The Beauty of Norway

I’ve only seen a small slice of Norway, and I’m in awe.

Two weeks ago our cruise docked at Molde, Olden, and Haugesund, three different but beautiful areas of Norway. All three offered delightfully moderate temperatures compared to the 100-degree weather in St. Louis–I now know that I should travel north in the summer, not to the beach!

In Molde, up at the northwestern coast of Norway, we took a nice stroll (5k roundtrip) to a beautiful lookout, then walked back down. We stopped for some Norwegian brown cheese and black coffee at a local cafe, tried some of the freshest salmon I’ve ever eaten, and wandered along the coast past a rather large soccer stadium for such a small town.

Olden is an even smaller town (only 1,000 residents), and the area is known for their apples–I drank a bottle of delicious apple juice made from a 400-year old local apple tree. Our excursion took us to another 5k hike up to and back from a glacier. While the view at the end was picturesque, the entire hike was so incredibly beautiful. Dozens of waterfalls, babbling brooks, lush moss, all while surrounded by sheer rock walls. At the end of the hike we tried another Norwegian dish, a pancake folded in half with buttercream in between.

Haugesund was the biggest city we visited. We went on a historical tour to a very old church, a museum, and then the recreation of a viking village. The tour guides were excellent, both in terms of their sincerity, knowledge, and humor, and I had a nice chat with our guide about football on our way back to the bus.

We then had a fun adventure with some locals, starting with lunch with a local Stonemaier ambassador, Patrick. I’m still thinking about the fish soup we had at Dattera Til Lothe. We then visited the excellent game store, Game Ninja, next to which the local game group was hosting a game day (they knew our gaming cruise was coming to town). They were so warm and welcoming to everyone.

I wish we could have eaten more fish in Norway–we should have sought that out a bit more. I also missed out on a potato dish they’re known for. But I loved the time we spent there, including even on the boat while passing through the stunning fjords, and it made me want to experience more of Scandanavia in the future.

Have you traveled to Norway? What were some of your favorite parts?