Summer 2016. Road Trip in Norway.2

Previous days here.

Day 4: Odda-Tyssedal-Trolltunga
We woke up really early. I had to take my multivitamins and mineral every night to get my body on shape for this trip. We arrived around around 9am, paid the parking fee for 200 NOK and started hiking in Trolltunga at 10am. The return hike trip was predicted to be around 10-12 h. And we had 12h or maybe 12.5h. We got back down around 9pm. It was CRAZY!

It was totally different from Kjerag’s hike. Legend has it that Trolltunga hike was started with a vertical old Funicular track as shown in the left top picture for the first 1.7 km. but since there were lots of accidents, they closed the track and opened a “more friendly” track as the top right picture showed. After the hard first 1.7 km vertical hike, the hike was “not-so-much” vertical until you reach 4,2 km. Then you’ll get the easy part of a normal hike. In some parts you would see some generous help from the rangers who gave wooden boards for us to run (I did run!) or simply had a normal walk.
In my opinion, Trolltunga’s hike was a monster, or at least for me. It drained up all your energy. Imagine constantly walking for 12h, climbing up for 1/3 of the time, climbing down another 1/3 in after-rain condition and last 1/3 walking on a plain misty ground on top of the mountain. It was raining, cold, slippery, and constant tiring. It was not intense, scary or dangerous. But it’s more like an endless physical torture. HAHAHAHAHA…

 

But, I made it to the top. And It was an achievement. I’m giving myself a pat on the back as well as a tight group hugs.

Trolltunga is a piece of rock jutting horizontally out of a mountain about 700 metres above the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet in the municipality of Odda in Hordaland county, Norway (wikipedia). So, size wise, it was so much bigger than Kjeragbotn.

Afterwards, we went to Odda Camping ground for the night. We paid 290 NOK for a night stay there. No thoughts. No arguments. Just. Want. To. Lay. Down. And. Sleep.

 

Day 5: Bergen
When I woke up, I just realised how packed the camping ground was. We had a relaxing morning, having soupy hot Indonesia Ramen Noodle (Indomie) with some veggies for breakfast. Today’s agenda was to get to the second biggest city in Norway and we crossed our fingers to get a good weather in a city of 365 day rains.

We had to take 1 ferry ride to Bergen that costed 203 NOK and filled up our tank again for 420, 64 NOK.. And of course, Bergen did not disappoint us. We were welcomed with a drizzle. It was almost dinner time, so we decided to walk around Bryggen, also known as Tyskebryggen. It is actually a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord coming into Bergen, Norway. Bryggen has since 1979 been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites (wikipedia). We decided to have dinner at local Bryggen Tracteursted restaurant and got the taste of Norwegian cuisine. It was around 65 NOK for a dish, not a viking size, I would say, but it was beautiful, nicely plated and delicious.

Dinner tonight: Røkt hval med slytede grønnsaker og sellerimajones or Smoked whale with marinated vegetables and celeriac mayonnaise (my dish is on top right, Sitta’s dish is on down right). Not everyday meal, so I was happy with my preserved whale (I know!).
Anyway, one of our friends was going to come back to Oslo from Bergen. She could not join us for the next days since she needed to work. So we took her to the train station and we also decided to have a good sleep tonight. So we booked an airbnb place for 76 USD for 3 of us. fancy pancy 😉

We did some groceries shopping in local supermarket, washed our clothes, shoes, bags… prepared more home-cooked meals, enjoyed sleeping in a real bed, and got ready for our last bound of this trip.

Next days are here.