Posts In The “Europe” Category
Geirangerfjord is one of the better known and popular fjords in Norway and is part of the West Norwegian Fjords UNESCO World Heritage Site. Full-sized cruise ships regularly travel the waterway, as do the Hurtigruten coastal ferries, local ferries and countless other craft. We’d already visited Geirangerfjord on a road trip up the Trollstigen route…
Ålesund is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Norway. After a devastating 1904 fire destroyed much of downtown, the city was rebuilt in an art nouveau style with many of the buildings overlooking a canal that runs through downtown. From Åndalsnes we travelled 55 miles south to Ålesund, stopping for a few nights…
Trollveggen (“The Troll Wall”) is the highest vertical mountain wall in Europe. The face is 3,600 ft (1,100 metres) from base to summit and scaling it is one of the ultimate mountaineering challenges. With several other difficult climbing peaks in the area, nearby Åndalsnes is considered the mountaineering capital of Norway. Their modern visitor center…
The dramatic Trollstigen route near Åndalsnes winds up a steep 1:12 gradient through 11 hairpin turns so tight that vehicles longer than 43 ft (13.1m) are prohibited. En route, a narrow bridge carries the road over and beside the spectacular 1,050 ft (320 m) Stigfossen falls. In 2012, Trollstigen was officially opened as a National…
Andalsnes is close to some of Norway’s most spectacular and unique scenery, including 5900ft (1800m) Trollgiven, the highest vertical mountain wall in Europe and the dramatic Trollsigten route, a narrow roadway that climbs at a gradient of 1:12 through 11 hairpin turns with a viewing platform above. And an hour or two’s hike from town…
After five weeks in Trondheim, we departed for Norwegian destinations farther south. We really enjoyed our stay, and it was an excellent place to leave the boat while we returned to Seattle for work. From Trondheim we travelled 140 miles south and anchored for a few days in Vagsetervagen while a storm system passed through….
We completed a number of boat projects in Trondheim, including replacing a steering pump and the nav computer. Most were waiting on gear sourced on our return trip to Seattle—we spent much of the ten days after the trip installing and stowing parts. Below are highlights from July 14th through August 14th in Trondheim, Norway….
In late July, we left the boat in Trondheim, checked Spitfire into “the resort” at the beautiful Pusehuset Kattehotell, and returned to Seattle for a couple of weeks. While James spent all day and most evenings in meetings, Jennifer picked up our mail at the UPS store, sourced some other parts and spares locally, and…
Trondheim is a beautiful waterside city with many excellent restaurants and attractions, including a rock music museum, the world’s only bicycle lift, the largest medieval building in Scandinavia, a 17th-century fort and the remains of a massive Nazi-built submarine pen. The city has made a real successful effort to be bicycle friendly and is a…
Trondheim was Norway’s capital during the Viking era and currently is the country’s third-largest city with a population of just under 200,000. Our arrival there represented the mid-way point of our six-month trip through Norway, where we would return to Seattle for a couple of weeks before continuing south to explore the rest of the…
Svartisen Glacier is the second largest in mainland Norway, after Jostedalsbreen, and one of the most dramatic sights on the coast. Ending at only 65 ft (20m) above sea level, it’s the lowest of any mainland European glaciers and among the most accessible. And if spectacular glacier views aren’t enough, nearby is the trailhead for…
Bodø, Norway was the ultimate destination of American pilot Gary Powers’ ill-fated U2 flight that garnered international attention in 1960 when he was shot down and captured over Russia during a high-altitude surveillance pass. The exceptional Norwegian Aviation Museum there has a vast collection, including a U2 spy plane, that we’d been looking forward to…
The Swedish town of Kiruna, with a population of about 17,000, made headlines in 2004 when it was announced the center would need to move 3 km east due to ground settlement resulting from mining operations nearby. The mine, operated by LKAB, is the largest underground iron ore mine in the world and has a…
Narvik is ice-free year-round due to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream that run along the west coast of Norway all the way to Svalbard. This makes it an ideal shipping port for exporting Swedish-mined iron ore. The scenic Ofotbanen railway that transports the ore from Sweden to Narvik is one of the reasons…
The Hurtigruten (meaning ‘Express Route’) is a system of coastal ferries, founded in 1893, that run between between Bergen in southwest Norway and Kirkenes in the far north near the Russian border. The ships operate as both cruise and local supply ships, making nearly 70 stops on their 11-night round trip to transfer cargo and…
Svalbard, lying 600 miles from the North Pole, is about as far north as a person is likely to get without being a polar research scientist. Despite the thousands of visitors who arrive annually in cruise ships and by plane, the area still has a real wilderness feel. The scenery is spectacular, with little evidence…
1,381ft (421m) Mt. Storsteinen dominates the skyline east of Tromsø. An easy half-hour walk from the guest harbour leads to the cable car Fjellheisen, where we rode to the top for sweeping views of the area. Below are trip highlights from June 13th, 2018 in Tromsø, Norway. Click any image for a larger view, or…
Tromsø was the starting point for many polar research expeditions during late 1800s and early 1900s and the Polar Museum there has excellent displays on the topic. On our second day in Tromsø, we spent the afternoon at the Polar Museum and explored the town more on foot, both from high above and along the…