Scandinavian Adventure – Part 2 (a) Norway

Apologies upfront for the (a) – there is so much I want to share that Norway will simply not fit into one post!

Everyone always wants to know the reason you travel to a certain country or region and while I honestly don’t need a reason to travel, Norway was definitely the reason I wanted to go to Scandinavia and boy was I not disappointed.

To say Norway is breathtakingly beautiful would be the understatement of the decade and my Trafalgar journey continues in this incredible country.

We arrived to an absolutely freezing Oslo, the capital city of Norway and headed straight to the harbor area (whatever you do, don’t call it a waterfront! This is not Cape Town!). I had to remove my K-way Barnacle down jacket from it’s tiny pouch and put it on quickly as it was really cold. Thanks to Cape Union Mart, this was perfect for travelling to a cooler region.

My K-Way Barnacle down jacket – perfect for Scandinavia and travel.

I love this photo of Oslo, so atmospheric with the grey sky.

Oslo, Norway

I also found my very own coffee shop –  and no, they didn’t want to give me free coffee.

My own coffee shop – how cool is this!

I then had the best pizza of my life at a restaurant called ‘Eataly’ (clever!). The restaurant had a roaring fire indoors, so it meant removing all my layers. This particular pizza has actually won awards so I simply had to try it and it did not disappoint. Seriously, the best pizza I’ve ever had and I’ve been to Italy!

Mascarpone, courgette (baby marrow) and Parma ham – indescribably delicious!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet but Scandinavia was the most expensive region I ever visited. This simple meal of a pizza, 1 beer and two glasses of wine with tip cost me 550 NOK (Norwegian Kroner) which is just over 920.00 South African Rand! I could just about feed a family of four at a good restaurant with a bottle of wine for that price and you would most definitely not be eating a simple pizza!

Anyway….

The weather the next day was absolutely perfect, warm and sunny.

Oslo fjord

We then went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park – the world’s largest sculpture park by a single artist, Gustav Vigeland. It has over 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. The detail is unbelievable.

Vigeland Sculpture Park

The tall sculpture above is called ‘The Monolith’ it has 121 anatomically correct figures, is 17.3 meters high and was carved from a single block of granite, hence the name: mono: one, litho: stone.

Here’s a close up…

 

One solid piece of granite

Pile of babies

Apologies for the Asian gentleman – he absolutely refused to move.

The angry boy – bronze

Two boys – for me the very definition of joy – bronze

We then went to the Viking ship museum – incredibly interesting!

Viking ship

A woman of high rank was buried, ship and all, under the ground in the ship above. Amazing that it was excavated perfectly. This is the original ship in all it’s glory

Another Viking ship

Intricately carved wooden animal heads – no one knows what they were used for. The workmanship is incredible!

We then stopped at the Heddal Stave Church, one of the last remaining wooden churches in Norway. This one was built in the early 13th century and, constructed entirely out of wood, still stands in perfect condition today.

Heddal stave church

We then took a scenic drive past snow capped mountains to our overnight stop in the village of Vradal.

Buildings with grass roofs – found all over Norway.

Snow capped mountains

Coffee stop at a beautiful fjord.

Breathtaking scenery

Who wouldn’t want to wake up in this home – what a view!

That’s it for today, stay tuned for my next post continuing with incredible Norway!

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” – Marcel Proust

Till next time, please comment and tell me what you think, I love hearing from everyone. Hope you enjoy this post.

Cheers,

Wayne

xxx