Our time in Norway had this gradient-like effect to it. When we first hit the mountainous countryside on our drive from Oslo to Bergen, we were put into awe. The landscapes are stunningly beautiful. However, we didn’t know it yet, but it would just keep getting better. And better. And better. We would be driving, stop, get out, take pictures. We would say, “Whoa! This HAS to be the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen!” Then we would get back in the car, drive down the road a little further, get out, take pictures, and say, “Nope, THIS is definitely the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen!” Then we would get back in the car, drive down the road a little further, get out, and well… you get the point. We thought Norway was beautiful, but then, we got ourselves on a plane headed far north, into the arctic.

For the return trip to Oslo, we decided to take the scenic route. Grant it, I’m sure by now you can figure every route in Norway is pretty damn scenic, so I suppose you could just say we took a little different way this time. Meandering farther north than the route we took into Bergen, we would pass through the scenic small town, Flåm, then head back south and eventually link back up with our original route. It ended up being a pretty good choice. We got to explore a pretty impressive waterfall, a sketchy wooden bridge, an old wooden church, and a fairly long tunnel. And when I say fairly long, I mean, 25km long! The longest road tunnel in the world aka the Lærdal Tunnel. It took nearly 20 minutes to drive from one end to the other!

About three quarters of the way to Oslo, we struck up an appetite for dinner. Town after town we searched for a restaurant, but to no avail, we found only ones of which were closed. We eventually resorted to gas station food, and stopping in Bromma, we found one with a small diner attached. Our expectations for gas station food are founded on what is available in the US. Several hour old fried food that is slightly on the mushy side and carries a moderate risk of illness after consuming it. To our surprise, however, the food was rather quite good. When ordering, I decided I would go with a hamburger. I usually like to go with more authentic and traditional food, but I’d been noticing this trend of hamburgers and hot dogs being on menus all over Norway, so I decided to go for it. I went with the one recommended by the friendly cashier, the Bromma Burger. It was a recipe conjured up by the store owner and on it was cheese, bacon, special sauce, and a little of just about everything from their salad bar: lettuce, corn, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and probably a few other ingredients too! Yum!

By the time we left dinner, it was dark out, so we just headed straight through to Oslo without any more photo-op pit stops. The twisty roads of Norway, though, provided some pretty exhilarating nighttime driving and before long, we were in Olso and at our hostel for the night.

Bright and early the next morning, around 4:30am, we woke up and headed over to the airport to catch our flights. I ended up taking a different flight than the rest of the group and left 15 minutes after them. Once through security, I hung out at their gate until they started boarding, then headed over to my gate to hop on my plane. It’s a quick flight from Oslo to Narvik, a little over an hour. After landing, we hopped into our rentals and started on what turned out to be the most magnificent driving experience I’ve ever had. I could go on and describe our drive into the Lofoten Islands (roughly pronounced: loo foot in), but pictures are definitely more interesting than words, so here’s a few to show you what we saw along the way.

Once we arrived at our cozy AirBnB in the small fishing town of Reine (pronounced: Ray Nah), we marveled at the views out our back window. I don’t know if we could have chosen a better location. Attached to our backyard sat a fjord scattered with fishing boats docked nearby. Beyond that lay large, granduerous mountains painted with snow and clouds dancing between the peaks. Out our front door, across the way and obscured by neighboring homes, lies the Norwegian Sea, where several storms throughout our stay would roll in from. This has to be one of the most beautiful and picturesque small towns in the world.

The first evening there, Raphael, Kristin, Paul, and myself ventured out with some hope of catching the Northern Lights. Though, to our dismay, twilight never quite left. The sun starts it’s descent around 9pm and doesn’t dip below the horizon until over an hour later. It remains light out until nearly 11pm. Then you have a period of twilight for a couple of hours until the sun begins its ascent, cresting the horizon around 4:30am. To view the aurora, you need to have either total darkness or a very strong appearance, of which, we had neither. Though we didn’t witness what we set out for, the evening wasn’t a bust by any means. A few good photos came out of it and it was overall just good fun exploring at night!

The following day was one of the most magical days of the trip. In the morning, after breakfast, we set out for a chill day of exploring our little town. Splitting into small groups, I decided to go out solo, the way I most enjoy to explore with my camera. The start of my journey led me up a rather precipitous incline and before I knew it, I began saying, “Ugh, what have you gotten yourself into Gavin…” Rotten rock, steep slab climbing, and probably 40 feet above the base. I would have felt much more confident had I been wearing climbing shoes, but unfortunately I had on my clunky hiking boots. I was in a bit of a predicament. Going up would have just put me into more crumbly rock and going down from here seemed pretty sketchy.

From this point, I realized the portion I’d thought from the ground would level off, didn’t. Looking around trying to figure out how to rectify the quandary I’d put myself in, I spotted a closer to level spot, so I traversed over and sat my ass down to collect my thoughts. Fortunately, the view I had hoped for when I set off, was indeed there. So I snapped a few photos before I began my slow and treacherous scrambling to the base of the cliff. Thankfully, I made it safely to the bottom without too much issue. Who needs coffee in the morning when you can wake yourself up with a moderate dosage of treachery!

(I’d love to share the photo I took, but unfortunately it went along with my laptop when I left it in the Munich airport)

Now that I was down on level ground, I hiked on to reach the other side of town, where sat a hill I thought would provide a pretty good view of Reine. About half way there, the weather turned for the worst. Windy with rain turning into sleety, wet snow. I wondered on for a bit before I committed to bailing and headed back. It was cold, wet, and the snow blanketed the air making it hard to see the town. Not good for photographs. Then, just as I began what I thought would be a miserable 30 minute trek back, I hear a young gal’s voice shout, “GAVIN!?” It was Grace! She was in a car with Jonny and Ariel and they just happened to be driving by. My saviors! On the way back to the house we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. There we coincidentally met up with the rest of the group and ended up gathering up supplies we would use for dinner later.

Back at the house, we attempted to wait out the weather, but we all got a little stir crazy. I decided to venture out and attempt a shot with the snow in it while another group headed to “The End of the World” aka just where the only highway in the islands ended. After my failed attempt at a shot with the snow, I headed back and hung out with Kristin and Jenny. At some point, one of us looked out the window and saw the weather had mostly passed and the water had calmed to a standstill, reflecting perfectly. I jumped up, grabbed my camera, and headed out to the docks to snag a few photos. The scene was incredible. Reflective waters, clouds swimming off the sea through the mountain peaks, boats resting at their docks, beautiful Norwegian water front homes, soft, atmospheric lighting. This is a photographers dream. The perfect scene. The photos I captured here are easily the best I’ve ever shot!

When the other group returned, Kristin, Raphael, Jenny, and I headed off with the car to explore a bit. The atmosphere was pretty epic, so we couldn’t pass up a chance to get out and grab some great photos. We concluded the day on a pretty high note and looked forward to what tomorrow would offer. Our intentions were to go hiking, however, we got a lot more than we had bargained for. Stay tuned for the final article on Norway where I tell tales of high mountains and icy cold waters!

Also, if you haven’t yet, please check out my first iteration on my adventure in Norway: Oslo to Bergen