Norway: Oslo to Bergen

We are beyond excited to be in Norway, it’s the country that we have most been looking forward to and so far it hasn’t disappointed!

The first leg of our journey took us from Oslo to Bergen. We stayed the night close to Oslo Winterpark, high up in the hills with fantastic views across the city. The next day was food shop day and when people tell you Norway is expensive, you better believe it! Prices of food are at least double what you would pay in the UK and sometimes triple! I think we will be cooking budget meals here. But hey ho, we didn’t come here to eat like kings, we came here to marvel at the country’s amazing landscape.

We drove a fair few miles that day, ending up at a very scenic stop high up in the mountains. It was late by the time we arrived, so we put the kids to bed fairly quickly and Richard took a little hike up one of the hills with Charlie.

9am the following morning we were all set for a full day of adventures and headed on our way along the Hardangervidda Norwegian Scenic Route, scooting along the road in between the mountains, some of which still had snow on them. We weren’t expecting that in July! The scenery along this route was absolutely stunning and an hour and a half later we arrived at The Vorringfossen waterfall. Here we were able to stand on a viewpoint overlooking the waterfall dropping into the canyon below.

Moving on we made our way along another Norwegian Scenic Route called Hardanger before stopping by the roadside at a picnic spot for lunch. We were right by the fjord and with the sun glistening down on the turquoise water, it couldn’t have been any more perfect. Or could it? As 10 minutes later, we were lucky enough to spot some dolphins swimming by. Richard ran back to the motorhome to get his binoculars and I tried to capture some stills on the camera. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good shots of the dolphins, but nevertheless, it was still awesome to see.

Buckling up again for yet more driving, we found ourselves on some seriously tight roads, in and out of some road tunnels and over a few bridges until later that afternoon we reached Steifelfossen, the waterfall you can walk behind! This was something we had been looking forward to. It was a little busy with a few coaches and everyone eagerly trying to take the perfect selfie. But it was an amazing experience and something we might not get to do again,

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After another chunk of driving we finally ended up just outside of Bergen at our spot for the night in an IKEA parking lot ready to take full advantage of the free shuttle bus into the city in the morning.

Bergen turned out to be a very beautiful city right on the waterfront with a multitude of colourful building lining one side, forming part of a UNESCO world heritage site.

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We had intended to take the Funicular up to Mount Floyen but after standing in the monstrous queue for 5 minutes and not getting anywhere, we decided to give it a miss. We would have been waiting a long time! So instead we ended up exploring on foot, in and out of the shops in the old part of the city. By 2pm we were exhausted! But it wasn’t until 4pm that we finally got the bus back, after missing two of the shuttle buses due to some confusion with the bus stops. Perhaps cities aren’t really our thing? Lets get back to nature!