Norway- a Travelogue

It was the thought of the searing July heat in Memphis that made me do it. It was just early June and already I was finding the weather oppressive. My mind became focused on a gentler clime so I started pondering the possibilities.

Have you read “A Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy”? Do you remember the part where one of the architects who designed planet Earth said he had won a special achievement award for designing “all the fringy bits” of  Norway? Well, that’s when I knew I would have to see them and so, when I saw a cruise through the Fjords offered by Celebrity Cruise Line, I booked it!

Yes, this year, instead of roasting in the inferno of a Memphis summer, I was plying the deep calm waters of Norwegian  Fjords and visiting idyllic, tiny towns with names like Stavanger, Geiranger, Alesund, Flam, Olden and Molde and discovering beautiful northern European capitals like Oslo and Bergen. And I would see all of this while my floating four star hotel deposited me on their doorsteps and patiently awaited my return.

The cruise leaves from Amsterdam so we made arrangements to stay there 2 days before the cruise departed and 3 days after it returned. We had been there before so we knew how lovely Amsterdam is. For those of you who don’t know- KLM offers a direct flight from Memphis to Amsterdam so it’s easy- and boy, is it fun! Walking in Amsterdam is like walking through a living museum. While strolling along the picturesque canals you are likely to pass places like Rembrandt’s art studio or Anne Frank’s house and there are interesting museums on just about any subject you can think of. Amsterdam boasts a little over one million people and there are 600,000 people who ride bikes as their main form of transportation which is fascinating to watch- but we were reluctant to try.

The cruise leaves right after sunset and makes its way along the Amstel River to the North Sea at dusk. You pass through ancient lochs and windmills until you reach the open water- then we settled in and enjoyed the ride while the Captain made his way North to a town called Stavanger.

Fjords are an amazing feat of nature- caused by glaciers from the last ice age some of the steep granite walls rise 6000 feet above you while the fjord itself is only a 1000 feet wide. The crystal clear water in some places is 4000 feet deep. The ship glides slowly past thousands of waterfalls .Blue skies mainly prevailed but many times heavy fog chased us down the fingers of the gorges. Tiny towns, neat and trim , painted red and with grass growing on their roofs occasionally dotted the waters edge.

Each day we explored a different town. The ship would travel through the North Sea at night then begin its trek inland into the fjord at sunrise. By 7 a.m. we would be ready to disembark and begin the day’s adventure. Some of the towns we visited like Olden, Flam and Geiranger quadrupled in size when the ship was in port.

Norway is a place to hike and take in the stunning scenery. Tim and I would do a bit of research for each of the stops, pick a great hike to do and get started as soon as we could disembark the ship. Some days we would climb a mountain, some days we would hike to a glacier, other days we explored lovely towns and took taxis to their highest points and walked back down! Always, we met wonderful people and we still have not stopped marvelling at the dreamlike landscape that surrounded us.

The best hike we did was in the Flam Valley. Flam itself is a miniscule town with a famous scenic railway that took us nine miles almost straight up to the top of the valley. There we got off and walked back down through the most spectacular scenery  I have ever seen. The mountains closed in around us and bright blue glacier water rushed past us on its way to the sea. After a while we walked past a goat herd of about 100 or so, who unattended, were walking single file in the other direction. A little further on we found a tiny farm with a tiny path-side store selling plates of fresh goat cheese and wild raspberry juice. We sat down and partook- waterfalls crashed around us-it was magic.

On other days we visited the lovely busy cities of Oslo and Bergen. Norway has one of the highest standards of livings in the world and no where is it more apparent in these cities that are inhabited by well heeled people and lovely residences. It is said that ALL Norwegians’ own a beach cottage,a city house and a boat and that looked to be quite accurate. Norway hadn’t always fared so well, after World War 2 their economy stagnated but then in 1969 they found oil in the North Sea. Instead of handing over their resources to the likes of Exxon or Shell- the Norwegian government kept the riches for the people. They now have a free University education available to all, universal health care and a social services package for the elderly- they are cared for from the cradle to the grave.

Norwegians are a beautiful race of people, tall and strong and they are known for their work ethic. They keep their country neat and tidy and love the natural world. They live in an orderly, gorgeous world- and one day I shall return.