Norway in a Nutshell*

Capturing the magical essence in one day — Inspired by Globetrotters February Writing Prompt

The editors at Globetrotters give us the opportunity to hit home runs with their creative monthly writing challenges. This month’s idea immediately transported me back to our trip to Norway.

Capturing the essence of an experience in a sentence or phrase is not easy, but “Norway In A Nutshell” *(A registered trademark of Fjord Tours, used by permission) comes close to describing a fantastic way to spend a day or several days in Norway. It encompasses two scenic cities, gorgeous mountains, and spectacular fjords, put together into an easy and complete way to see the best of Norway.

The country is justly famous for its fjords, narrow channels carved through mountains by long-ago glaciers — Norway’s fjords are the longest in the world. Their breathtaking beauty cannot be fully appreciated by photos.

There are different ways to visit the fjords of Norway: The ports of the capital Oslo and the coastal town of Bergen are cruise ship stops that traverse the coastline and slip into the fjords. But if one wants to spend more time on the ground, then Norway in a Nutshell presents an attractive option.

Norway in a Nutshell is a tour that begins in Oslo with transit to Bergen or vice versa. It consists of several modes of transportation — two trains with linking routes, a cruise on Norway’s longest fjord on a ship, and a bus ride from the ship back to a train (the order varies depending on the city where one begins).

We began in Oslo, which is a mix of old and new construction— the North Sea oil wealth has spawned many new high and mid-rise buildings. The waterfront harbor has had a renaissance, with clusters of housing and commerce, including many fine restaurants. There were echoes of examples in the U.S., such as the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Oslo also has several lovely small museums chronicling its sea-going, arctic, cultural, and Viking heritage. Our favorite was the Cultural History Museum, a complex of structures brought from across the country, from log homes to a fabulous 800-year-old stave church.

Before arriving in Norway, our most important decision was whether to do the Norway in a Nutshell tour in one, long day or to spend nights along the way. Our decision was to “go the for gold” — one 12-hour day from Oslo to Bergen. It was daunting to contemplate; in reality, the highlight reel of sights made exhaustion impossible.

We booked online through Fjord Tours which sells the named package exclusively; the individual segments can be purchased separately through other vendors, but one-stop shopping was appealing to us.

We boarded a spotless train at 8:20 AM. The first 2.5 hours were pretty but rather unremarkable as we passed the brilliant green countryside and the beginnings of hills. After that, it was one postcard view after another for the rest of the day.

The mountain scenery became increasingly dramatic; as the train route climbed, high peaks, streams, and lakes were passing continuously. With clean windows, snapping beautiful photos was easy — we bounced from one side of the train to another. The train made some stops along the way, and the elevation above sea level shown at each crept upwards as we progressed. Soon, we were above 1000 meters and the scenery took a stunning turn. We were above the tree line and presented by an astounding vista of rocks and streams. It was almost indescribably beautiful, magnified by snow and glaciers.

At 1 PM, we stopped and got off the train, at an elevation over 4,000 feet above sea level. With well-coordinated timing, we had only a short wait for the famous Flam railway train.

Over the course of the next hour, we sat in vintage railcars and made our way, with much screeching of train wheels, down to the fjord at sea level.

Magnificent hardly does justice to the mountains and waterfalls on our way down. About halfway, the train stopped at a huge waterfall that starts far above and roars down and underneath the train bridge. Everyone burst from the train onto the platform for photos. The noise from the waterfall was loud, but suddenly, enchanting music began playing; halfway up the hill, 2 dancers appeared. They seemed to portray sirens calling us to join them in the magic of the place. Re-boarding, we completed the journey passing more waterfalls tumbling down from cliffs.

We came to rest at Flam, which has a lovely hotel perched next to the fjord and a few restaurants and shops. Some travelers went to the hotel to spend the night. We had a break of about 1.5 hours; we didn’t expect much of the food offerings, but we had a very good sit-down lunch and excellent Norwegian beer.

