Photos from our travels in north Norway this past July

As promised, and long overdue, here are some photos from our memorable trip to north Norway this past July. I wrote a post about our travels there and posted it on October 26th A New Yorker in Oslo: Travels in northern Norway this past July  The photos will follow (more or less) the chronology of our trip. 

Nidarosdomen in Trondheim

view of the west coast of Norway from our boat

Our boat--the Midnight Sun (Midnattsol)

Storøya--one of the ports along the route to Tromsø

greenish water in Trollfjorden

the red peaks of the Trollfjord mountains, at midnight

leaving Trollfjord and moving into a blanket of fog

Finnsnes--another stop on the Hurtigruta

Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden in Tromsø

Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden 

view of Tromsø harbor and the restaurant Skarven (at the end of the road)

The Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø

another view of the Arctic Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta 

view of ocean from Alta waterfront

view of ocean from the Alta Museum 

rock carvings at the Alta Museum--a World Heritage center

the interior of the Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta

sunset from hotel window in Luleå

Travels in northern Norway this past July

My postoperative goal was to be well enough to do the trip that my husband and I had talked about and more or less planned before I became ill. As luck and the divine would have it, we embarked on our north Norway trip exactly three months to the day of my operation. Our plans were to drive to Trondheim, stay overnight, and then board the Hurtigruten (coastal boat) for a three-day (two-night) boat trip to Tromsø. I have visited Trondheim twice in previous years, but neither of those visits were particularly positive or memorable. This time was quite different, thankfully, and gave me the desire to return at some point to explore the city further. 

We boarded our boat--Midnight Sun--before noon. We were extremely lucky with the weather--sunny and warm, with temperatures in the upper 70s/low 80s. The absence of wind meant that there were no waves, which made me happy since that stretch of the coastal trip (from Bodø and through the Lofoten archipelago) is often subject to wind and waves. To be honest, I had some misgivings about doing the boat trip at all because of what I had heard about the rough waters, but my fears were laid to rest when we boarded the boat amid sunny skies and placid waters. The coastal route is among the most beautiful in the world from what I've read, and I'd simply have to agree after taking the trip. We enjoyed some excellent dinners on board, and otherwise relaxed on the deck, enjoying the sun and warmth. We were lucky to be able to visit Trollfjord (Trollfjord - Wikipedia), which apparently is a weather-dependent trip; the boat captain informed us that the nice weather allowed for this trip. It was incredible to see the mountain tops at midnight, which turn reddish in the midnight sun. As we drove out of Trollfjord, we were blanketed in a thick fog that seemed to roll in from nowhere. Rather mystical and fairytale-like; one almost expected to meet some mythical creatures like trolls in the dense fog. 

This is the coastal route of the Hurtigruten from Trondheim to Tromsø, courtesy of the Hurtigruten website:

Once we reached Tromsø, we stayed two nights at a hotel near the harbor, which gave us enough time to explore the city. We managed trips to the Arctic-Alpine Botanical garden and to the Polaria Aquarium during our short stay, and also visited the spectacular Arctic Cathedral. We also enjoyed a really great dinner at a restaurant called Skarven Kro; it serves a tomato-based fish soup that is to die for--stockfish (boknafisk) soup. 

We then drove on to Alta from Tromsø, driving over the Finnmark plateau (Finnmarksvidda), which is the largest plateau in Norway. Once in Alta, we visited the Tirpitz Museum, a WWII museum that details the story of the German battleship Tirpitz, which was sunk in the Tromsø fjord. We also visited the Alta Museum--a World Heritage center for rock carvings--which was fascinating. Before we left, I visited the Cathedral of the Northern Lights, which was lovely and very unique. The sunny and warm weather continued, which of course added to the positive experience of visiting these places. I'm not sure it would have been as pleasant in the cold and rain. 

From Alta, we drove further on to the east coast of Sweden, passing briefly through parts of Finland that we didn't particularly care for, until we arrived in Luleå (Luleå: History meets modernity in Swedish Lapland | Visit Sweden), where we stayed one night, and the following day, in Sundsvall, where we stayed one night, before driving westward back toward Norway. Both Luleå and Sundsvall were lovely cities on the water, and it was nice to be there in the warm weather, walking along the harbor areas and watching people enjoy themselves. 

I would like to return to Trondheim during the wintertime to see the northern lights; we can drive there or take the train. I would not want to take the Hurtigruten during the winter months, although my friends who have done it say it is also a lovely trip. But I wouldn't want to do the trip in the darkness and cold. I'm glad we did our northern Norway trip during the summer months; it was fun to experience the midnight sun and to experience this area of Norway during a period of wonderful weather. I'll publish another post soon with photos from the trip. 

