Traveling with a group of friends with similar hobbies and interests is absolutely important to avoid conflicts – glad I had these travel buddies in my life! We love hiking and we appreciate nature. This time, we decided to hit Norway to experience the ultimate nature and adventure excursion.
After we landed in Stavanger, we packed up our gear and headed over to Preikestolen (The Pulpit Rock). The Pulpit Rock is a 4-hour hike (~5miles) and the hike has an elevation gain of about 1,640 feet. Pulpit Rock is a towering cliff-plateau directly suspended over the Lysefjord. You might also recognize the Pulpit Rock from the most recent Mission Impossible Fallout where Tom Cruise had an epic fight with Henry Cavill on the cliff-plateau. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking looking out over the Lysefjord – for sure an experience of a lifetime.
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or high mountains, created by a glacier. During the ice age both the ice and the rivers carved deep valleys in the mountains. As the climate changed, most of the ice melted, and the U-shaped valleys were gradually filled with salt water from the coast, thus creating the Fjords. In Norway there are a lot of fjords cutting a long way into the land from the coast and you can simply hop on a fjord cruise to sail along. Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord in the west are on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. The fjords are quite unique and beautiful surrounded by mountainside farms, small charming villages and if you are lucky (like me), you get to spot some mountain goats.
After Stavanger, we hopped over to Bergen for a few days. You must not miss the Bergen Fish Market! The market has over 30 specialty shops and eateries selling small-scale Norwegian produce. Enjoy a meal here of some of the freshest seafood anywhere in the world.
Glacier hiking is thrilling, challenging and exciting activity! We took a day trip from Bergen to the Folgefonni Glacier. We caught some bad weather up on the mountain – it was extremely windy and rainy half way through, snow on the ground turned into ice, you can imagine the hike was quite dangerous in such extreme weather. We couldn’t turn around but continue on the route to get back the camp. At one point, we had to slide down the hill since it was too slippery to walk on and try not to tumble down. Well, it wouldn’t be a good adventure without a bit of risk, right?
Aquavit is a distilled spirit that is principally produced in Scandinavia, it typically contains 40% alcohol by volume. Much needed to wind things down after the exhausting glacier hike.
