Northbound - Norway (Denmark, Norway, Denmark)

Cities: Helsingor, Bastad, Tanum, Vestby, Oslo, Gol, Bergen, Nesttum, Halhiem, Sandvikvag, Valevag, Stavanger, Mandal, Kristiansand, Hanstholm, Hobro

 Wednesday 07.08.85

We reach Helsingor and have breakfast near the castle. We visit the castle and take the ferry to Helsingborg (Sweden), 15 minutes. We visit Bastad, with meadows stretching down to the sea; I set about looking for shells on the beach. We do the shopping and cross Goteborg on the motorway. At Tanum we stop to see some rock carvings on a hill and the related museum. At Svinesund you cross a fine fjord and you are in Norway. On the motorway at Vestby we finally find a hotel at the edge of the motorway, booked for 2 nights (night + breakfast for all 495 NK = 112,000). We have dinner in a little restaurant near the wood, where we also find plenty of porcini mushrooms.

 Thursday 08.08.85

Visit to Oslo: - the Vikingskipene, the house of the Viking ships and their culture - the Folkemuseum, an indoor museum of the furnishing of houses, clothes and ceramics. Outdoors, typical houses of Norwegian culture. - The Church of Gol. Fram: the ship used for the polar conquests, first the North Pole in 1893 and then the South Pole, Amundsen 1910. - Kon Tiki: balsa-wood boat used in 1947 to cross the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia. - Frogner Parken, a beautiful park of meadows and lakes and bronze and granite sculpture groups by the sculptor Vigeland, on the cycle of human life. Shopping done and Swedish kronor changed into Norwegian. We return to Vestby, where we have dinner again in the wood.

 Friday 09.08.85

We set off for the Scandinavian Alps, crossing Oslo. The road climbs slowly through woods and lakes. A stop at Gol, a wander around the little town with its inner squares, shops and benches. An area with typical Norwegian wooden churches (Torpo). We keep climbing and the landscape becomes that of the high mountains; with no trees we are almost in the tundra. The Hardanger glacier comes into view. Then we travel at high altitude over gentle undulations: endless landscapes and small lakes. We come across Lapp huts and buy reindeer skins. We pick little cotton-like tufts of flowers. After this landscape we descend dizzily: a fine stone dam and beautiful waterfalls, cliffs and lakes. The first fjords appear. We pay the toll to cross the Eidfjord, and then the road is beautiful the whole way along the fjord.

We cross yet another fine bridge and then carry on along the valley floor of a river constantly interrupted by lakes and waterfalls. At Bergen we again have difficulty finding somewhere to sleep; we look for hotels, motels or rooms but by now everyone is asleep. Then we find a petrol station and ask for information, and at Nestum we find a hotel. We were accompanied by the petrol station manager: a room without a bathroom and without breakfast 580 NK = 130,000. Practically there are no tourists and they aren't equipped with hotels.

 Saturday 10.08.85

Departure from Nesttum heading south. At Halhjem we take the first ferry. The little houses on the fjord and on the scattered islets are lovely. At boarding a boy was selling wooden jars for salted herring; he had a little cart full of them. This crossing from Halhjem to Sandvikvag was very beautiful: an hour among islands and fjords (Bjornafjord). Having crossed the rocky island of Leirvik, a new boarding for Valevag: a 30-minute crossing. We pass several fjords and then the island of Sveio, rocky and almost deserted. Then a new boarding at Skudeneshavn. While waiting for the ferry we wander on the rocks and pick lilac flowers like the ones we once had in pots on the balcony of the old house. We continue the crossing to Stavanger in the rain for 1 hour and 15 minutes; the fjords are now more open and less beautiful. Now we head south inland, for we have in fact left the sea.

We follow a very beautiful road among rocks, waterfalls, lakes and fjords and dense woods, all still in the rain. We find somewhere to sleep at Mandal, with breakfast 600 NK = 135,000 lire. It's the only place we find and we have to make do with smelly rooms in the attic of an old noble residence. By now finding somewhere to sleep has become a serious problem.

 Sunday 11.08.85

In the morning we reach Kristiansand. We board for Denmark at 11.30: a 4-hour crossing, 872 NK = 200,000 lire. The crossing is under the sun; the first stretch is through a fjord but then we head out into open sea. The sea is rough and everyone, absolutely everyone, feels sick. The waves wash over the ship from stern to bow and my sister and I (the only ones apart from the crew not feeling ill) run up and down the ship having fun. We land at Hanst and have lunch on the beach, staying for part of the afternoon. There are sand dunes as far as the eye can see, to the point that it's risky to get lost. The sand hills are covered with black and red blueberries and little lilac flowers. We follow a route along an inland arm of the sea and visit the Borremose stele. Then we find a motel at Hobro, dinner in our room and bags repacked. (night and breakfast 600 DK = 110,000 lire)