Here is a map of the entire trip, but bear in mind that the Trondheim to Tromsø route is depicted on land, because Google Maps does not allow for boat routes: 

Vacationing in Germany

This year, we decided to take a trip to Koblenz, Germany, which is a city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle rivers. In 2019, we biked along the Danube river for a week, starting in Passau, Germany and biking through some beautiful areas in Austria (A New Yorker in Oslo: Biking along the Danube River in Austria (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). Our 'hotel' on that trip was a boat (the Theodor Körner) that followed us from destination to destination. It was a wonderful trip and I decided at that time that I would like to visit the Rhine river region as well. This time however we did not bike along the river, although that would have been possible, mostly because we also wanted to visit Berlin and Lubeck, so we opted for a three-day visit to Koblenz. We took the overnight car ferry to Kiel and drove from Kiel to Koblenz in one day. 

Koblenz is the city where the Rhine and Moselle rivers converge; the actual point of convergence is called the Deutsches Eck. The city is about 2000 years old, having been founded by the Romans as a military post. It has an 'old town' section called the Altstadt; this is a lovely area with many old and beautiful buildings, plazas, restaurants and cafes. We ate at an Italian restaurant one of the evenings we were there, and enjoyed very good food. One very hot afternoon was spent on a small cruise boat (La Paloma) that took us along the Rhine river for a two-hour trip. We got to see some old castles and beautiful scenery. Germany and Austria have preserved much of their history in the form of old buildings and castles. It's nice to see, especially since we live in a world that if given the chance, would knock down much of the old to make way for the new, usually ugly (but efficient) apartment buildings that have become representative of what is called new architecture. I dislike it intensely. 

We drove to the town of Winningen, about ten kilometers outside of Koblenz, on another afternoon. That was a lovely drive. Winningen is one of the cities in the Moselle valley that is worth visiting for its vineyards, lovely views, small cafes, and wine stores. We bought some Riesling wines while we were there. The Moselle river valley is synonymous with Riesling wines and is one of the oldest wine regions in Germany. The Moselle river cuts through the valley that has steep hills on both sides. Here you can see hundreds of vineyards dotting the hills. We wondered how the workers actually manage to harvest the grapes, since the hills are quite steep. After doing some reading, I understand that there have been a number of worker fatalities in earlier years because of the difficulties of harvesting the grapes. They have solved those problems so that workers can safely harvest the grapes. 

After Koblenz, we drove on to Berlin, where we stayed for two days. We've been to Berlin before, back in 2012 (A New Yorker in Oslo: Berlin's East Side Gallery (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com); A New Yorker in Oslo: Sunday evening in Berlin (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). We always enjoy being there; the city has a very liberal and relaxed feel to it, despite being a large city. Our hotel was located right near the Spree River; the restaurant where we ate an excellent dinner one night was also located right on the river. We did a hop-on, hop-off bus ride one afternoon, and concluded that we had actually done and seen quite a lot in Berlin when we were there in 2012. We'll definitely visit it again at some point. 

We then drove on to Lubeck, a city in north Germany, where we stayed for one night. It also has an 'old town' that we walked around in the evening we were there. According to Wikipedia, "Lübeck's historic old town, located on a densely built-up island, is Germany's most extensive UNESCO World Heritage Site". It is a very charming city with lovely old buildings and churches. It was nice to have seen it. 

We then drove from Lubeck to Kiel, where we took the overnight car ferry back to Oslo. I don't know how many trips we've taken on this ferry route, but it's been many, since it is the major way for us to get to mainland Europe so that we can drive further to our respective destinations. There will be more such trips for sure. In my next post, I'll post some photos of our recent travels. For those of you who want to see where we drove, here is the google map summary: 

Photos from Oslo-Dalen-Utne-Rjukan-Oslo trip

As promised in my recent post (A New Yorker in Oslo: Oslo-Dalen-Utne-Rjukan-Oslo (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com), I'm posting some photos from our recent trip around Norway, with overnight stays at Dalen Hotel (one night), Utne Hotel (two nights), and Rjukan Admini Hotel (one night), with a one-day trip to Rosendal. 

Unfortunately, since Freya the walrus was killed by Norwegian authorities, I am ambivalent about promoting tourism in Norway. It's a beautiful country, yes, but not one that is friendly to visiting wildlife. 

Dalen Hotel

The grounds of the Dalen Hotel, facing the Telemark Canal

The Haukelifjell mountain area

Haukelifjell mountain area

Utne Hotel from 1722

The picturesque town of Utne 

Hardangerfjord

Hardangerfjord

Baroniet Rosendal Manor House and Gardens 

The grounds of the Baroniet Rosendal

Leaving Utne by car ferry

Rjukan Admini Hotel

The lovely town of Rjukan 

Oslo-Dalen-Utne-Rjukan-Oslo

We decided to visit several of the historic hotels in Norway this summer, and settled on Dalen Hotel, Utne Hotel, and Rjukan Admini Hotel. If you'd like more information about the historic hotels in Norway generally, you can visit this informative site: Historic Hotels & Restaurants in Norway (dehistoriske.com). We drove from place to place as we normally do; my husband maps out the routes he wants to take beforehand and some of them are roads we've never driven before that take us through parts of Norway that we have not seen before. Our route this year is mapped out here: 

We started from Oslo, drove southwest to Skien, and then westward along the Telemark Canal to Dalen where we stayed one night at the Dalen Hotel. We've been there before and it's always nice to come back to this hotel with its unique architecture and lovely grounds. 

