Finsatsea: Ålesund, Norway

June 27 -

After an uneventful night, despite the fact we ventured briefly out into the North Sea, we arrived in Ålesund. This a fairly large seaport here on the coast with a population of approximately 50,000. The city has an interesting history. In January 1904 a fire broke out which destroyed most of the city. As in Norwegian cities of the time, most of the structures were wooden, so the blaze quickly went out of control. It was winter and thousands were left homeless. Neighboring communities took the population in and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who had often vacationed in the area, sent several ships full of materials and supplies. The city was rebuilt primarily in the Art Nouveau style, popular at the time. To honor the Kaiser one of the main streets was named for him.

Ålesund's old fishing district

Our all day tour today took us out in the countryside again, this time to the Romsdal and the Troll path. Once again we headed out along a fjord on a road with lots of tunnels. We’ve marveled at the roadways. Until some of them were built, many completed in the 1980’s, there were lots of small farms and villages that were virtually isolated, especially in the winter months. We saw one farm that is perched high up above the fjord at about 1500 feet. Down at the base of the rock wall is a little boat dock. Apparently the only way to supply the farm is by boat and then carrying the supplies up a steep trail. Our guide told us that only once was a helicopter used and that was to bring in a new tractor.

The little farm is at the top of the cliff. At the bottom left the little white dot is the boat dock from which they are supplied.

Our first stop was the little Rose Church in Stordal. The church is picturesque with an old graveyard with iron cross grave markers. Next to it is an intact thatched farm house open for visitors to see. Next to the farm house is a little storage building. We saw many like this along the way. They were built raised off the ground to try to keep mice and other vermin out. Inside the family would store everything from cured meats and vegetables to linens. The people living in this area must be hardy indeed.

One of many iron cross grave markers

Old thatched roof farm house and shed

From Stordal we continued to Valldal where we stopped at a little inn for lunch. Valldal is renowned for its strawberries and other fruits grown in the little valley. Unfortunately we were too early for strawberries. It will be another couple of weeks before they are ripe here. We had a very nice buffet lunch which of course included salmon.

A fish farm we saw along the way. Perhaps the salmon came from here.

After lunch we proceeded along the Trollstigen, the Troll Path, to see the real highlights of the day. As the road wound upward we passed lots of rushing streams and small waterfalls again. Eventually we arrived at the Gudbrandsjuvet Gorge. This is a stunning place! The gorge is only 16 feet wide but it’s 60 feet deep. A river rushes through it filling the upper part and plunging down through the narrow cleft in the rocks. A zigzag bridge is built across it so we could walk over the gorge, take pictures and hear the tumultuous sound of the cascade. It was pretty awesome.

Gudbrandsjuvet Gorge river

An old stone bridge across the river

We continued up the road and came to the real star of the day, the Trollstigen viewpoint. This place lies at about 4900 feet, well above the tree line. Our guide told us that there had been a light snowfall yesterday and we could see the peaks above us looked like they had been dusted with powdered sugar. On a little plateau surrounded by three peaks known as the King, the Queen and the Bishop, we stopped at the viewpoint. There a walkway has been built with viewpoints to see the Stigfossen waterfall at its top. It cascades down from this point 585 feet. Around the little valley way below are nearly vertical rock walls including the Troll Wall. At 3600 feet it is the highest vertical mountain wall in Europe. Before 1965 it had never been climbed and people believed it couldn’t be. That year two teams, one Norwegian and the other English, climbed the wall following different routes. It took them 14 days to do it with the Norwegian team finishing first. Since then there have been other successful climbers and the wall has attracted the usual nuts too. Someone got the idea to try jumping off with a parachute. Evidently a few succeeded, but after several did not, it was made against the law to try that.

The zigzag lines are part of the road down

The Stigfossen from about midway down the mountain. A few minutes before we were on the bridge you can see.

The Troll Wall

After our stop at the view point we traveled down a road with 11 hairpin turns and a drop of 2800 feet. Let me tell you, I was sitting next to the window and at times the view was heart-stopping as we were right on the edge. Midway down we stopped to get pictures of the Stigfossen from below. The volume cascading down in front of us was breathtaking. Our guide told us that just a week or so ago the spray from the falls was going over the bus at that point because there had been so much rain. It was a two way road so we passed buses and campers going up and I’m not sure how the bus driver managed, but we made it so in our opinion he was the best bus driver in Norway. Someone had told us earlier that there are two kinds of bus drivers in Norway – excellent ones and dead ones.

After a day of breathtaking scenery, we headed back to Ålesund. Along the way we passed through the town of Åndalsnes. It has an interesting history. During WWII after the Germans invaded Norway in April, 1940, the British launched an effort to take the city of Trondheim. British troops were dropped into Åndalsnes, but the Nazis were prepared for them and the British were basically all killed and the town was burned to the ground by the Germans. It was a truly brutal time in Norway.