Norway in a Nutshell, Part 2

Our wonderful week in Norway continues!  {Part 1 here}

Day 4: Relaxation on the Fjords

Originally we had planned to do the Naerofjord cruise this day or the following day depending on weather, but since we got it in a day early, we had a day to relax. We took the scenic road near our cabin up to the popular Stegastein (Stegosaurus, as Nick liked to call it) overlook, but we found the views on the way up just as good as crowded top.

Our favorite part of the drive was coming across two over-friendly sheep. We got out and tried feeding them, following the lead of a French family. After the family left though, the sheep were pretty angry that I wasn't feeding them their preferred food, chasing us and head butting us down the road. Haha!

That afternoon we headed to the tiny village of Undredal, which is renowned for its goat cheese made from goats in the village. On our drive in we came across tons of these goats--traffic in Norway. :)

After purchasing some of the cheese, we had a little picnic on the water and the blue skies and sun made a return appearance!

The rest of the afternoon and night was spent relaxing at our cabin--snacking, sleeping, sipping beers in the sun followed by another home cooked meal. Perfectly relaxing day!

Days 5 & 6: Bergen

Our last drive of the trip to Bergen, again through beautiful scenery even in the clouds!  We made a quick pit stop to see John and Paige who recently moved to Bergen from Paris, then dropped off our rental car, and headed into the city. Since we hadn't eaten a true Norwegian meal yet, I did my research and decided to eat lunch at Pingvinen in Bergen. Very cozy and off the beaten path of the tourists. Although we had to wait a while for our food, it was delicious! Nick had dumplings, and I had fish pie. {Sadly, Thursdays are the only days they don't serve my favorite, Norwegian meatballs!}

Anja, a foreign exchange student who lived with my family in high school, ended up getting off work early so she met us at the restaurant and then drove us to her house. This was the least touristy part of our trip since she was able to show is her side of Bergen, which is always my favorite!

Anja's pretty neighborhood

After chatting and admiring her beautiful home, we headed back into Bergen for a delicious sushi dinner. I haven't found any sushi in Paris that compares to what I'm used to, but this was delicious with fresh fish from the Norwegian Sea!  The rainy night ended with a cozy movie at home, complete with Norwegian candy. 

Nick thought the Ibsen statue looked like Dracula...

The next day Anja took us to her dad's house, where she grew up, on an island to the southwest of Bergen. Beautiful, right on the water, it was fun to see where Anja grew up.  And, we were able to take her dad's boat out for some fishing. 

Typical Norwegian fishing doesn't use rods and poles, instead a long line with hooks that you let in and out.  Anja's family dog, Ceasar, came with us, and he wasn't a big fan of the big waves that bumped us out of our seats.  He took to being coddled the entire trip.  :)

Although we didn't catch anything (her dad told us it was too windy), it was a gorgeous day to be out on the water, especially after downpouring rain the previous day!  Anja also gave us a little tour of islands in the area. I could get used to living somewhere like this (well, if it didn't rain 3/4 of the year...) 

Taking advantage of the nice weather, we headed back into downtown Bergen to check out the fish market and the old wooden Bryggen houses. We enjoyed some lunch and ice cream in the warmth of the sun, wandered the streets, and just enjoyed hanging out. 

Sadly, our time in Bergen came to an end too soon, and Anja dropped us off at the bus station to catch our bus to Stavanger. I will definitely be returning to Bergen to spend more time with Anja and hopefully met Adele, her daughter, who was at her grandmas this week!

The bus ride to Stavanger was 5 hours but included 2 ferry rides and numerous underwater tunnels. The ferry rides were 20-40 minutes but were a great chance to stretch our legs, have a little picnic, and catch the sunset. This was one of the prettiest sunsets I have seen in a long time, and I wished I could ask the bus driver to stop every 20 feet. Instead you're getting pictures form the ferry and bus windows. :)

Day 7: Stavanger

Traditional Norweigan waffles on the ferry

In an attempt to beat the rain forecast for the afternoon, we decided to wake up super early and catch the 6:45am bus from our hotel to the ferry to head to Preikstolen (Pulpit Rock). After our ferry and additional bus ride after the ferry, we made it to the start of the trail at 8:45. The sun was still shining and we were pumped!

The trail is a pretty steep and rocky 2 hours each way, although we did the way up in 1 hour 20 minutes, probably because we knew we were racing the rain. By the time we reached the top, we knew it had mostly clouded over, but nothing could prepare us for what was happening on Pulpit Rock.

Immediately rounding the corner, we were hit with intense wind. I'm talking 45-50 mph consistent wind, which made the immediate decision that no one would be siting on the ledge for the traditional picture today. We decided we could still take some standing photos. Please note wife fail on Nick's photos...I failed to capture the water and height below, but I promise it looks like mine!

In the middle of attempting a group photo in the middle of the rock, not too close to the edge, suddenly the wind picked up, literally knocking everyone to sitting positions. Our best estimate is that it was 70-80mph gusts for several minutes at a time. We sat getting pelting with dirt and pebbles and watching people's shirts and jackets go flying until the wind died back down (to 50 mph, mind you) and attempting Nick's standing picture again.

