Trip Report Pt 2, The Norwegian coastline

I shan't bother with all the distance/driving times on this return trip as
this isn't likely to be a route that someone with a timetable is going to
use. This is a slow tourist trip with things to stop and see on the way

Wed 17th NC to Alta

The furthest north that I got on the North Norway coastline is (no
surprise) NordKapp. After a two hour stop at the headland I return
back to Alta. Nothing special to note on this road so I get back to Alta
with no incident.

Thurs 18th Alta to Tromso

Alta is the location of one of Norway's Unesco sites: its rock carvings.
I was very unprepared for this, I only checked today what the opening
hours are in order not to waste too much of this morning. I find that
they are 08:00-21:00, so I could have easily gone there on Tuesday
afternoon when I arrived. Anyhow, I am there by 9:00 and discover
that these hours are more pragmatic than an attempt to fit in with the
tourist needs. The Museum is completely open and if the ticket desk
wasn't 'policed' during all daylight hours, people would blag a free trip
round.

The carvings are spread along the beach, over a 2 km long stretch and
you need at least an hour and a half to see them all. Interesting stuff,
but not really enough to drive 1500 miles for.

Before I leave I ask in the Tourist office about things to do and places
to see on my journey down the coast but they are unknowledgable
about anything outside of the town. "That's not our area" is the reply.

So it's off down the Norwegian coastline. This is much more
mountainous than Lapland was and the scenery is a mix of mountains,
fjords and forest. Quite stunning, but somewhat monotonous after a
while.

On the route to Tromso there is a choice, the second half is either two
ferries and a short drive or a 180 Km drive. The ferries cost 160
NOK for a 120 Km saving. At 20c per km it certainly isn't cost
effective for most people but is it quicker? Well, I was saved the
decision because I got to the dock for one of the extra summer (to
21/08) ferries to find that it is cancelled and the next one's in 50
minutes. So I opt for the drive.

I can't be the only person that makes this decision as they are improving
the road - building a by-pass around a small village and very
expensively moving the road from the fjord bank into two tunnels, one
of which is recently completed. This work must be costing them a lot,
is it really cheaper to improve 35 Km of road in this way instead of
building a three Km bridge (or tunnel) over (under) the fjord?

I eventually reach Tromso about 45 minutes before I would have by
using the next ferry. The ferry really isn't any quicker.

Tromso is a town with a stunning location, mostly built on an island in
the fjord. It used to have a historic old town. But the guide book tells
me that most of this was burnt down in 1969. It helpfully says that
some of the buildings were unharmed, but it isn't really enough to be of
significant interest. There are two cathedrals here. The old wooden
one in the town centre and a modern concrete and glass one on the
mainland. I say there are two, but this could be a translation problem.
One is the Domkirke, which everyone seems to translate to Cathedral
and the other is Katedralen which you can guess for yourself. Of the
two, the latter is more interesting, but only because of its quirky modern
style.

Whilst investigating hotels in this region I discovered the web site for
FjordPass (www..no). I don't remember what I was doing to find it,
but it's good that I did because all the hotels in the list recognise
summer until the end of August (and some to the end of September).
Prices are banded and in the range 500-700 NOK which compares
exceptionally well with cheaper chain hotels (comfort, rainbow etc)
which I initially thought I would be staying at. But these have already
started to charge their winter prices which are as much as 1400
NOK!!! This is way out of my acceptable range. I bet that they are
empty at that price.

So the Fjord pass hotel in Tromso is Hotel Amalie, right in the town
centre. It's at the top end of the price range 700 NOK, but that does
include dinner and waffles. This is an excellent small hotel. I think that
I can safely say it is the best tourist hotel that I have ever stayed in.
Everything that you really need is there, everything is clean and tidy,
everything is perfect. OK it's a bit expensive, but not in comparison
with some of the mediocre hotels that I have already stayed in this
week (and perhaps to come - no peeking). 10/10.

Even the dinner is better than the last one, with hot local specialities:
fish cakes and meat loaf (not on the same plate), still no veggies though
(except in the soup).

Fri 19th Tromso to Narvik.

Again I visit the tourist Office before I leave and they are as unhelpful
as the last one. So I'm on my own again for things to see on my drive.

