Scandinavia Part II - Norway
We are almost 7 weeks into our trip, and we were able to spend 16 awesome days in Norway. So far it’s been our favourite place, and we have already talked about what we would like to do when we come back to visit this beautiful country.
We really only had an opportunity to explore the southwest side of Norway, as we made our way along the southern coast, up to Stavanger, then slightly northeast to Odda, before making our way east to Oslo. There is so much to see, we would have loved to head further north to Bergen, and then way up north to the Lofoten Islands. Unfortunately, we had plans to be in Sweden for mid-June, and using a car to travel to all of those places would take more time than we had. It would be easier to fly to a few places up north, or take the train and enjoy one of the most beautiful train passages in Europe. So we will save it for another time!
We arrived in Norway by car, making our way from Sweden. Our first stop was in the city of Skien. To get here from Sweden, we had to take the Olsofjordtunnelen, which was quite fascinating for us! It’s a subsea road tunnel that is 7.3km long, and reaches 440 ft below sea level. It felt as though it went on forever, and was quite steep, with a grade of 7%. We don’t have too many tunnels in Canada, so we thought this was pretty fun. Little did we know this was the first of probably 100 tunnels we would go through in Norway.
Skien was our first stop, but it was really just a place for us to sleep the night before travelling further west in the morning. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather we had that day, and enjoyed a walk to the city center from our Airbnb. We checked out the beautiful Skien Church, which has one of the largest organs in Norway. It was evening, so unfortunately we couldn’t go in to check it out. It’s too bad because it looked like there would be amazing stain glass as well!
From Skien we went to Søgne, a small town just west of Kristiansand. Here we had two nights to relax and enjoy some down time. We were able to enjoy walking to the harbour, around the town, and then spent the evening binge watching Billions. Really the first time we had watched TV on our trip! The town was small, but gave us a great introduction to Norway’s beauty.
The 3.5-hour drive from there to our next stop was full of beautiful sights. We started to enter more mountainous areas and quickly became surrounded by rocky hills covered in grass, boulders, and sheep. We loved it! It honestly felt like we were oohing and awing every 5 minutes. We took advantage of a few roadside stops so we could learn more about the areas and snap a few photos. We also were able to avoid some of the busier roads, as we programmed our TomTom to avoid tolls roads. The scenic roads were fun to drive, and very beautiful, and a few times we would come across peaceful resting spots where we could stop and take in the scenery. Even stand in the middle of the road for a few minutes to try to get some cool pictures.
The landscape reminded us a bit of home. It was kind of a mix between British Columbia and Ontario. Big mountains, large lakes, valleys, fjords, forests and greenery all were all around. We were fortunate to stay in the town of Hommersåk, just beside Stavanger, for over a week. It was the first time on our trip so far that we were planted in one place for longer than 4 days, and we were so excited! We didn’t have too many plans, other than we knew we wanted to do some hiking in the area. Specifically, we knew we wanted to hike Preikestolen, but hadn’t really determined what other hikes we wanted to pencil in while in the area.
We had awesome Airbnb hosts and they gave us a bunch of local tips and hiking ideas. We ended up having a great time on our hikes to Preikestolen and Kjerag (you can check out our blog posts on both of these hikes for more information!), and we also were able to squeeze in an early morning hike to Mån and Månafossen.
Månafossen is a beautiful waterfall located in the county of Rogaland, and we had passed the turn off for it on our drive to Kjerag. You need to hike a short distance before you can see the waterfalls, which our Airbnb host said was beautiful and was worth the trip. So we started early to avoid any crowds, and so we could take time to get some good photographs. We started just after 7:00am, and had the place to ourselves. It was a calm and eery morning, which made the short hike quite fun. There was dense fog all around us, and as we hiked up it felt like we were in the clouds. This initially made it a bit hard to get clear pictures of the waterfall, but the longer we waited, the more the fog cleared up. The hike up to the waterfalls took about 20 minutes and was basically straight uphill. We were having flashbacks to our Kjerag hike, as this small hike had chains to assist you with the climb up some steep rock sections. It’s not that far, maybe 200 meters, before you arrive at the waterfall.
