Scan-di-navia Part 2 - Norway Posted on: 25th February 2018 :: Photo Credits: Pradip, Arpan, Alap, Manish ::
Continued from: Scan-di-navia Part 1: Sweden
Written By: Alap Kshirsagar, Arpan Datta Sarma, Manish Arora, Pradip Gatkine
Day : 3
Location : Narvik, Norway
Tring tring..tring tring. We rang the bell again. Still no response. We were standing outside the Airbnb host’s apartment on a deserted street in Narvik. It was 7 PM (but felt like midnight) and the temperature had dropped to -18deg C. The host was not picking up our call and there was no response to the door-bell. Airbnb customer care executive also couldn’t track the host and offered to reimburse the cost of any accommodation that we could find in this small town.
We were searching for vacant hotels when the ‘Spectacular Show’ started! Pradip and Arpan had climbed up a hillock in the town to search for hotels and saw a green belt forming in the sky. Luckily, Manish found a vacant hotel nearby and we rushed towards the hillock after dumping our luggage in the rooms. The ‘experience’ of Auroras was beyond words. Even the pictures cannot do justice..
The natural extravaganza lasted for about an hour. This trip’s goal was achieved. And that too on the 3rd day itself!
Day : 4
Location : Narvik - Svolvær
We left Narvik early in the morning and boarded the bus towards Svolvær. This town is situated in Lofoten Islands, the archipelago in Nordland county of Norway. This 4hr bus journey was the best journey of our trip so far. The route offered some of the most unworldly vistas we had ever seen.
Location: Svolvær
We had booked a cottage in Lofoten feriesenter, a campground situated away from the city. There was a small lake nearby, surrounded by hills.
We celebrated my birthday in the cottage and luckily got to see another spectacular aurora around midnight.
Day : 5
Location : Svolvær - Bodø
Our next destination was Bodø, a town in Nordland county of Norway. We boarded a ferry from Svolvær towards Bodø early in the morning.
Bodø had no shortage of incredible views to see and experience.
The most interesting was Saltstraumen, the strongest tidal current in the world with whirlpools bigger than 10 meters. The ‘Saltstraumen’ is a small strait situated between the island of Straumøya and mainland Norway, about 10 kilometers from Bodø. At Saltstraumen, 400 million cubic meters of water from the ocean is pressed through and out of the 150-meter wide strait every six hours at low or high tide. The water there gets as fast as 40 km/h which leads to whirlpools in the strait. We took a shuttle from Bodo to reach there.
Day : 6
Location : Bodø - Oslo
We travelled from Bodø to Oslo by overnight train. (It is not practical to make stops on the way). In the morning, we were greeted by a sheet of white covering everything, something that made us feel all cosy and festive, even though Christmas had passed. We enjoyed the views of pretty wooden houses with sloped roofs coated in the white snow.
We camped at Bogstad Camping, a camping site in the Holmenkollen neighbourhood of Oslo. After getting refreshed, we travelled all the way up through the infinite stairs to reach at sledging spot. On the way, we saw a lot of happy faces and kids going for skiing. But after reaching there we saw that the counter was closed. So we had to walk back to the city. The city looked beautiful from the top of the mountain.
Day : 7
Location : Oslo - Myrdal
The train ride from Oslo to Myrdal is around 5 hours and a seat reservation is required in this journey. The journey was magnificent all the way with different shades of snow fields and snow capped mountains. The train was delayed by about 10 minutes and we weren't sure if we will arrive on time, but on arrival into Myrdal train station, we were very happy to find the Flåm train waiting for us!
Location : Flåm Train extravaganza
After the spectacular splash of auroras at night, this was the undisputed queen of the daytime wonders! We simply couldn’t take our eyes off the scenic beauty for once. Such is the aura of this award-winning train ride that is worth every penny! Starting from the mountain station at Myrdal, this scenic train takes you down to Flåm via the longest and deepest fjord in Europe, the Sognefjorden. We got on the train and grabbed the window seats and poised to take it all in!
Then we were all set to start the cool (rather cold!) , calm and composed ferry across the fjords.
Day : 8
Location : Voss
We celebrated the new year's eve in Voss by touching the arctic waters. The next morning we left towards Bergen and then boarded our flight back to US. Hope to visit Scandinavia again!