"THE BIG ROADTRIP IN NORWAY" Personal Page by Maria_75

August 2007 my spanish mother-in-law and a friend of her came to see Norway, the country where I was born and raised. I wanted to show them some of the most beautiful parts of the country and so began our big roadtrip around this fascinating and breathtaking land!

We spent the first day in Oslo. Went walking up Karl Johansgate, took the ferry to Bygdøy and saw the Vikingshipmuseum and the norwegian folk museum. The weather was great, almost 30 degrees and blue sky. A perfect day! :)

The next day we filled up the car and left Lillestrøm early in the morning. Ready for our big adventure!

Snøhetta in Dovrefjell national park.

The first part of our trip took us to the historical site Eidsvoll and then on to Minnesund. Here we saw Mjøsa, the biggest lake in Norway, and crossed it for the first time on the trip.

For me it was very important to show them things that meant something for me. Thats why I decided to go driving up the valley of Østerdalen. There is not so much to see there, only forest for hours and hours... But my grandfather came from this area, a little place near Rena in Hedmark, and I have spent so many weekends and holidays here. We stopped by the house of my greatgrandparents where I have been so many times. We went walking in the forest to pick berries, and we even saw two snakes.

From here we continued to Koppang so they could see old, typical, norwegian houses at Koppangtunet, and eat a traditional "lapskaus" dinner.

Back on the road and more trees. After a while we turned off the road and started the slow ascent up the mountains. First up Atndalen and then on to Rondane national park. An incredible beautiful place with alpine landscape and snowcapped mountains. Plus plenty of sheep along the road.

We passed through Folldal and continued on to Hjerkinn where we joined E6, the mainroad between Oslo and Trondheim.

Here we went driving through the beautiful Dovrefjell national park and we could see its highest mountain Snøhetta, 2286 meters. After a while we finally got to our camp site close to Oppdal.

Our cabin was right next to the river Driva and nearby was snowcapped mountains. It was like paradise for the two spanish ladies that come from a small, dry and sunny island.

Beautiful Bud

We left Oppdal, the good weather and the nice, flat roads. Our next destination was the western part of our country. The place with the most dramatic scenery, most changing weather and endlessly hairpinbend-roads in steep mountainsides.

On the way to Sunndalsøra came the wind, rain and clouds that followed us over the next days. The wind was so strong that we barely could open the cardoor, and the raindrops made a beautiful rainbow over Sunndalsfjorden. The ladies were breathless! :)

The road took us through some tunnels and over to another fjord; Ålvundfjorden. Here we had sun, blue sky and no wind. And a rainbow even more beautiful than the first one. After a while the road took us back to the first fjord and the bad weather again.

We saw the historic site of Tingvoll and Tingvollfjorden. We drove over a floating bridge to Bergsøya and under the Freifjord in a tunnel. After a few bridges we were finally in Kristiansund, the charming city spread over three islands.

It was raining when we came and sunny when we left. A bit of sightseeing, a bit of food and the journey continued. We took a ferry to Bremsnes, drove through the island of Averøya and came to Atlanterhavsveien (the atlantic road). Eight bridges connecting little islands out in the open sea. Sun and rain, heavy wind and no wind. Tourists taking photos, locals fishing and breathtaking sceneries. An amazing experience!

From here we continued to the small fishing village Bud. We rented a "rorbu", a house originally used by fishermen, and explored this wonderful place.

Wonderful Geirangerfjord

The next day the weather was even worse. Low and heavy clouds made it impossible to see many of the things that I wanted to show the ladies. But the landscapes were still breathtaking, and the clouds just added a dramatic touch.

The road took us to Åndalsnes and the famous Trollstigen. This narrow road winds up the steep mountain, with plenty of hairpin bends.

I had many sleepless nights before I went there. When I was standing at the bottom my heart was beating at an astronomic rate, my hands and feet were trembling and I felt almost sick. But driving up Trollstigen was no problem at all! The fog was so dense that I could barely see the lights of the car a few metres in front of me. But I was happy!

Because of the dense fog I couldnt see down the steep hill. I kept telling myself that I was driving on a normal road in the fog - and it worked. The next day the road got closed because of the weather...

From Trollstigen we drove over the mountain and through Valldal where we crossed Norddalsfjorden in ferry over to Eidsdal. Up yet another mountain, more snowcapped peaks, a wonderful little lake and then we saw it for the first time... Geirangerfjorden in all its glory!

Trully wonderful, but my eyes got drawn to the little road winding down the steep mountainside and my heart was beating at an astronomic rate again. The road is called "Ørneveien", but the ladies quickly changed it to "Mini-Trollstigen".

Finally down by the fjord we found a great cabin with fantastic views over the fjord. The weather was horrible, but we spent the whole night sitting by the window and staring at the landscape untill our eyes almost popped out... What a wonderful place!

Snowman in front of the lake

After two days in Geiranger the weather was just getting worse. It was only a few degrees outside, and it was snowing from 600 metres and up. It was time for us to head over the mountains again... Geiranger is surrounded by steep mountains and there are only two roads to the town, the horrifying Ørneveien and the one up to Djupvatnet where we were heading now. This one wasn't as steep as the first one, but it was winding up through endlessly many hairpinbends.

The snow came closer and closer, untill it finally was there - right outside our car. The ladies were thrilled! It was the first time they saw "real" snow and their eyes were sparkling like little childrens eyes on Christmas day. Plenty of stops and plenty of photos. We continued to wind us up the mountain, untill we finally got to the top, 1038 meters above the sea. It was snow everywhere! More stops, more photos.