We arrived at the viewing point and must have spent close to 45 minutes here taking pictures. We were the only ones there, and no one passed us as we waited. The clouds and fog had cleared up substantially around the waterfall, but you could still see them around the other parts of the valleys. The map in the parking lot had a hiking sign detailing the hike from the lot to the falls and continuing up to Mån, which is an old farm that had been restored. So we decided to keep hiking up after we were done at the falls. The path went slightly uphill, before leveling out, and we found ourselves walking through a lovely forest, with glimpses of the waterfall as we were beginning to walk around it. It didn’t take long before we reached the back of the waterfall, to see the beautiful valley where Mån is located. Mån is now a campground for hikers and families to use. You can sleep in the old restored house, or camp on the property. We learned that you can fish here for free, without needing a license, and the water isn’t too deep so it’s great for swimming on hot days. It seemed like the perfect place for a little family getaway, and there were quite a few families up there enjoying the space when we arrived.
It was still pretty early in the morning, so we opted not to swim and continued to walk along the water that was fed by the Månavatnet Lake. The waterfall is the 9th largest in Norway, and is over 90 meters high, so it was cool to be able to walk up and see the water source and the peaceful historic farm. For people who wanted to continue hiking, it looked like there were quite a few options that led you to other historical farms in the area. It looked like it would be a great backpacking trip. We only planned to come see the waterfall, so we headed back down and were able to get a few more pictures now that the fog was basically 100% gone.
Our time in Hommersåk was spent alternating between hiking days and relaxing days. On relaxing days we would take walks through town, explore Stavanger, run errands, and catch up on our blogs - which, surprisingly, takes a lot of time! It was truly such a great location for us, as it was so close to so many outdoor activities. There were other walks our hosts had recommended, but we just ran out of time. The 8 days went by so fast, and we really loved every minute of our time in this area.
Our next stop was near Odda, which was slightly north and more east from Hommersåk. Odda is the place you want to be near when planning to hike Trolltunga, and we didn’t realize that until a few days before heading there. Sharleen had just booked the Airbnb randomly, as it was about a 3-hour drive, and got us in the direction towards Oslo. So while we were in this area, we decided we would hike Trolltunga, or at least try to! We ended up making it all the way, and were really so proud of ourselves. It was a challenging hike, but the views were so rewarding! We did a whole blog post on Trolltunga too, so check it out for more details.
Since the hike took all day, it was really the only part of the area we got to explore. We were fortunate to drive past two amazing waterfalls - Langfossen and Låtefossen, which were literally right on the highway. Both were very impressive, powerful, and so beautiful. We both were impressed by how much water was flowing from them. The second one we saw, Låtefossen, was on the way to Trolltunga, and when we drove by it at 5:20am and there was so much water on the road, it felt like we were driving through it rather than beside it! They both were rather amazing to see, and definitely had us wanting to chase more waterfalls. However, this marked our last days of nature in Norway.
From here we headed to Oslo, back to visiting the major cities of Scandinavia. On our way to Oslo we randomly came across the Heddal Stave Church in Heddal. This is the largest Stave church in Norway, and was built in the 13th century. It was unlike any church we had seen before, and we were immediately intrigued by the design and look. Inside, the smell of pine was amazing! It was such a beautiful, yet simple church.
We really didn’t know anything about Norway when we booked this leg of our trip, so when looking at Oslo, we only decided to spend two nights (one full day) in the city. The main reason for this was cost related, as Norway is quite expensive, and we wanted to keep our accommodation costs down as much as possible while staying here. Costs definitely increase when you stay in a major city, so we decided to reduce our time here and add a night in the Swedish countryside on our way to Stockholm.
In Oslo we did more research on the Oslo City Pass, and decided to buy a 24-hour pass. Their card is great, and very user friendly. You buy it on an app, so there is no need to run around to try to find a convenient store or visitor information center. It also seemed to be a reasonable price, at $65 CAD, which included public transportation – buses, trains, trams, and ferries. We started our trip by making our way downtown to Oslo Central Station. From there, we walked to the Operahuis (Oslo Opera House) to walk up the side of the building at get some views of the city. The building is so cool! It is built in such a way that you are able to walk up the sides all the way to the roof. There are a few steps, but most of it is an inclined ramp, so it can get quite slippery, especially if it’s raining or snowing. Once at the top, we got some cool views of the city, and were surprised how much construction there was. From one viewpoint we could see 16 cranes! The buildings around us looked very modern, and in a few years when they are done, they will look quite outstanding!
