Viking Experience - our tour through Norway and Sweden
And sudden this wonderful tour came to an end. Driving out of Oslo in the early morning and at a nice pace we headed south to the border of Sweden. The landscape is quite different than we were used to the last two weeks, but nevertheless we had some nice curvy roads to take before we finally hit the last part of this tour: the Highway E6 right into Gotenborg. After the nice farewell dinner the majority of the group decided to go into town and so we ended up celebrating our last evening in a nice Irish pub with live music. And suddenly one by one the tour memebers were getting sleepy and after saying everybody goodbye we can look back at a very nice tour with a super relaxed group! Thanks Brian, Sandy, Don, Debby, David, Linda and Mac for this unforgettable tour. Hope to see you all on a next Edelweiss tour! Ted & Claudia
Again a fantastic day in the Viking Experience tour! Very lucky with the weather we spend a wonderful Friday in downtown Oslo. After a nice sleep in we headed downtown with the metro for a visit to the ~Fram museum and the Kon-Tiki museum and the Viking ship museum. All located on walking distance from each other it was no punishment to stroll along the beautiful area's in Oslo. After this very interesting museums we had a long and nice lunch at the Aker Brygge boulevard where it was very comfortable next to the waterfront. Then the group split up for some shopping, more sightseeing or drink some Prosecco's(!). All together a very nice day in a very nice city!!
Another great day under blue sky with white clouds and sun went by. Out of Vradal we went on a nice curvy road down to Telemark canal. And we were lucky the hosting lady of the turning bridge was out there. We just had a little chat with her and all over a sudden she turned the bridge only for us, even there was no boat to pass by - that was really fun. Further on in the mountain it got colder and we all were happy to get a warm coffee at the skiresort. Short after this stop a big moose and her baby were suddenly crossing the street. We went on to our next stop - Heddal stave church, a beautifull restored wooden church from the beginning of the 13th century. And finally we ended up in Holmenkollen Park hotel, high above Oslo, which is our spot for the next two nights.
After a superb stay in our Beach hotel in Sola, where Mac even took a swim in the Northern See (!) we started with a bit of fog but that dissapeared quickly when we were out of town on our way to the Lysefjord. As soon as the mist was gone a amazing view opened up and this stayed with us the entire day!. Having a coffee plus on top of the Lysefjord in bright sunlight was a great begin of the rest of the day! swerving through Birkedalen we found our way up to higher elevations where Claudia prepared a great lunch. Everyone enjoyed that very much and after this we followed our way towards the province of Telemarken. Riding nice, dry and curvy roads we had our last sightseeing stop at the Eidsborg stavechurch, an 13 th century wooden church which is wonderful preserved. A last descent from the mountain pass and down at the lake we enjoyed our bootbeer and looked back at a very nice and sunny day in this wonderful country!
What a great and sunny day. We had a really long and curvy ride along the Hardangerfjord till the very end, where we crossed the famous Hardanger suspension bridge, which is 4.300 ft long and perhaps the most expensive suspension bridge in Norway. Further on we went to Odda, a small little town, where we had lunch. A very scenic and beautifull stop was our next photostop Latefossen, a twin waterfall, which crosses under the street. Than we headed on south to our final destination Sola near Stavanger. We got on the ferry from Arsvager to Mortavika just in time :-)
What a great day for a city walk through Bergen. The weather is perfect and we first explored the old houses, where the "real" inhabitants from Bergen live and than went into the touristic spots to Bryggen "The Hanseatic Wharf" and Bergenhus fortress. All together a nice and relaxed day in one of Norway's most beautiful cities. At the end of the day concluded with a nice dinner at one of the best fish restaurants in town!
A scenic day is ahead of us when we leave the nice fjord hotel in Sogndal. On today's highlight list there are the Stalheimskleiva, a very steep and spectaculari mountian pass, the Aurlandvegen through higher elevations with snow and amazing views and at last the Dalevegen backroads with a visit to the beautiful Tvindefossen waterfalls. All together a long but great riding day with weather gods in a better mood than yesterday! Coming down to the city of Bergen we are looking forward to explore this town with it's rich culture ... picnics in the rain are always fun and stay in mind
The last 10 km - we couln't really believe it - the sun was coming out and we got dry roads and best views to Sognefjord, which is the second largest fjord in the world. Our final destination for today was Sogndal. Geirangervegen, a masterpiece of road construction was our next goal... we visited Jostedalsbreen Nationalparkcenter and had some hot hot chocolate after a lot of rain :-( On our second riding day, we just utilized the ten minutes of "no clouds" in the sky and went up back again the "Eagles road" to get some great pictures of Geiranger, the fjord and the waterfalls.
Geiranger is our final destination for today. It is located at the end of the famous Geirangerfjord, which is 9 miles long and an UNESCO world heritage since 2005. Geiranger also has the third biggest cruiseship port in Norway. The track of today lead us to the famous Trollstigen , well known by motorcyclists throughout Europa. Good for some great pictures. Also the incredible Trollveggen, a huge rock wall, which was notorious amongst basejumpers, was not forgotten to visit by us. A short ferry ride at the end of the day brought us finally to the Eagles view on top of the King of Fjords: the Geirangeer fjord. A last , wet ride up to our hotel concluded this beautiful day On our first riding day we headed out of Alesund eastward in direction to our first real highlight the Trollveggen - that means "Troll's Wall" and futher on the Trollstigen - "Troll's Staircase". One of Norway's most famous moutain roads. Amazing views into the fjords and the beautifull landscape made it sometimes hard to concentrate on the road not only to enjoy the splendid views. At the bikes in the garage everbody was keen to start the tour.
A small group from all over the world United States, Canada, Australia and the two tourguides from the Netherlands and Germany starting to their Viking Experience for the next 11 days. With the Welcome briefing and the motorcycle handover everybody is perfectly prepared to ride in this wonderfull country with fjords, lakes, islands, mountains and glaciers.