Norway at first glance, or The first in (hopefully) many many times

Throw back to the very first time I went to Norway: what I saw, and what keeps making me want to go back as often as I can.

Not always is it easy to tell what makes you want to go back to a place. It can be something you see, someone you meet, something you hear, or a combination of two or more of the above (in which case one can’t quite tell where one something ends and another begins).

My 11-year-old self came across the Norway page of my ‘Europe’ stickers album (a collection of Europe’s key sights and landmarks divided by country, so cool): that’s when I knew I wanted to go there.

It was a thousand light years ago, but I love how, six trips to Norway later, I still and always want to go back like it was the first time.

Here in the blog, though, so far I had only written about and shown the Norway I saw between trip no. 2 and trip no. 6. However, because none of those would have happened without trip no. 1, I did not want to leave that one unmentioned. Yes, because it’s the scenery I saw that year that convinced me to go back.

Oslo, Stortinget (Parliament)

Oslo University

Oslo, Akershus Fortress

Ålesund

Ålesund

Bergen, Bryggen

Bergen

For my first ever time in Norway, I booked part of my trip through Fjord Tours, a tour operator that provides round trips around the country especially the fjord region.

I didn’t know where to start from to explore Norway, so I opted for a ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour that only included train, bus and boat tickets to go from one stop to the next. The rest my Mum and I arranged by ourselves, so we struck a good balance between having a basic itinerary outlined and travelling on our own.

True, cities and landscapes change over the years, and some of my photo subjects might no longer be exactly the same now. Overall, though, I believe they haven’t changed that much: the beauty of nature is still equally spectacular and the urban landscape, if possible, even more interesting and diverse.

My 2011 itinerary included the following:
Oslo
Rauma Railway
Ålesund
Flåmsbana/Flåm
Geiranger(fjord)
Gudvagen
Myrdal
Bergen
… and back to Oslo (coincidentally, the very day before the 22 July attacks).