Norway

At the end of my summer between undergrad and grad school, I had an urge to go to Norway… so I did! Though I didn’t meet Erling Haaland (the world’s Norwegian GOAT), or Magnus Carlsen (my Norwegian GOAT), I did meet my fair share of ACTUAL goats, as well as see some breathtaking natural beauty.

I wanted to see the mystic fjords percolating deep into the ancestral land of the vikings firsthand. I visited Oslo, Bergen, Alesund (my favorite town), Trondheim, and Stavanger.

Oslo:

To be honest, I did not see Oslo. At Oslo we stayed at an airport-adjacent hotel (Thon) for the first and last night of the trip. Though I didn’t see much of the city, I want to wholeheartedly recommend the Thon hotel chain – a home-grown Norwegian chain with excellent hospitality. They had great rooms and the best continental breakfast of any hotel chain I have ever visited. The continental breakfast was of the traditional Norwegian style that did not disappoint. Culinary highlights of this breakfast include Brunost (a brown cheese with strong hints of caramel) and knekkebrød (seed crackers).

Bergen:

Bergen was the 2nd stop of the trip. The trip to Bergen by train offered some beautiful countryside scenes on their own.

It was also at Bergen that I met the Norwegian goats up on the cable-car-accessible Mount Ulriken.

Ålesund and Geirangerfjord:

This was my favorite leg of the trip. Prior to arriving in Ålesund, we saw Geirangerfjord and its imposing slopes and wine-dark water. These fjords, especially when accompanied by the many small villages straddling the banks, delivered on expectations. On the way to Ålesund was Trollstigen, a dizzying zigzagging road up a steep cliff which culmintaed in a crystal river of highland glacier runoff. Trollstigen was my favorite stop of the entire trip.

Ålesund was my favorite town primarily due to its fascinating geological layout. Ålesund can best be described as a minor city that sprawls across an archipelago of tiny islands and is conjoined by many bridges. The aquarium at the northernmost island even offered a nice little aquarium.

Trondheim:

Trondheim was the northernmost city I visited in Norway. It is one of Norway’s larger coastal cities and has a sizeable student population owing to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Sadly I seem to have lost all of my already few Trondheim photos. Instead, enjoy some roadside scenery photos I took on the way there.

Stavanger

Final stop on the trip was Stavanger, the southernmost city on the itinerary and home to Preikestolen, my “European Grand Canyon”. This was the location where Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill had their final clifftop fight in Mission Impossible: Fallout. While I didn’t get to enjoy two men grappling to the death, I got to feel firsthand the anxious exhilaration of standing on the edge of a 600 m straight fall to the frigid waters below.

So long Norway!