Norway
Some travel writing is all positive. This blog isn’t going to be in that vein. Here are the notes I made after our trip to Norway in July 2018.
We arrived in Oslo early evening and took the train into the city. Stayed at the Thon Hotel Opera. Walked around the opera house and castle, then had dinner outside at Festningen, we had the langoustines and fish of the day. The restaurant has a pleasant setting, plus a few groups singing each other on their birthday. Following day caught a Wideroe flight to Svolovar. We picked up our rental car and drove to Lekknes, tried our first fishsoup for lunch at Fisksomething, was probably best soup of the trip and waitress was nice. We then drove to our rorbu in Nusfjord. We were happy with the location, easy to venture to west towards Reine or back towards Lekknes. I went out to fight off the jet lag and hiked Stornappstinden, my wife rested. Great views over the archipelago from the top. Very quiet only a few other hikes out despite it being a nice day. We ate dinner in Nusfjord, tried the catch of the day, cod (which was the catch everyday). The following day we started out on the hike for Helvete. The initial approach is along a fjord, followed by a summit with views supposedly similar to Reinebringen hike that has become overly popular and is being discouraged. Unfortunately, it was quite a technical trail, frustrating my spouse to the point where we turned back about halfway. Instead, we took the ferry to Bunes beach and enjoyed the views along the way and back despite an overwhelmed crusty ferry operator. Was a popular route, there was somewhat of a mad scramble to get a spot on the ferry back, some had been waiting for over 3 hours. That night I went to the Uttakleiv beach at sunset, somewhat cloudy by that point but worthwhile experience two more beautiful beaches. We had some cod soup and fish soup in Reine. Had trouble falling asleep with the still bright dusk followed by sunrise shortly thereafter. The following two days were not as clear. We did half the hike from Nusfjord to Nesland, pleasant seaside walk, if not somewhat less spectacular than the prior two. We had breakfast of pastries at the old bakery near our base, they were quite tasty. On our last day we went to Viking museum, stopped in to buy some wool from Lofoten wool, and then drove back west to A, had lunch there which was an awful fish and chips and the worst fish soup of the trip. However we were salvaged by our first tasty Norweigan waffle at the café. We went to the pub for dinner at Nusfjord, then tried out their outdoor hottubs and sauna. Beautiful setting of wood lattice right on the rocks overlooking the ocean. Very nice way to end our time in Lofoten. Next morning caught a flight from Lekknes to Bergen via Bodo.
We stayed in the the hanseatic hotel right in the old town. Visited a few shops, strolled around the old town, my spouse got some rings made. Stopped in on Norwegian rain, a great raincoat brand that my wife owned sadly they didn’t have my size (but i was able to order their poncho online later), picked up a fisherman’s hat at the old shop Aksdal i Muren nearby as a souvenir instead. We ate dinner at Lysverket. Some interesting dishes and small plates, the roasted fish was my favourite. Great décor and friendly people but their service doesn’t match the calibre of the cooking (more on that later). The next morning after breakfast in the hotel went to Avis, picked up our car and drove to Gudvangen. There we did a kayaking trip with Nordic venture on the Nærøyfjord fjord there. Really pleasant experience would recommend them. Checked into our hotel at the base, rested for a bit then drove to Flam to grab a bite to eat (the restaurant at Gudvangen did not look appetizing to us). We drove past Aslund and up to the stegastein lookout just before sunset, marvelous views. On our final day in Norway we slept in, went to Undredal stave church, then up across the pass to Vik to see the even more impressive church there. Stopped for an ice cream which was unfortunately quite bad despite it being such a hot day. We then headed back towards Bergen airport. Stopped in on the dale factory store to get some gifts and I picked out a Setesdal sweater that actually fit quite well and was on sale. Were cutting it close by this point but made it to Bergen airport in time for our flight on Norwegian airways to London.
Upon reflection we certainly enjoyed the scenery and felt like we got a real sense of Norway both from the fishing villages and the long drives along the fjords. Lofoten in particular is certainly a beautiful landscape, really glad we included this in our plans. The white nights I have never experienced before and found them quietly introspective. The green fjords while impressive, certainly in their length, while pretty did not have the same breathtaking appearance to us. I think it had been dry recently, which was good for visibility limits the waterfalls. Perhaps it was because we visited them after Lofoten, but they just didn’t have the same effect on me as places like Patagonia, New Zealand, Swiss Alps, Dolomites, Canadian Rockies, bits of US south west, Yosemite etc… to each their own I suppose. We saw a lot in a week, other than the last day didn’t really feel rushed. Perhaps would have added one more day to Fjord region, but otherwise felt it was a very doable itinerary. To be honest I would have been disappointed if we’d spent two weeks of vacation time there at this stage in life.
They really need to get some proper trails made in Lofoten. People are damaging the environment venturing off trails, and someone is going to get hurt. The tourists are not going away, I fail to see how a country that can construct that many challenging tunnels has not made a proper trail infrastructure by this point yet. The rental car experience was a bright spot, very seamless on both occasions.
We met some friendly people, and some not so friendly (ferry operator, stewardess with Norwegian). I had read that Norwegians tend to be introverted, which would probably describe myself as well, but I was not expecting the personal experiences to leave a negative sentiment on my trip as they have. Even before we arrived in Norway, at the gate in Munich everyone crowded around pushing and shoving in a circle. Our overall impression of the level of customer service in the country was quite poor. The number of times we stood at the reception of restaurants waiting to be seated just being stared at while someone rearranges bags of tea, chats with coworkers etc. Multiple errors with orders. Essentially most restaurants make you feel like a bit of a nuisance. Hotel service is essentially at a 1-2* level across the board. The idea of charging something to your room is scoffed at. The reception at our rorbu blatantly refused to make us a reservation for dinner at their restaurant when we were setting off on a hike, we had to go down ourselves and again wait to be acknowledged. We have travelled extensively on low and high budgets, including Sweden and Denmark in the past and have never had this impression before. I don’t expect white glove service everywhere I go but people should give the impression that they care and are trying. Essentially it feels that the tourists are not wanted which very well may be the case from what I’ve read. I’m not sure if this is partly from the egalitarian nature of Norway, or that they just haven’t come to terms with the insta-fame yet, or perhaps with all the oil money they just don’t need tourism. In any case, while I thought I would love to have a cross country skiing experience there also, at this point I doubt I will back any time soon.
Lofoton Islands, ferry back from Bunes Beach