Norway in Spring 2011 (Part 2, Alta, Tromso, Geiranger)

24 May 2011, The road back to Tromso.

Today we took to the roads again, retracing the same route over 406km from Alta to Tromso. A wet morning to start the day. The weather during this period is like flipping a coin; you have a 50-50 chance of either rain or sun. We checked out of our guesthouse around 10am, loaded our bags and started to make our way back to Tromso. 

Day at the museum

Entrance to the museum

Today we intended to make a trip to the town's Rock art museum.  They have some rock art on rocks dated back 7000 years ago; pictures of what back then cavemen would have drawn. The rock walls are only open in the non-winter months as the rock art is located in the open and would be covered in snow. But the museum is always opened throughout the 4 seasons. There is an admission fee of 85 NOK to the museum. A well maintained path rounds round the park when the rock art can be seen We covered the entire trail of the park in around 1hr. We were just snapping away our cameras without much understanding, sad to say. But the guide book provided does explain the drawings at each location. After touring the site, we dropped by the souvenir shop to look at some of the items about the rock art. They had some replicas of the rock art for sale which we bought one since they are nicely done. 

Looks like some animal herding

Hunting ?

6000-5000 years old. Very artistic back then

From the museum, it was a straight long drive back to Tromso. We took the same longer route on the road rather than the ferries as it would be more expensive to take the ferries (2 ferries needed). 

Leaving the Alta region

Crossing the mountains again ( ~400m altitude)

Along the way on E69 to Tromso

An additional 1 hour was added for our drive back to Tromso. We reached our hotel around 6pm. Parked our car and walked to town for dinner. Not many choices left and in the end we ended up having pizza at Peppes.

The weather was starting to turn for the better, but still cloudy. The road changed from green tree lines to white snowfields as we crossed the high mountain path again. Nothing much of interest for the return drive, only to stop here and there for some photo shoots.

At around 6:30pm, we reached Tromso again and check-in into our hotel. The same AMI hotel we stayed 2 days back. The weather seemed to be better over at Tromso. At one side of the sky was dark clouds, but on the other side, the evening sun was shinning bright. Leaving our car behind at the hotel small backyard, we walked to town to have our dinner. We went back to the  Nerstranda Sentre for a meal of pasta and oriental noodle at the restaurant. 

Only shopping mall at Tromso

Shops were starting to close and with the good weather outside, we decided to take a stroll along the waterfront area. The evening sun was bright, giving us great opportunities to catch some great shots. 

At the Tromso marina, Nice little boats

Polaria Museum

A walk further down the waterfront brought us to the Hålogaland Teater AS. There were some interesting sculptures and statues outside the theater. One of them is the dog statue below. From far it looked real.

A dog waiting for its owner out to sea

Baby sculptures outside the Halogaland Theater

After visiting the theater area, we made our way back to our hotel. Wrapping up our trip to Northern Norway. Tomorrow we would be flying back to Oslo for the 2nd part of our tour in Norway, exploring the fjoldlands, mountains and seaside towns of western Norway.

 

25 May 2011, Leaving Tromso Behind for Southern Norway

Even before the preset alarm on our iPhone, I was already awoke, packing our bags again for the domestic flight out of Tromso to Oslo. It was just a 20min drive to the airport as the entire Tromsoya (Tromso island) is real small. Not much human traffic at the airport. We just check-in our bags and wait for the departing flight. We were already tired and still recuperating from the long hour drive in the Troms and Finnmark area (Tromso, Alta and Nordkapp). So it was a board and sleep mode on the plane. After 1hr 40min of flight we landed at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Without the need to go through the immigration, it was a straight walk from the plane to the luggage collection area. Once we got out bags, we headed to the car rental area. Pre-book is a must for car rental here in Oslo as sometimes these car rental companies are short of cars. For me, i should consider myself lucky as i have just managed to book an automatic car 5 days ago after experiencing difficult in handling a manual car in Tromso. After 10 years of driving a manual car, and on the different side of the road, it was much too difficult and dangerous for me.

Waiting check-in luggages

Again a black coloured car. Smaller but reliable

We got a Volkswagen Golf Auto from the airport parking lot and off onto the same E6 highway in the direction of Trondheim. This is the same E6 highway that runs all the way to Alta. but it will take a few days i think in order to drive there. 

On the same E6 highway that runs all the way to Tromso

Along the way, we made a lunch stop along the motorway at those big supermarkets and fuel stops. Gotten use to visiting supermarkets. We ordered a pizza (it was huge) and boiled salmon. These were much cheaper compared to the prices for food we paid for up north. We could not finish the pizza and got it packed for dinner.

Boiled Salmon with potatoes

Hawalian Pizza

We continued on E6 from the airport bypassing Hammar, Lillehammer, Otta and finally at Lom. Our accommodation for the night is at the sheep farm cottage called String Gard. 

Approaching Lillehammer

On the way from Otta to Lom

This is a lovely farm that has a few cottages to offer to travellers. Since this is not the peak summer season, we were the only guest in their farm. The owners were friendly and helpful, showing us to the cottage. Best of all, they provided us with free Wi-Fi and with this we were occupied and entertained for hours in our cottage as it did not come with a TV. But the transistor radio did help to create the mood in the cottage cabin. In the end, we loved it for being simple and cozy. It was spacious and has everything you need to cook up a proper meal. The cabin could fit a family of 4. There was a separate bedroom for 2 and the living room area has 2 more beds.  My wife loves the view from the room across the road to the herd of sheep. 

Our cottage. Everything is inside.

