You get what you pay for.

Norway facts!

• Because the landscape is so up and down, there are a lot of tunnels. 750 km of tunnels.
• From 1397 to 1905 Norway was either under control from Sweden or Denmark.
•  In 2014, Norway was #1 in the world on the prosperity index for wealth and well being. 

Cool statues seemed to be common in Norway. This one was in Bergen

If Iceland was beautiful in a subtle, peaceful, and expansive way, then Norway was very much beautiful in an “in your face” kind of way. Beautiful cities, beautiful highway drives, beautiful fjords and of course, beautiful blonde people. 

It was a bit much at times. Oh, and more cool waterfalls.

We arrived into Bergen, the former capital and second largest city of Norway on September 6. Bergen was a great stop on the trip, it was one of the nicest cities I’ve ever been to, with plenty of hiking (we hiked Fløyen, one of seven very nearby peaks) and scenery. All kinds of architectural and cultural beauty can be found as well.

We stayed here for two nights, touring around, planning our drive to Odda, and splurging on a single beer each ($16-17 per pint).

Oh right, we saw this fella who decided to go driving around southern Norway with us. -->

Lindy, our seasoned Scandanavian driver, got us out of Bergen and on the way to our first destination, Odda, in no time. We had about 8 hours to do a 2.5 hour drive, so we took in some scenery on the way.

Sorry ladies, he's spoken for.

After waterfalls, fjords, the Jondal ferry, and MANY tunnels later we find ourselves in Herand, Ben and I also find ourselves in a slight dilemma. 

Here we are in a beautiful little town on a fjord, and there’s a trampoline that looks like it is meant for jumping into the water.

The water is undoubtedly cold, but coming from the shores of Halifax, we’re more worried about jumping into what could be terribly unclean water than getting chilled. 

"Is the trampoline supposed to lead into the water?"

"I dunno, but we should probably jump in"

After realizing that we’re probably crazy for thinking such a nice spot with crytal clear waters would be polluted, we awkwardly jumped in. The water was frigid, but seemed quite clean.

Lindy did not jump in. However, as she was driving us up the cliff side she proclaimed,
“This is my fjord trampoline”, as she turned unexpectedly down a dirt road. It turned out to be a good turn as we were amazed by some pretty phenomenal views which accompanied our sandwich lunch.

After more tunnels and hairpin turns, we arrived at our campground in Odda. A few beers and some chili later, we were getting some important rest for one of the inspirations for this trip, the 10 hour Trolltunga hike.

Trolltunga translates directly into “Troll tongue”, because the Scandinavian countries are obsessed with elves and trolls, but also because the rocky outcrop at the end of the hike slightly resembles a big tongue sticking out.

The scenery, and the hike itself at times, was breathtaking. After about 4 hours we made it to the destination, which was a strange sight. A group of 60-100 people from all over the world all congregated around one section of cliff, waiting in line for a turn to walk the plank, then doing a few precarious poses while someone photographs them, then moving aside for a snack or lunch break.

Although the entire thing was challenging, it was certainly doable by the three spry fellas of Lindy, Ben, and Myself….But around Km 20 of 22, we started to break. The final steep descent downhill was absolutely brutal, everytime I stood still I could feel my legs tremble. But we had some more beer and chili that night, so we were good to go.

The drive back to Bergen the next day brought us through the adventure (rafting, sky diving, climbing) town of Voss, where we had lunch and drove around the outskirts to see a few more waterfalls.

If you’re curious, these waterfalls were ALSO very much unique and worth the effort to go see.

I don’t know why (I’m an ignorant foreigner maybe) I assumed Oslo would be similar to Bergen, I guess that’s like someone seeing Vancouver and assuming Toronto would be the same. Oslo was noticeably busier than Bergen, with a very different and larger city layout.

We took in a free city walking tour (these exist everywhere, do them next time you travel), went to a food festival and ate a bunch of smoked salmon, went to a beautiful and peculiar city park with hundreds of naked statues, and more walking around.

There’s something for everyone in Oslo, it was a really cool city. Great food, cools bars, lots of shops, and history. If have no worry of budget, or can find a way to see it cheaply, definitely put it on your list. 


Norway was REALLY nice. It certainly makes me curious as to what lies north in the country, as we were only in the southern 10% or so. 

Historic Antwerp (seen above)! Along with other destinations are on the list for next time.

For now, that’s all we could afjord for Scandinavia. Off from Oslo to Brussels, Antwerp, and Putten where somehow we keep running into people we know.