Norway
Norway became a dream destination for drivers with
a penchant for curves and bends. To conjure up that retro feeling, take the old mountain road Gamle Strynefjellsveg from Grotli, north of the Jostedal Glacier. It’s narrow and graveled, and lined by hundreds of large stones called stabbesteiner.
The ideal place from which to embark on a tour of
the fjordland is Bergen, once a bustling trading point for dried cod and a member of the Hanseatic League
– the medieval merchant shipping conglomerate.
Norway is not just about cheerful farmers, dedicated hikers, isolated herds of sheep and taciturn fishermen: it is a technologically highly advanced nation. The wealth from its oil reserves is invested in the future, and there is a tight social network in place. Quite a
few things are different from other European urban centers. Here you’ll find DJs going for mountain hikes, while multimillionaires are known to wear tracksuit pants when salmon fishing. The King dines in ordinary restaurants, and school-leavers who don’t know what to do next can obtain a state scholarship for an “orientation year”.
Norway offers many kinds of surprises. “Go on, try them,” encourages Ola Steinstø, pointing to a basket
of raspberries. The size of quails’ eggs, they taste so fruity that you can’t help reaching for another. “Yes, we are proud of our raspberries,” says the grinning farmer. “People don’t expect that up here.” After all, the fruit plantations around Hardanger Fjord are some of the most northerly in the world. Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream along the coast, however, the climate is tempered to create the right growing conditions.

Fjord means “shipping channel”, a reminder that the flooded canyons carved out by glaciers over millennia were once the country’s main transportation arteries. Preserving a tradition dating back to the Vikings, the Fartøyvernsenter, a boatyard in Norheimshund on Hardanger Fjord, restores historical ships. Visitors can observe the craftsmen working on the cutters, yachts and schooners.

If you prefer bigger vessels, take your car on the ferry at Gudvangen. The crossing through the Nærøy and Aurland fjords to Kaupanger not only saves time, it is also one of the classic fjord adventures. Narrow roads corkscrew their way from the valleys up to the fjell,
the barren plateaux dotted with white patches like a gigantic goatskin. Near Lom the route ascends to a great altitude as the car careens across dirty tracks to the border of Jotunheimen National Park. The ride now continues in somewhat different fashion – on one of the freely available mountain bikes.

Numerous tunnels, switchbacks and lookout points later, the route’s second sizeable town awaits. Ålesund is surrounded by water, and several fjords join the
sea here. It’s the end of the road – literally – and an appropriate conclusion to a fjordland tour.
Crime author Gunnar Staalesen describes the city,
with its art nouveau buildings, as “a piece of jewelry for architecture students”.

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