The only thing that they tell me that passes for useful advice is that my
selected route is not the 'best' one. Apparently I'm supposed to drive
down the islands to Lofoten and catch the ferry to Bodo rather than my
costal route stopping at Narvik. Gee thanks, am I really likely to
change my plans at the last minute to a route which includes a four hour
ferry which I don't have timetable for and which realistically is only
going to go a few times a day? Perhaps next time (or not).

The guide book tells me that, on the main route, I should detour to
Malselvfossen, the largest (as in widest) waterfall in North Norway so
this is what I shall do.

After a fine morning in Tromso, for the rest of the day the weather is
awful. This doesn't improve my trip to the waterfall but I don't think it
matters. If this is the biggest waterfall in North Norway, the other's
must be tiny - don't bother with this detour.

After an easy trip (which TBH I needed) I arrive at Narvik at 15:00 in
time to visit the Tourist office. Apparently the only thing of interest in
the town is the war museum. Um 50 Kr for a couple of rooms of
exhibits, No thanks. And once again they have no info for the next part
of my trip. This "that's out of our area" is getting a bit boring.

Today's Fjord pass hotel is the Victoria. 520 NOK. This turns out to
be the same building as the YHA and the utilitarian style of the rooms
shows this. But looking at the prices for the YH and I'm actually getting
a good deal. An own YH room is 340 NOK, but that's with shared
facilities/TV room, no linen (60 NOK extra) and no breakfast (60
NOK extra). I know which I'd prefer. This hotel has a restaurant with
evening meals, and it's a breakfast buffet (but not included in the price
today) I pass up this option.

Sat 20th Narvik to Bodo.

Another short day, but this one has the uncertainty of the ferry an hour
or so out from Narvik. There's supposed to be one an hour, but given
that I have already experienced one summer cancellation I can't be sure
that they will all run. I get to the dock to find that the list there says
that the summer extras did stop a week early! The man comes around
for the money and I ask when the next ferry is, and surprise the
timetable at the dock is wrong and the one in book is right. Well great
for me, but no points for organisation.

The ferry arrives and 12 cars get off. Getting back on are 16 cars and
one motorbike, all N except for three. The ferry isn't capable of
carrying many more (it can squash a few more along the sides) so there
can't be much traffic on this road, especially in winter (starting next
week) when there is only one ferry every two hours. This is the only
road that joins North Norway with South Norway and it has a capacity
of little more than 20 cars per hour. Amazing! When we get to the
other side, there are five full sized trucks waiting, they aren't all going
to get on!

Many years ago there was a second ferry on this route but it has been
replaced by 30 Km of new road with many tunnels that my map says is
a toll road. But there's no toll any more. The road would seem to be
at least 20 years old, perhaps they have paid for it?

Arrive at Fauske. Try to find the tourist office so that I can ask about
the things that the book says are 'interesting' But it is closed on Winter
weekends!.

Oh well, continue to Bodo, arriving at 16:00. It is tipping down and the
TO is still open (actually until 19:00). But the local attractions than the
guide makes out to be interesting, aren't: one is 'pretty' but you don't go
out of your way in this part of the world for 'pretty' you just look
around. And no, they can't tell me about the Glacier on the road south
as it's "out ", oh, you know.

Bodo is another one of those towns that's ok if you are going there
anyway (which, as it is the end of the railway, this is more likely to
happen than with other towns). It has some nice streets of wooden
houses but they aren't the 'traditional' ones.

Another FjordPass hotel Today it's the Zefyr on the edge of town
(which in a town of this size is four blocks from the centre). 520 NOK.

It's a 'patient' hotel attached to a hospital which seems a strange
concept. But thinking about it, this must be the only Hospital between
here and Narvik and you can easily live 4 hours away from it. Come in
for a routine operation and you probably need to travel out the day
before and back the day after. Staying in a relatively cheap hotel rather
than clogging up an expensive hospital bed makes eminent sense.

Being part of a hospital it's (mostly) white and pristine. Otherwise it's
an adequate simple hotel. It has a restaurant with strange hours at the
weekend. Lunch at 14-16:00 and supper from 18:00. Supper is
another breakfast buffet.

Sun 21st Bodo to Mo I Rana.