The road started to slowly descent and it was less and less snow until it was all bare again. Near Breiddalsvannet we could only see the snow up in the mountainsides. We turned off the mainroad and went driving over Strynefjell, a national tourist road.

We heard on the radio that Trollstigen was now closed because of the weather, but they didnt say anything about Strynefjell so we decided to go there like we had planned. The first part was magnificent. Wonderful sceneries with photoopportunities around every corner. After a while the view started getting worse. And worse. And it started to snow. More and more. Here noone had cleared the road of the snow, like in the other road. Only two cars had driven there before us and we followed their trails.

Some parts the view was so bad that we could only see the trails of the other cars. If they had driven off a steep cliff, we would have to. I dont know if there are any steep cliffs there, but there was no limit to our imagination at this time. We had been driving almost one hour without seeing anyone or anything. Our mobilephones were not working. The weather was just getting worse, and there was more and more snow on the road. I could imagine us stuck there in the mountain, inside a frozen car with a heavy snowstorm outside. And noone would find us until next summer...

So we turned around! Normally the two ladies were speaking like crazy, but in this road they were so scared that they didnt say a word... ;) After what seemed like an eternity we finally got back to the mainroad and the nice weather. We could have taken a tunnel through the mountain and continued to Stryn as planned. But at this point I was tired of it all!

There were still many mountains and fjords to cross in the western part of the country, but I was finished with mountains and bad weather for a while. Plus my mother-in-law got sick a few days earlier, and she just got worse for every day. So I decided that we had to drop the last part of the roadtrip, and head back home again.

Lom stave church

The only problem now was that "home" was almost 500 km away, and we had already been driving plenty that day. We decided to continue driving a bit more and then find a cabin along the road.

The weather was great. Sun and blue skies. We followed the river Otta down from the mountain and in to the valley of Gudbrandsdalen. A short stop in Lom to see the wonderful stave church which is almost 900 years old.

In the city of Otta we started our search for a cabin. There were plenty of cabins along the road, but noone with private toilet. My mother-in-law had fever and we couldnt send her out in the cold night for go to the bathroom.

Finally in Kvam we found a cabin with toilet. Not the nicest or cleanest, but at least it had toilet. Maybe we had to go driving another hour until we found another one, so we decided to stay there for the night.

Next day it was raining and cloudy again. We made a short stop in Lillehammer and the rain was kind enough to take a break while we went walking around.

We continued down passed Mjøsa and after a few hours we were finally back home again. Tired, but happy and full of impressions!

In 6 days we went driving 1400 kilometers and had taken hundreds and hundreds of photos.

Feeding the moose

But there was no time to rest! The next day the weather was great. Almost 30 degrees, blue skies and the sun was shining like never before.

We brought some bread and headed to Østensjøvannet, a wonderful lake in Oslo. A lot of different bird species thrive in this area, and its a popular place to feed and watch the birds. The ladies were in heaven.

From there we continued down to the islands in Oslofjorden; Ulvøya, Malmøya and Ormøya. The beautiful place where I lived most of my life. We went to some of the beaches that are there, and they were amazed when they saw all the mussels in the water! They started picking mussels like crazy, and when we left the islands they had a plastic bag with 13 kilo of mussels!

The next day was a bit more chilly, but we headed to Oslo again. This time to see the Royal Castle and the changing of the guards. Behind the castle are little ponds with birds. Again we had brought bread and the ladies were feeding the birds. They even ate straight out of their hands, and the ladies were thrilled!

Then on to the biggest touristattraction in the city; Vigelandsparken. A big park full of wonderful statues. And a little lake with birds... Feedingtime again! ;) At the end of the day we went driving up to Holmenkollen so they could see our famous skijump that soon will be replaced with a new and modern one. From there we continued up to Frognerseteren where we took a cup of warm chocolate and had excellent views over Oslo.

Next day we got back in the car and drove almost 200 km to a town called Flå. There is an animal park here that I highly recommend everyone to visit! Not only can you see bears, moose, deer and other animals up close. But you can even feed the moose! They come and eat the food straight out of your hand, and are just the cutest animals I have ever seen... ;) And the ladies? They were in paradise!!!

Reindeer

We spent the last days in our cabin near the swedish border. Its a very nice and typical norwegian cabin, surrounded by forest and lakes. The cabin is full of old photos and old things, its almost like a museum. The ladies were looking and asking about everything, and wanted to know as much as possible about Norway and our history.

Everyone who has been here know that Norway is an extremely expencive country. Our neighbor Sweden is much cheaper, so we norwegians often go there for buy things. The cabin is very close to the border so of course we took a little trip to Sweden also.

The ladies were shocked at how easy it was to cross the border. We just went driving, and didnt have to stop at all. By the road is a small sign that says "Riksgrense Sverige" (the swedish border), and that was the only way to see that we went from one country to another.

The second day in the cabin we went for a walk in the forest. Suddenly my mother-in-law was shouting out! There, right in front of us, came a moose running! After a few seconds it was gone in the dense forest. We were standing there for a while looking, but we couldnt see it anymore. It disappeared as quickly and quietly as it came. But the ladies were thrilled!

In the afternoon we had a barbecue before we headed back home. It was very dark and the road winds through dense forest with many animals. We were staring until our eyes almost popped out, but we only saw two foxes along the road. No deer and no more moose. But at least we saw one in the forest!

Now the ladies are back home in Spain and telling everyone about their travel to Norway. I think they really enjoyed it here, and we saw a lot of marvellous things. Their highest wish right now is to come back and see Norway in wintertime.

So now I am already planning their next journey to Norway... :)