Down in the land of fjords where tunnels live

After the incomparable experience up on Sognefjell, we almost felt that it was just as well to go home as it could not possibly be better than that. However, it was lucky that we went on as we still had lots of exciting experiences to look forward to. You can read more about our trip here.

Down at sea level, you see the beautiful blue-green water again. It looks completely unreal and perhaps something that feels more like the Mediterranean rather than something in the North. We learnt that there are apparently two reasons for this. In some areas, such as the Geirangerfjord, it is an algae that when blooming creates the almost luminescent water. In other areas, it is very small limestone particles that refract the sunlight. Whatever the reason, it is very beautiful to look at.

All along the route between Skjolden and Sogndal you can see an endless succession of these fjords, lakes and rivers. The road winds along the water but it's not exactly made for overtaking so long queues form after the photo-hungry tourists. The locals might not be too happy about this... 😛

Just after Sogndal is Kaupanger which, in addition to a famous church, has Amlasandens Fjordcamping. We stumbled upon it a bit by chance but it was really a stroke of luck as we got both beautiful views and nice weather. The latter was something we were not spoilt with on this trip.

You can read more about the campsite itself here.

We had such a good time in Amla that we considered staying one more night but in the end we decided to move on. The next stage offered a difficult choice. We could choose another beautiful but winding tourist route over Aurlandsfjellet or we could take the Lærdal tunnel, the longest road tunnel in the world. We chose the tunnel as we felt that our nerves needed to recover a little after Geiranger and Sognefjell.

The tunnel is truly a crazy project. It took five years to build the almost 25 kilometre long tunnel and the total cost was just under a billion. It must have been a huge project, but still incredibly affordable compared to other similar tunnelling projects that cost ten times as much or more.

It may also be that they have received a volume discount on tunnels. When travelling through Norway, you get to experience a completely unlikely amount of tunnels. We travelled through hundreds of tunnels during our trip and got the chance to experience all possible variants. Long, short, up, down, wide, narrow, under the sea, in serpentine, with roundabouts, yes there were even a couple that spun down in the same way as a spiral staircase. Only a country with oil money could have afforded all this as it must have cost enormous sums.

At one point the tunnel was so narrow that they solved it by changing direction once every half hour. However, we heard a horror story about some others who obediently stood and waited and when it was finally their turn they were met in the tunnel as they thought the traffic light was broken from the other side... 😛

Unlike 99% of all tourists, we did not choose the route via Flåm but the one via Geilo and Hardangervidda. Even here it is a tourist route between Haugastøl to Eidfjord. We were perhaps most impressed by the beginning and end of the route, i.e. between Vassabygdi and Hol and Vøringsfossen and Eidfjord.

(If you are Norwegian, skip this paragraph.) We were not very impressed by Hardangervidda. It's a bit of a Norwegian national treasure but we felt it was mostly miles and miles of the same thing. Maybe it was due to the bad weather, that we just came from an incredibly spectacular area or simply that it is a little too similar to what we are used to at home.

For whatever reason, we passed by pretty quickly. The biggest attraction on the route, Vøringsfossen, was partially closed for renovation so we skipped it too. In other words, a transport route but still a bit of a shame that we skipped beautiful Flåm in favour of it.

After the "vidda" we started looking for a place to spend the night. The choice fell on Myklatun Camping which was an excellent choice. What an incredibly beautiful place! Nestled between the mountains overlooking a small fjord, it was truly a dream. Even the picture at the top of the post is from there. We probably took hundreds of pictures here but here are some of them. If you want to read more about the campsite itself, you can do so here.

The winding road along the fjords continued and a bit away from Eidfjord we experienced a completely new type of tunnel. First it was a tunnel with several roundabouts, when we saw the light and thought we were driving out, you came directly out on a giant bridge that stretched between the mountains. On the other side of the bridge you again came down into a tunnel. Really impressive! In the picture below you can see the whole construction from a distance.

Our last stop before Bergen was Voss, or Vossevangen as it says in some places. Very unclear if they are different things or the same but they seem to use the two names randomly. Anyway, Voss is a very nice town with a little more to offer than most villages we travelled through during our trip. The town is scenically located by a small lake and is surrounded by mountains. You can take the small cable car up to one of the peaks to get a nice view of the area. In addition to this, we noted an unusually large number of pastry shops, which suited us perfectly.

The choice fell on the personal and extremely colourful Munngodt - Frk. Engsbråten. You should be happy when you enter a café and you really got that feeling here. In addition to very good cakes and excellent coffee, they also have homemade ice cream and gift packs. The owners were also very nice so we sat and talked to them for a while.

Down by the water is a beautiful church that has a divine view... 😉 We really liked the city centre as both the location and the range were excellent. The fact that they also had good cakes always gives an extra plus for Rendahls.

The railway line to Bergen is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and we can certainly understand why. The track runs parallel to the road and it's a fairytale landscape all the way. That probably sums up our feeling and experience of Norway very well. It's a bit like a fantasy land that you only thought existed in fairy tales.

Now it's off to Bergen, which you can read more about here.