Europe

We had a good sleep last night, and we were up early this morning for our arrival into Ålesund on the west coast of Norway.

We had time for a quick muesli and coffee before getting off the ship at about 7:30 am to meet out tour guide, and hopping onto the bus we’d be touring around in for the day.

We drove for about two hours before our first stop to stretch our legs, at the Trollveggen rest stop.

After a short stop, we headed along E136 to the turn-off to Norwegian County Road 63, where our very skilful bus driver negotiated the Trollstigen mountain climb. Trollstigen (which translates to “the troll path” or “the troll trail”) is a famous mountain pass in Western Norway, renowned for its 11 spectacular hairpin bends on the climb to the 858-metre summit. It was opened in 936, by King Haakon VII after eight years of construction, and is a very impressive (and hair-raising!) road.

In general, the weather in Norway is very changeable, but at Trollstigen it is even more unpredictable. Unfortunately, we were largely in cloud at the summit, so we didn’t get to experience the full view. Still, what we could see was very spectacular.

We left Trollstigen around 10:30 am, and headed about 20 kilometres further southwest to Gudbrandsjuvet, a 5-metre-wide and 25-metre-high ravine through which the Valldøla River rushes through with incredible force. We had a short walk around there, which was very nice.

By 11:15 am, we were back on the road, headed for the Rose Church in the small village of Stordal. The Rose Church was built in 1789, and was decorated in 1799 by travelling craftsmen in a type of rose painting, and these original paintings make the church quite unique. Many of the artefacts in the church, including the font and a crucifix, are relics from the old stave church that was situated here in the 12th century.

We left the church just after midday, and travelled just a short distance up the road to Nilsgarstunet, a rustic restaurant in Stordal, for a traditional Norwegian lunch.

After a nice lunch, we got back in the bus at about 2:00 pm, and drove along the north coast of Storfjorden, a beautiful 110-kilometre long fjord, on a loop back to Ålesund. Along the way, we stopped at the very pretty Heggjestraumsbrua, a lovely old stone arch bridge.

We got back to Ålesund around 3:00 pm, after covering a lot of ground. The ship pulled out of the port at 4:00 pm, and we enjoyed some nice views of the town on the way out.

Around 6:30 pm, we met Peter and Joy for a pre-dinner drink, before heading to the restaurant, where we had a nice meal.

We sat around chatting for a while after dinner, before retiring for the evening. Overnight, we’re sailing to Stavanger, Norway’s fourth-largest city, which we’ll be exploring tomorrow.