Today is the ultimate casualty from my having to book ahead. I had
planned this short day so that I could drive down part of the
recommended Rt17 which has two ferries to negotiate. But I neglected
to calculate that it is a Sunday and with only one ferry at a usable time
today I decide that I can't take the risk of getting to it to find that the
queue is too long. The TO is as helpful as, well you know. On the
basis of other experiences with ferries it will probably be OK, but I
really can't risk it and decide to go down the main road with a small
detour down Rt812.

This detour takes me to Saltstraumen, the largest Maelstrom in the
World, Europe, Norway? But it just looks like a rather fast river.
Later, I find a list of the tide times to discover that I visited during the
turning tide when it is at its lowest. Still I don't see that it can be
more impressive than the Severn bore and in 20 years or more I've
never scheduled a trip to see that.

On the way out I'm passed by another one of the Coastal Steamer
coaches. I wonder what they have paid for this exciting trip? (No, not
really)

It's a really nice day today, it's a shame not to be doing anything better
with it than the drive to Mo (or is it Rana even the town doesn't seem to
have decided). The scenery is much the same as every day before
though I do pass through a village of traditional houses.

I hope to find the detour to the glacier, but I fail. (Fortunately I have
visited a glacier before, they are not as exciting as you might expect.)
Get to Mo and it's another place where the TO is closed. Actually it's
not that surprising as the town is a dump, it's an industrial town, not a
tourist destination.

The outside of the hotel is horrid too, and inside isn't much better. I've
booked at the Rainbow Holmen Hotel using an internet special 685!
The normal price is 400 more than this. It isn't worth half that, it is
horrid. It's disappointing, as the Rainbow that I stayed in in Oslo was a
really nice room (if a little small).

Mon 22nd Mo I Rana to Trondheim.
Morning starts with the Rainbow's breakfast and stale bread. Why is it
that every time I get stale bread at the weekend it has been from a
'chain' hotel, if independents can manage fresh bread, why not the chains?

I've the long drive to Trondheim to do today. During the trip I have
read a about a few things that I want to add to the schedule for later so
I really need to get this far south.

The drive passes without incident and as this is now outside of 'North
Norway', I'll leave the approach to Trondheim to the next part.


pics on http://photobucket.com/albums/b223/tim_sweden/

tim

"tim \(moved to sweden\)" writes:

Oh well, continue to Bodo, arriving at 16:00. It is tipping down and the
TO is still open (actually until 19:00). But the local attractions than the
guide makes out to be interesting, aren't: one is 'pretty' but you don't go
out of your way in this part of the world for 'pretty' you just look
around.

It has a very nice aeroplane museum! I still want to go back to do
the interactive second half properly.

Des

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 19:26:52 +0200, "tim \(moved to sweden\)"
wrote:

I can't be the only person that makes this decision as they are improving
the road - building a by-pass around a small village and very
expensively moving the road from the fjord bank into two tunnels, one
of which is recently completed. This work must be costing them a lot,
is it really cheaper to improve 35 Km of road in this way instead of
building a three Km bridge (or tunnel) over (under) the fjord?

That would depend. The fjord is probably very deep, and so it's not
feasible.

I eventually reach Tromso about 45 minutes before I would have by
using the next ferry. The ferry really isn't any quicker.

Tromso is a town with a stunning location, mostly built on an island in
the fjord. It used to have a historic old town.

Here's a good pic of it:
http://www.cs.uit.no/~tobias/tromso.jpg

Nice trip report. I feel very envious, because it's a trip I have
always wanted to do, at leisure. It's obvious from your report that
the costs are something you always have your eye on, and that's a bit
sad for a country as beautiful is this.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

DDT Filled Mormons wrote:

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 19:26:52 +0200, "tim \(moved to sweden\)"
wrote:


I can't be the only person that makes this decision as they are improving
the road - building a by-pass around a small village and very
expensively moving the road from the fjord bank into two tunnels, one
of which is recently completed. This work must be costing them a lot,
is it really cheaper to improve 35 Km of road in this way instead of
building a three Km bridge (or tunnel) over (under) the fjord?


That would depend. The fjord is probably very deep, and so it's not
feasible.


There are technologies like floating tunnels that would work. They just
don't want to use them.


I eventually reach Tromso about 45 minutes before I would have by
using the next ferry. The ferry really isn't any quicker.

Tromso is a town with a stunning location, mostly built on an island in
the fjord. It used to have a historic old town.