Tickets in hand, we boarded the large ship to cruise the Sognefjord, the longest in the world. It had comfortable seating inside and large areas to stand outside. Both were terrific places to see what unfolded.

For one hour, we made our way up a channel bordered by mountains that grew larger as we went. We were fortunate to have a sunny day, and the water and mountain scenery were lovely; we saw several waterfalls tumbling from above. The first hour was hard to beat, but the second hour exceeded it as we turned toward the town of Voss. Soon, we came upon a substantial waterfall that appeared to start 500 meters above (1500 feet). Remarkably, the ship moved closer and closer until we were only meters away from where it crashed into the water — it was noisy!

Departing, we entered a narrowing passageway of mountains. The ship slowly moved past waterfalls of varying sizes that began high above — there were too many to count. Partway, we went past a cluster of homes and a church that rested on impossibly green fields while high mountains towered over them. The fjord twisted back and forth, which made the passage more dramatic as the channel narrowed and each turn revealed a new panorama.

With regret, we got off at Voss for the fleet of buses waiting to go to the train station 45 minutes away. We began the bus ride weary, thinking that it would be uneventful. That was true for only 15 minutes, then the bus climbed to the hotel in the town of ASSS. Here, a few riders retrieved their luggage to spend the night — they surely had a good time since below was the scenic fjord we had just left.

What came next was startling and breathtaking. The bus went down a road too narrow for two vehicles, on the steepest road incline in Northern Europe. The bus crawled down the hill, making 11 switchback turns — gulp! Suddenly, the most spectacular vista appeared — a narrow valley between stunning peaks, accentuated by shadowing clouds and vibrant green. What a view!

The scenery bolstered our courage and soon we were back in the valley. We walked from the bus to the nearby waiting train (everything on the tour is well-coordinated). Then, we had a journey of 2 hours, passing next to a mountain-fed stream and more mountains. At last, we arrived at the city of Bergen almost 12 hours after we left Oslo. We were tired, but the memory of the day was too strong and deep to leave us exhausted.

Bergen is Norway’s second-largest city and a regular cruise ship stop. The newer construction is mostly on the outskirts away from the harbor. The charming old town hugs the harbor, with building styles suggestive of Amsterdam clustered beside the harbor and adjoined by streets with shops and restaurants. We enjoyed the shopping; wool clothing is a specialty and not expensive.

We concluded our Norweigian sojourn with a shorter fjord tour departing from Bergen. In spots, the channel was only meters-wide, with looming peaks on the sides. A particularly lovely turn was at a small gathering of houses set in an impossibly green setting.

As we left Norway, we felt that we had gone through thrilling and almost ineffable experiences. The combination of mountains, fjords, and waterfalls juxtaposed with stunning green was unparalleled for us. It captured a magic that we have never found elsewhere.

Many of my most memorable trips involved lovely land and seascapes, so this month’s challenge resonated with me. Beautiful scenery is dimension-altering — we slow down, soak in what we are seeing, and have a sense of something deeply meaningful in life.

I found reading the following stories generated thoughts and feelings I could embrace — I wasn’t there with them, but I could sense what they did.

Jillian’s knowledge and experience are vast. She shared lovely photos from many countries and continents — and distills and conveys the essence of each place in crisp summaries. I liked her opening comments about her fascination with changing terrain when she travels overland.

Another favorite was by Scott-Ryan Abt,

I loved this description of his experiences of exciting terrain,

“Maybe we see within it similarities with somewhere we’ve been before. Maybe it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Maybe we notice how it changes as we travel through it. Maybe it just floods all our senses at once. Maybe it blows our minds long after we’ve left.”

He also wrote about one of my first and still one of my favorite places I visited, the north coast of Jamaica — I can feel the vibe!

And I really enjoyed the article by Ronald Smit,

Like Jillian, he incorporated an astounding array of different landscapes in his article.