However, a daredevil couple decided to hang out on the ledge, even hanging off the ledge for a solid 10 minutes. {Normally this is not a daredevil move, but in this wind it was insane.} By the time they moved the gusts and picked up again and Nick decided it wasn't worth the risk. In fact, he had to climb off the middle of the rock on his arms and stomach because the wind was so strong. 

Needless to say, we left after this. We didn't get as many pictures as we would have liked to of the view of the fjord and the rock from above but we decided safety trumped pictures. Trust me when I say it's a spectacular view! By the time we hiked back down to catch the bus and ferry, we were exhausted and promptly returned to the hotel for a nap. 

We rounded out the night with a picnic on the harbor and wandering the Gamle Stavanger, the old wooden houses of old Stavanger. Of course, the neighborhood is all restored, but it was beautiful with flowers in every street! I could have wandered it the neighborhood for hours! The new city of Stavanger is very cute and full of flowers, like much of Norway!

Sadly, early the next morning we were up and at 'em early to catch our flight back to Paris.  We will definitely be back to Norway, hopefully sooner than later! Of course, there's many more pictures than here. If you're bored, check them out. Oslo & Geirangerfjord, Glacier & Sognefjord, Bergen & Stavanger

Because this was one of the most challenging trips I've planned to date, and because I think everyone should visit Norway here are some tips and suggestions:

• Oslo warrants a day, same for Bergen, 1/2 day for the city of Stavanger (more if you want to hike)
• Friele coffee is the yummiest! It made me a coffee drinker this week, which is saying a lot because I never drink coffee!
• Charge your camera battery...you'll need it!
• Both Geiranger and Naero fjords are good first time fjords.  The boat cruises are also worth it here. 
• The drive from the northern to southern fjords--Highway 60 to E39 to Highway 5--is beautiful. While not a national touristic road, it's just as beautiful I think!
• Booking ahead for fjord cruises, and even cabins, isn't mandatory, even in high season. As long as you are flexible, you should be able to find something!
• If you don't book lodging ahead of time, find a place to stay by 2-3pm and then head back out for sightseeing.  We saw car after car turn into our cabins from 5pm on only to be told everything was full.
• Everyone under 65 years old speaks English, very well.  It's almost as if it's the second language--you can tell they are happy and proud to be speaking it, not annoyed that they have to for tourists.

And how about some tips for saving money?  Norway has a reputation for being extremely expensive, but it certainly doesn't have to be.  We actually found quite a few ways to make it about the same cost as our other trips!

• Use booking.com to find good hotels for cheap in big cities like Oslo. In both Oslo and Stavanger we stayed in chain hotels for the equivalent of 65-90€ a night, including breakfast and wifi.  This is as good as other European cities!

So a little different breakfast than we're used to, but it did the job!

• Rent a tiny rental car if you're driving.  Not only is it the cheapest option, but it's nice on the curvy roads.  And, we averaged 55+ miles/gallon (23+ km/L for you metric people), in mostly mountain driving.  **It's quite a bit cheaper to rent and drop off in the same location, so consider this with the cheap airline option below.  We didn't do this, but if you're really looking to save some money, this is how to do it!**

• Stay in cabins in the fjord region.  Of course, there's hotels in all the cities in the area, but we loved staying in cabins along the way for a much cheaper price.  Most campground have basic cabins available for rent.  Usually, the bathrooms and kitchen areas are shared and the cabins basic, requiring you to bring your linens or rent them.  We just brought sleeping bags and pillow cases and really feel staying in cabins gave us a true feel of Norwegian countryside.  The cabins we stayed at and loved are:

• Strind Gard, near Lom.  Cost: 300 NOK small cabin with shared bathroom and kitchen ($49, 36€) Larger cabins also available.

• Sande Camping, near Loen.  Cost: 750 NOK for apartment (fits 3) with private kitchen and bathroom, porch overlooking lake ($121, 90€) Cabins available for less.

• Winjum Hytter, near Aurland. Cost: 450 NOK small cabin (fits 4) with porch overlooking fjord and shared bathroom and kitchen ($73, 54€)  Larger cabins and apartments also available.

• Eating out is probably the most expensive part of Norway.  We chose to shop at the grocery store, and have lots of picnics {some in the car}.  The prices are roughly similar prices to European, errr...Parisian, grocery stores.  Also, it's much more similar to a US grocery store than anything I've seen in Paris.  The Mexican section was massive!!

• Thanks to Anja, I found out Norwegian Air Shuttle offers cheap, summer flights between cities in Norway for 249 NOK ($40, 30€) a flight.  We didn't take any of these because of scheduling constraints, but if you are flexible, you can easily take the one cheap flight of the day and save some time driving and money vs. taking a ferry or bus.

I look forward to returning to Norway soon!  We would love to spend a week in the fjord region, just relaxing and hiking.  The Kjeragbolten boulder hike near Stavanger is also still on our list.  And, of course, Trondheim and the northern part of Norway for the Northern Lights!