The living room and kitchen area

Due to the longer daylight in summer, we made a short drive to the town centre of Lom. Shops were no longer opened except the COOP supermarket. We bought some grilled chicken drumlets and they were delicious. There is a stave church near the Lom town centre. It was occasionally raining and at times, we were force to take shelter under the small gate to the Lom Stave Church. When we got into our car to drive off, we saw the evening sun breaking through the clouds, casting a yellow spot light on the entire church area. It was back to running to the stave church to get the best picture.

Lom Stave Church

Another shot from a distance

Close up of one side of the church with the evening sun

This looks like the entrance

After taking a lot of photographs of the beautiful stave church, we drove back to our farm cottage to turn in for the day. Back in our cottage, dinner was to reheat our lunch pizza. Since today's drive on the road was not as tiriung as before, We stayed up quite late enjoying the peace of the surroundings and of course the sheep across the road.

The FM radio that created the mood in our cozy cottage

Doorway to the cottage

26 May 2011, Journey into the Norwegian Fjord lands

We woke up earlier in our beautiful cottage and started to pack our bags for the next destination. Today we didn't have to cover much distance on the road so we started slow for the day. Taking our time at the farm cottage at Lom, we started updating our emails and Facebook over the free Wifi at the farm. The usual typical Singaporeans who work in the I.T sector. The weather seems to be cloudy but no sign of rain yet. We drove to town center again to look around at the groceries. Seemed like we always like to visit supermarkets, esp. when we need to get foodstuffs to prepare our dinner at our next cabins. It is also a way to save on the expensive cost of eat-out food in Norway. Cooking a nice and healthy simple meal is more attractive after being in Norway for a week. 

Lom has a huge waterfall running through town center

We left Lom center and started our drive on route 15 to Geiranger. Route 15 is a toll route just before the mountain road up to Groli. The landscape again changed from green to white. As we climbed higher into the mountains, everything started to turn white and the temperature drop to 3 degrees celsius. We stopped frequently along the route and when there was no other traffic, it seemed like we have the whole place to ourselves. Only to hear the sounds make by some gulls. At one point along the route, we came across a vast expanse of frozen lake. 

Frozen lake along route 15

Driving on route 63 towards Geiranger

Parts of it melting and broken from the each other. It was raining and actually snowing when we reached the junction that breaks away from route 15 and into 63. Route 63 is the only road that goes into Gerianger from the south. Other than that you need to come down from the north taking the ferry. The other way of course is the ferry from Hellesylt. Today, route 63 was a new experience for us since our tour of Norway. It was snowing and there were walls of tall snow that ran along the route 63. Heard from the locals in Geiranger that they had been having bad weather and strong winds for 5 days before improving today. The route 63 was steep and narrow and bendy, at some point we really have to drive slowly, at speed around 30km/h to negotiate a bend. At the highest point of the route 63 is Dainibba, just in front of a building by the name of Djupvasshytta which is at 1030m in altitude. Since the weather was bad, we decided to skip it for the next day when we have to drive back to Lom. Hope the weather would be better than today.

View of the town Geiranger from the viewpoint

Behind is the Geiranger fjord (town is just below)

 Following the steep downhill road, we reached the town of Geiranger. We parked near the town's only groceries store and walked over to the jetty area for lunch. We ordered 2 wraps for lunch. There are a few souvenir shops around the jetty, targeting tourists arriving by ferry. We walked for only a short while and continue our drive to our accommodation for the day. 

Raw salmon wrap for lunch

The small cafe where we had lunch at Geiranger jetty

We had booked a cabin with toilet at the Grande Hytteutleige og Camping. Due to some shortage of lower tier cabins, we were given free upgrade 2 tier up to their newest and best cabin. This is the best cabins they have. 2 bedrooms, a common living room with kitchen attached, and a separate toilet with bath and toilet. It is not about the amenities, but the decor of the cabin. It was done in a stylish taste that appealed a lot to us. We have been seeing such simple yet attractive decor back home on some European interior magazine, only until now we get to stay in one. It was really a lucky day for us. only downside, there was only one heater in the living room, but not in the bedroom.

Reception for the Grande Hytteutleige Camping

Our cabin for the night. Great view, nice decor. We loved it

Simple and nice

The campsite offers some activities that guests can do. Since it is just beside the fjords, they have boats for hire. Having wanting to do some self-boating along the fjords long ago, this is the best chance since they don't need you to be some licensed boatman to handle their motor boats. The feeling of just being to drive your own boat to any part of the fjord gives you the feeling of being completely free. In the end, I just thought, "what the heck", let’s do it since I already have some knowledge about those single motor powered boats. All thanks to the training in the army to drive a dinghy boat. After making a payment of NOK 260 for a 1 hour usage, we got our life jackets from the friendly staff and off we walked down to the mini jetty.

Small jetty just in front of our campsite

The initial part of handling the boat was a joke, it took me a while to get familiarize with the turning and control of the throttle. After some circling and throttling up the confidence, we headed straight further into the fjord, aiming for the far ahead waterfalls. There are 2 famous waterfalls near Geiranger, the Seven Sisters (De Sju Søstre) and the Suitor (Friaren)

Boating on the Geiranger fjord

Heading towards the waterfalls

Seven Sisters (De Sju Søstre)

The suitor (Friaren)

We reached 2 turning part of the S-shape Geiranger fjord before turning back. When we near the jetty, 2 children from one of the staff lady, wearing bike helmets walked alone to the jetty and directed me where to park the boat. It was very light hearted moment to be greeted by 2 cute little children in bike gear. Of course the lady staff came along in a while to help us with tying the boat to the dock.

Back in our impressive cabin, my wife went on to prepare a simple meal of pasta in tomato sauce with sausages we brought back from Tromso. It was finally some real home-made food. In a nutshell, we really enjoyed ourselves today.

Spaggetti with pork sausage for dinner (cabin-made)

Let's move on to Part 3