The following day we drove northward on our way to Utne, passing through Haukeli and over the Haukelifjell mountain area and mountain pass. Haukelifjell partially overlaps the Hardangervidda mountain plateau and is located in the Vinje municipality in the county of Telemark and Odda municipality in the county of Hordaland. Utne is located at the tip of the Folgefonn Peninsula where the Sørfjorden and Hardangerfjorden meet. We passed through Odda and Tyssedal on our way to Utne, where we stayed for two nights at the charming Utne Hotel, which is the oldest hotel in Norway (built in 1722: it was celebrating 300 years of operation this year). The hotel offered a five-course dinner each night, which we barely managed the first night; the second night we opted to eat three of the five courses before we gave up. Utne is located in the apple and cherry region of Hardanger; we were offered an apple cider package with dinner that we enjoyed, with different types of cider that accompanied the different courses, instead of wine. 

While we were in Utne, we managed a day trip to Rosendal (home to the Baroniet Rosendal), making our way there along a very narrow winding scenic road that I have no wish to drive on again--too narrow and too winding. There are spots where it would be impossible to pass an oncoming car or truck. But it was a scenic route, I'll attest to that. The visit to the Baroniet Rosendal was well-worth it; it is a  manor house from 1665 with beautiful gardens and landscapes (Baroniet Rosendal Manor House & Gardens). On the day of our departure, we took the car ferry from Utne to Kinsarvik (a half hour trip) and then drove eastward along the north end of Hardangervidda to Geilo where we ate lunch at the Hallingstuene restaurant that serves very good traditional Norwegian food. We then drove south to Rjukan and stayed overnight at the Rjukan Admini Hotel. We've been to Rjukan before, in 2015, at which time I wrote a blog post about this historic town (A New Yorker in Oslo: Oslo-Rjukan-Heddal-Notodden-Oslo (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). This time we stayed at the charming Admini Hotel, which we did not do the first time we were in Rjukan. This hotel offered a three-course dinner as part of the package, which we enjoyed. 

Overall, definitely an enjoyable vacation, although I will say that as I get older I have less and less desire to drive on narrow mountain roads. There can be sturdy guardrails, speed limits, mirrors and the like on those roads, it doesn't matter. I no longer enjoy winding our way high up into the mountain areas or descending from them, although the latter is preferable because I know we'll soon be back on flat ground. I prefer plateaus, farmland, and valleys. But of course you don't get the gorgeous views if you never go into the mountains, that I understand. So I compromise, but there will come a day very soon when I will simply not do it anymore. It makes me too nervous. 

In my next post I'll include some photos of this trip. 

Biking along the Danube River in Austria

This year's summer vacation took us to Passau, Germany, which was the starting (and return) point for an eight-day boat/bike trip along the Danube River. The trip, which is called The Danube By Bike & Boat, is offered by UTracks. We biked along the Danube River mainly in Austria, but also part of one day in Slovakia. Our 'hotel' was the boat Theodor Korner, which took us to the different towns where each daily biking trip would start. We biked from Mauthausen to Grein (a beautiful village with a castle and old theater--the Stadttheater), from Devin to Schloss Hof (impressive palace with lovely gardens) to Bratislava in Slovakia, around the city of Vienna, through the beautiful Wachau Valley (wine country) from Krems to Melk, from Melk back to Grein, and then from Obermuhl to Engelhartszell (total biking distance including Vienna was around 210 km/130 miles). From Engelharszell, the boat sailed back to Passau and we disembarked.

The trip included three meals per day, a cabin on the boat with private bathroom, and bicycle rental. It was extremely well-organized and went off without a hitch. A big thank-you to UTracks for the professional organization of the trip and the support at all points along the way. We didn't lack for anything.

Austria is a beautiful country, and the Austrian Danube bike path is impressive. If you'd like to read more about it, you can find more information at these links: https://www.donau-oesterreich.at/en/danube-cycle-path/  and  https://www.danube-cycle-path.com/austrian-danube.html.
Here are some photos of a memorable fantastic vacation; I'd do something like this again in a heartbeat.....

bike path along the Danube River

one of many small cafes along the bike path 

one of many wheat fields along the bike path

an idyllic small brook 

approaching the lovely village of Grein

Greinburg castle

Sala Terrena at Greinburg Castle--mosaics made from tiny pebbles from the Danube River

courtyard at Greinburg Castle

Schloss Hof palace

bike path leading away from Schloss Hof

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

bike path in Vienna

the beautiful Wachau valley--wine country

view from the town of Durnstein in the Wachau region

one of many roadside shrines in Austria

our boat--the Theodor Korner

approaching Grein on our return trip

one of the quaint ferries that take bicyclists over the Danube

Engelszell Abbey, a Trappist monastery, in Engelhartszell