratulated with the view fit for a king – literally!
So, if you ever do end up staying at the Sundvollen hotel, I highly recommend scaling the mountain to the Kings View – it is an extremely steep walk for the first mile, but then it levels out to give you spectacular views that you won’t regret. All in all it’s about a 3 hour walk.
And, it wasn’t raining – most of the time! After all the rain we experienced in Sweden, it was like chalk and cheese, the difference between Sweden and Norway. Almost as soon as you cross the border, the landscape changes, and becomes more mountainous, and just more incredible in general!
And did I mention that literally everyone speaks English! Apparently 98% + of the population speak English – which is more than in the UK probably! It’s just so easy – why we’ve not been before is unbelievable! However we dis manage to find the one restaurant where none of the staff did speak any English of course – typical and very funny! We laughed – they didn’t!
The Arctic Circle
Wow, never been this far North – amazing! We were initially going to island hop, but the directions took us on loads of gravel roads that made for super slow going. So part way, we abandoned that route and headed for the Arctic Circle Centre! What better way to celebrate no more night time than to open a centre with a souvenir shop on what seems to be the only place in Norway that’s a bit like being on the moon!
The centre itself was great as a destination to head towards – although it seemed to be a park for campers when we were there – we moved on! Some miles North (difficult to tell by this point as Norway is so long), the landscape become mountainous again – as opposed to being on top of a flat mountain! We stopped and admired the (yet again) amazing views! All night – as there is no night – just day! Luckily I have lead eyelids, so it means nothing to me! Not everyone is the same though!
The Fjords
No words can adequately describe the splendour that goes on and on! Magnificent!
Nordkapp
The Top of Europe – just incredible! If you haven’t been, you really must! Even though its a tourist mecca – which was a surprise to us! There’s cruise boats and helicopters and coaches galore!
But to drive there all the way from the UK – just amazing! It’s the way that the mountains are just so crazily shaped … Slartibartfast did a good job!
There was a queue to get in to Nordkapp!!! What!!! Yeah a queue to get to the most Northerly point on mainland Europe – bonkers!
The island itself is lovely, lots of undulating hills with masses of coastline – and all there is in front of you is Svalbard and ice! Incredible!
Driving in trains
In the main, the speed limit in Norway is 50 miles per hour. Which is fine, as there’s so much to see. And it seems that Norwegians don’t like breaking speeding laws!? So you end up in huge long trains of cars and campers and lorries and bikers – literally miles long – all trundling along at 45-50 mph!
The thing is though that many campers and bikers are actually travelling at 35-40mph – no doubt enjoying the incredible views. And yet everyone seems content to just chill behind them – no overtaking like you’d get in the UK – just bizarre and at the same time admirable!
We stopped many times – let it all go past and had the road to ourselves again 🙂
Reindeer
When we first started seeing signs for reindeer in Sweden, we were excited to see one! When you do, it’s amazing! By the time you get to Nordkapp, they’re literally everywhere! They own the roads! It’s their pad – put up with it!
Its the way they just walk onto the road as if cars don’t exist! I guess everyone slams the anchors on, so they learn not to worry! But they’ve got these very cute but very dim looking faces – in may view! When you slow down they purposefully walk in front of your car. When you try to drive around, they walk in front of you again – hilarious! We love them! Took one in fact – put it in the boot – it’s there now!
Camping
There are loads of brilliant campsites in Norway, and you can also camp wild! All of it is VERY worth doing! Look at the kind of views you could wake up to! You find that others are just sitting there admiring the views and happy to share a coffee – just great!
Saving some Finns
Oh yeah we saved some Finns! Their massive camper was stuck in gravel overlooking a fjord. We were looking for somewhere to wild camp and we almost passed them. They hailed us down. But there was no way that our little Golf was going to pull a giant camper out – or maybe it would – but we didn’t have a tow bar! On the way though I’d noticed that there was a guy with a 4×4 not too far away – maybe I could persuade him to help! It turned out that he too was Finnish and that his wife spoke English. Nice! New found Finnish friends!