From there we headed to our first museum, the Nobel Peace Center. Of the five Nobel Prizes, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Peace prize each year, and the museum did a great job of displaying an exhibit to honor previous recipients and share the reasons for their award. The museum also showcased a few other exhibits, including: Generation Wealth, Ban the Bomb (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Winner), and the history of Alfred Nobel. We really enjoyed walking through the exhibits, and this had been Sharleen’s favourite museum so far on our trip.
From the Nobel museum we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the Viking Ship Museum. This museum was so cool, and one of Darrell's favourites. It had three of the world’s best preserved Viking ships, as well as finds from Viking tombs and burials which originated from the Oslofjord area. We had never seen anything like it, and we were in awe of the wooden ships and their details. All three ships were Viking burials, and the exhibits showed some of the treasures and ornaments that were found with the ship when they were found. Looters likely took a bunch of the artifacts as well, but it was so impressive to see the beautiful wooden wagons, sculptures, and textiles that were included in the burials. The museum was very busy, and you could tell it was one of the most popular museums to visit. We really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Oslo!
Just beside the Viking Museum was the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum). This museum is one of the largest open-air museums in Europe, and it gave us the opportunity to walk around outside to explore hundreds of Norwegian buildings. The museum was quite interesting, as they physically transported over 160 buildings from around Norway to this spot to show people what traditional Norwegian buildings and settlements looked like. We were able to see farmhouses, hunting buildings, hostels, houses, churches, staves, storage buildings, etc. Some dating back to the 1200’s! It was a fun exhibit, and it was nice to walk around outside on a gorgeous day. It reminded us quite of bit of Heritage Park, a historical museum we have in Calgary, but this place was massive! We must have walked around it for close to 2.5 hours, before we decided to call it a day and head home.
In hind slight, we should have spent at least two full days in Oslo. It would have been cool to see Vigeland Park (which features over 212 bronze and granite sculptures) and the Holmenkollen Ski Museum and Tower. It seemed like there was quite a bit to see in the city, and there were a few places we were interested in but just didn’t have the time to see. We will have to save them for our next visit to Norway.
It’s safe to say that Norway massively exceeded our expectations. Both of us loved our time spent here, and we have already decided we will need to come back to see more of this beautiful country. We likely won’t get back here on our yearlong adventure, but it will be one of the first places we plan a vacation to. There is so much to see, especially when you leave the cities and venture out to the small towns and hiking trails. It seems like the adventures are endless, and every new place you visit brings a different element of beauty and exciting challenges. The people are very friendly, and the language was not an issue. In some places it’s hard to find English, but you can easily get by with Google Translate, or work your way through a conversation full of hand gestures and lots of pointing.
We also really lucked out with the weather. In our 16 days there, we had blues skies, sun, and at least 24 degrees each day. It honestly couldn’t have been nicer for our trip. Everywhere we went, our Airbnb hosts would say this weather wasn’t typical, and we were incredibly lucky to be here during the hot spell. The weather set records all over because of how hot it was. Having such gorgeous weather in late May/early June isn’t common, and since it’s still before the busy tourist season, it meant that we were able to enjoy most sights in the sunshine and without crowds. It was really a great treat!
There is probably only one negative we found during our whole stay, and that would be the how expensive it is. Having come from West/Central Europe just before starting our Scandinavian leg, the costs were startling. Diesel was over $2.45 CAD a litre, a can of beer in the grocery store was $6 CAD, average groceries for maybe two dinners and two breakfasts were $80+ CAD. As a comparison, we are in Poland right now and our costs are $1.77 CAD for a litre of gas, $2 CAD for a can of beer, and $13 CAD for groceries for one dinner and breakfast. The costs just meant we needed to be smarter about how and where we spent our money. We got in the habit of only eating out for lunch (if at all) and cooking at home as much as possible. We were also able to save some costs by hiking, although most of the time you had to pay to park, so our hiking parking costs would range between $20-80 CAD depending on the hike.
We had great Airbnbs, some of the best we have ever had. The costs for them were very reasonable now that we see how expensive Norway can be. The costs ranged between $45-80 a night.
We would highly recommend Norway to anyone, especially those who love to be out exploring nature. Our time here was so exciting and rewarding, and we cannot wait to visit this country again soon!
