Our first visit to Norway

A different kind of trip and still a lot of walking

Last time we spoke I shared our proud achievement of completing the Camino de Santiago, walking the Portuguese route from Porto. A lot has happened since then. I’ll do my best to start from the beginning. 

Well, kind of the beginning. Sandwiched either side of the Camino we had a very good few weeks in England visiting family, friends, and eating fish and chips. Very good fish and chips. We did eat lots of other food, but those fish and chips, though. Our hire car got some mileage in as we made trips to Suffolk, Poulton le Fylde, London (to watch the tennis at Queen’s Club), and across Yorkshire. We even managed to squeeze in a couple of nights in a Shepherd’s Hut in Bedale, North Yorkshire, something that Victoria has yearned for for quite some time. 

All good things come to an end and after lots of laughs, warm hugs, copious amounts of Baileys, and even tears, we had to move on. Trust me when I tell you that goodbyes get harder as you and your loved ones get older. 

Our final goodbye was early one morning as we trundled our bags down Daleside and headed to Manchester airport to return our hire car. We had the M62 to negotiate and a Ryanair flight to catch. We were heading to a new country for both of us. Country number 58 for me. Norway was our destination, first stop Oslo. 

Almost. Ryanair being Ryanair means you often fly a long way from your actual destination. Which is why we landed at Torp airport and had a $100 bus ride into Oslo city centre. Almost 2 hours. By the time we had walked from the centre to our AirBnB the day was almost done and William had almost given up waiting for us.

Thankfully, he did and we still had time to do plenty of sightseeing. At this time of year Norway sees daylight until very late in the evening. In fact, due to us being early sleepers we found that for each of our 8 nights in Norway we went to bed in full daylight. Unless we stayed up until around midnight there was to be no star gazing in Norway. 

Making the most of the evening daylight we visited the Oslo Opera House and its unique roof design. Nestled next door to the Munch museum the Opera house roof is designed for you to walk on. So we did. Getting excellent views out across the fjords and around the harbour. 

This was our first visit to Norway and from the beginning we loved it. Even when our first pint cost $25. Yes, the rumours are true. Whenever we mentioned to people that we were starting the next leg of our travels in Norway I could have predicted what their first words would be. And I was never wrong.  If I had a Norwegian krona for every time I heard it I could probably, well, afford another pint.

Day two in Oslo and after a breakfast of coffee and a croissant we were off exploring the beautiful Botanic gardens and up around the Mathallen area, home to a marvellous indoor food hall. Nearby were some good examples of the colourful wooden houses Norway is famous for. Houses that we were to see a lot more of when we left Oslo. 

Our visit to Norway coincides with them competing in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years and they certainly know how to get behind their football team. The country sold out of Norway jerseys and the Viking row took over the country. 

It was just a shame it was so hard to get a bottle of wine to celebrate with them. We encountered the strange Norwegian laws around alcohol sales. Some of the strictest I’ve seen. The government applies high taxes to alcohol and has a monopoly on all wines and spirit sales. You can only buy them at official government owned shops. Beer can be bought in local shops but only until 8pm on weekdays, 6pm at weekends. Probably a good thing as our travel budget would have been stretched to the limits if we drank more.

And we needed the money as we may have been leaving Oslo but were staying in Norway. We were returning to my favourite mode of travel. Compared to the living hell that is travelling by plane just how good is travelling by train? Arrive 10 mins early, jump on your carriage, find your seat, and you are off.  Which is how we got to Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. Just shy of eight hours by train.

And worth it. Stavanger is very popular with cruise ships, and it is very easy to see why. It is a small town packed with character. Wandering around the old town transports you back to a simpler time. The old wooden houses are beautiful.

What do you least expect whilst strolling around town in June? Yes, a Xmas shop. Yet, here we are, with Victoria keeping up her travel tradition of buying a decoration from every town in the world. We are definitely going to need a bigger tree this year. 

Thankfully, the local beer we had in Oslo, a juicy pale ale, has come down in price in Stavanger. Now only $20 a pint! It went well with an amazing burger but we could only afford the one. And as dinner finished after 8pm we had blown our chances of picking up a couple from the shop to take home and watch the Belgium v Iran World Cup match. 

We woke to the news that Norway had progressed in the World Cup. This football loving nation will be in a good mood today. As were we as we boarded our 9.50am Flixbus to Bergen, Norway’s second largest city and Europe’s wettest. Apparently getting drenched for 200 days of the year. 

The bus journey was over four hours and what we didn’t expect was to have two ferry crossings as part of the journey. Just how people travel in this part of the world.

Bergen has a lot to offer. And we had three nights in a very cute AirBnB loft apartment giving us time to explore. The first thing we explored was the food. At the local market I got to sample whale, moose, and reindeer. Whilst you may wince hearing about whale being on sale I was pleased to learn that only about 3% of Norwegians consume it. Mainly the older generation based in the northern and coastal regions. And that the whale in question is a specific, non endangered species. 

Dinner was much tastier, and better on my conscience. We ate at Bergen Street Food where we discovered they had a huge screen showing the World Cup. However, England on the big screen was not an easy watch, so we watched the second half against Ghana back at the apartment, with the game finishing just before midnight. 

Our second day in Bergen saw us going in a funicular. Up the hill to Floibanen which offers spectacular views across Bergen, and out to the fjords where we would shortly be going on a boat trip. It was up at Floibanen where we saw hordes of Norway football fans descend for a mass Viking row, something that I noticed made global headlines.

In Bergen we realised just how fast our small travel budget was dwindling. Norway will do that to you. So we reverted to a self catered dinner. Our trusty ham and cheese baguettes from the Camino made an appearance. We even hunted down one of the government wine shops and enjoyed a, relatively cheap, bottle of classic French white with dinner. 

Economising for lunch we found ourselves visiting Trekroneren twice. Self proclaimed “best hot dogs in the world” I am not sure I would disagree.

No trip to Bergen is complete without a cruise up the fjords and we were booked on the 10am boat. A three and half hour cruise up the fjords and onto Mostraumen. An amazing experience with some breathtaking scenery. Getting up close to the huge waterfalls and tiny villages is definitely a bucket list experience.

On the same afternoon we got even closer to the water. We were booked into the Heit floating sauna. A 55 minute booking with eight of us in the communal wood fired sauna, me being the only male. Spurred on by the locals we had a swim in the very cold fjord to cool off between sauna visits. It was very refreshing and a new experience for us both. Saunas are very common in Norway and are seen as just another part of life. Not the trend or fad that I see appearing all over Australia, and recently in England. 

After a busy day we relaxed in the evening in the AirBnb. We did some supermarket shopping and I made us a simple pasta dish for dinner that we enjoyed with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. We had a big day tomorrow. A long train journey.

It takes over seven hours and is widely regarded as one of the best train journeys in Europe. We were travelling from Bergen back to Oslo. A journey that took us across the top of Norway and through some amazing scenery. We saw snow and mist so thick we couldnt even see the names of some of the stations. we passed through Byrne, the home of Erling Haaland, although we didn’t recognise the large mural of a Borussia Dortmund player was actually him.

We rattled into Oslo central train station after 10.30pm and walked the short distance to our hotel for the night. The city was very quiet bearing in mind Norway had been playing football this evening. When we later saw the result from their game against France we understood why.

Our one night back in Oslo was to enable us to get a bus the next morning. We were headed to another new country for us both. 

Next stop, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

And those first words everybody said when they heard we were going to Norway?

“Ooh, Norway. It is very expensive there.”