Here's a good pic of it:
http://www.cs.uit.no/~tobias/tromso.jpg

Nice trip report. I feel very envious, because it's a trip I have
always wanted to do, at leisure. It's obvious from your report that
the costs are something you always have your eye on, and that's a bit
sad for a country as beautiful is this.

DDT Filled Mormons wrote:

Nice trip report. I feel very envious, because it's a trip I have
always wanted to do, at leisure. It's obvious from your report that
the costs are something you always have your eye on, and that's a bit
sad for a country as beautiful is this.

That last comment has been vexing me since I read it yesterday.

I'm not sure if you think it sad that Tim seemed bothered by how fast
his pockets were being emptied, or sad that holidaying in Scandinavia
is so expensive. I don't know -- nor do I want to know -- how much Tim
can afford to spend on his holiday, but I don't particularly feel it
is sad that he watches what things cost, and tells us. It's useful
information for those who might have limited resources, or have an eye
on value for money.

I want to speak up for the cheapskates of this world.

When Herself and I travel, we look far value for money. We are in the
happy position that we could afford to spend a good deal more on our
trips that we actually do, but we don't see the point. The trips would
not be greatly improved, because the places and the people would be
the same. In one respect they might be worse, because if we used
four-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants we could be even
further isolated from the place and people than we already are by
virtue of being tourists/visitors. Give me the informality of small
hotels and local restaurants and finding my own way around. It's
simply more fun.

Once in a while we push the boat out: a meal in a renowned restaurant
or a break in a special hotel. It's more enjoyable because it differs
from our usual pattern.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

"Padraig Breathnach" wrote in message
...
DDT Filled Mormons wrote:

Nice trip report. I feel very envious, because it's a trip I have
always wanted to do, at leisure. It's obvious from your report that
the costs are something you always have your eye on, and that's a bit
sad for a country as beautiful is this.

That last comment has been vexing me since I read it yesterday.

I'm not sure if you think it sad that Tim seemed bothered by how fast
his pockets were being emptied, or sad that holidaying in Scandinavia
is so expensive. I don't know -- nor do I want to know -- how much Tim
can afford to spend on his holiday, but I don't particularly feel it
is sad that he watches what things cost, and tells us. It's useful
information for those who might have limited resources, or have an eye
on value for money.

I want to speak up for the cheapskates of this world.

(thank you Padraig),

I too have been thinking all day as to how I should answer this point.

I had assumed that my comments implied to DFM that I did not
do certain things because of the cost.

Well, wrt to my reluctance to stay in chain hotels charging 1200-1400
Krono/er (instead of independents charging 500-700) he is right. But
he should note that for the extra money you get precisely nothing
(except points on your card if you have one), something I will return
to when I summarise at the end.

The other points where it might have been thought that I
compromised for cash reasons were motivated mainly for
some other reason:

Booking hotels before I went to obtain a better price:
Yes, this did compromise my trip, but I had not wanted to
do this. I did it because it appeared that if I didn't, I would
be kipping in my car.
I spend many months before I left, asking around, looking at
web sites etc to find out what availability would be on arrival
(including a request here, which got zero replies) and failed to
find the answer. My final attempt was to phone up and talk
to the local Tourist Offices at which I received the advice, "it's
winter, many independent hotels will be shut!". What would
you have done? Of course, now I (and you and everyone
else) know that what the Tourist Office told me was wrong,
we'll all do it properly next time, won't we?

Not going into museums because they charged. No, I didn't
go into said museum because I considered it unlikely to be
interesting, I only commented upon the charge because it
seemed a bit OTT for nowheresville local museum.

Not using the ferry. OK, this is probably 50-50. I didn't
go on the Tromso ferry because it cost more, on time it would
have been marginal, and the ferry rides do provide a bit of time
to unwind and see the scenery which you don't get driving.
But at the time I though that I had other ferries to use. I did
not know at that point that I would skip the Rt17 ferry.
I most definitely skipped the Rt17 ferry because I really
couldn't afford (timewise) to not be on it, a point that I made
to the Tourist Office. I had hoped that they would tell me
that I could book to guarantee a space, but they didn't, can I?
does anybody know?

Tim

tim (moved to sweden) wrote:

"Padraig Breathnach" wrote in message
...
DDT Filled Mormons wrote:

Nice trip report. I feel very envious, because it's a trip I have
always wanted to do, at leisure. It's obvious from your report that
the costs are something you always have your eye on, and that's a bit
sad for a country as beautiful is this.

That last comment has been vexing me since I read it yesterday.

I'm not sure if you think it sad that Tim seemed bothered by how fast
his pockets were being emptied, or sad that holidaying in Scandinavia
is so expensive. I don't know -- nor do I want to know -- how much Tim
can afford to spend on his holiday, but I don't particularly feel it
is sad that he watches what things cost, and tells us. It's useful
information for those who might have limited resources, or have an eye
on value for money.

I want to speak up for the cheapskates of this world.

(thank you Padraig),

I too have been thinking all day as to how I should answer this point.

I had assumed that my comments implied to DFM that I did not
do certain things because of the cost.

I can't speak for DFM, but I wonder if there isn't a bit of a
misunderstanding here. I didn't read his comments as criticising you,
Tim, for always having your eye on costs, or saying that you avoided
places because of it, but that _one_ would have to watch the costs if
travelling there. In other words, I think DFM's saying that it's a
shame, given its beauty, that the average traveller does have to watch
their spending in Norway. I assume no one argues with how expensive the
country is?

(As a half Norwegian, most of my experiences there involve hanging out
with family and friends (my brother lives near Bergen) and I haven't
actually done much independent travel around the country- though I'm
planning to- it's long overdue. As a result, the costs aren't really
that apparent to me when I'm there.)

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
photos at http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer

"chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy"
wrote in message
news:1h2a496.swy31pcfk9rmN%this_address_is_for_spa ...

I can't speak for DFM, but I wonder if there isn't a bit of a
misunderstanding here. I didn't read his comments as criticising you,
Tim, for always having your eye on costs, or saying that you avoided
places because of it, but that _one_ would have to watch the costs if
travelling there.

Ah, reading it again I think that you are right.

oops

tim

On 2005-09-01, tim (moved to sweden) wrote:

On the route to Tromso there is a choice, the second half is either two
ferries and a short drive or a 180 Km drive. The ferries cost 160
NOK for a 120 Km saving. At 20c per km it certainly isn't cost
effective for most people

160 NOK is 21 euro. Assuming the 'c' is cent, 120 km costs 24 euro.

Supper is
another breakfast buffet.

What does "breakfast buffet" mean to you?

This detour takes me to Saltstraumen, the largest Maelstrom in the
World, Europe, Norway? But it just looks like a rather fast river.
Later, I find a list of the tide times to discover that I visited during the
turning tide when it is at its lowest. Still I don't see that it can be
more impressive than the Severn bore and in 20 years or more I've
never scheduled a trip to see that.

At this point I'm starting to wonder why you went on this trip in the
first place.

"Jesper Lauridsen" wrote in message
. ..
On 2005-09-01, tim (moved to sweden)
wrote:

On the route to Tromso there is a choice, the second half is either two
ferries and a short drive or a 180 Km drive. The ferries cost 160
NOK for a 120 Km saving. At 20c per km it certainly isn't cost
effective for most people

160 NOK is 21 euro. Assuming the 'c' is cent, 120 km costs 24 euro.

So I rounded wrong, what's the big deal?

Supper is
another breakfast buffet.

What does "breakfast buffet" mean to you?

You will note from a different thread that I don't get
much cutural value from buffet breakfasts because I like
to sample the local fayre, and buffet breakfasts are
virtually identical the world over.

The idea of offering buffer breakfast for breakfast and
exactly the same selection for dinner (supper) sucks, IMHO

This detour takes me to Saltstraumen, the largest Maelstrom in the
World, Europe, Norway? But it just looks like a rather fast river.
Later, I find a list of the tide times to discover that I visited during
the
turning tide when it is at its lowest. Still I don't see that it can be
more impressive than the Severn bore and in 20 years or more I've
never scheduled a trip to see that.

At this point I'm starting to wonder why you went on this trip in the
first place.

How does one know what one will see when they get there?

*Of course* I did some things that I enjoyed.

If you think that my post is focusing too much on the negatives,
and not on the positives, please say so, but I don't see the need
to make personal criticisms

Going to North Norway is a difficult to arrange trip for most
people. I do not think that If I sat here and described all the
wonderful things that I did, that it would persuade anybody
to add this trip to their to do list, if it wasn't already on it.
But by describing the things to avoid, I have helped the
people who are planning a trip!

tim