Alesund's Troll Road

Here on the Sunnmøre coast of Norway we arrived at a group of islands where the Vikings raided and pillaged until, according to legend, one of them named Gange-Rolf decided to settle down in the 9th century to create a village, possibly just a staging point for more pillaging, who really knows.  

In the 10th century a fortress was built nearby, growth was slow, then Black Death decimated a good part of the population in the 15th century.  Things began looking up in 1848 when Ålesund was finally granted town status and could legally trade.  In 1904  a fire swept through the city on a stormy night and razed around 800 wooden buildings.  The town was rebuilt in the reigning Art Nouveau style of the time and is now considered one of Norway’s most beautiful cities

Today it’s the home of the largest cod fishing fleet in Norway, a major cruise port, and its colorful stone, brick, and plaster Art Nouveau buildings have created quite the picturesque spot at the mouth of the Storfjord.   Fun fact, the city actually sits on seven islands that are connected by underwater tunnels to each other and the mainland.  Pictured are some of the more modern buildings that line this canal.

We were in for another long bus ride today so many of my photos were taken through the window, like this one with its pretty reflections.  I'm also going to admit up front that I struggled to pay attention to our knowledgable guide who felt she had to talk continuously for the entire seven plus hours.  Although I did have to giggle to myself when she told us that the water in Norway is so clean that "you can fill your water bottles in the toilet", and when she said, "Sorry, I'm interrupting myself." 🤣 We were all thinking, "Somebody needed to!" Anyways, just letting you know you're going to get photos without a ton of facts here, but I feel like the beauty of this country speaks for itself.

Norwegians have cut an incredible number of tunnels through their granite mountains to get from one place to another, over a thousand of them.  It's pretty incredible to think about, knowing how tough granite is.  Some of the tunnels are so long that they have a rest stop in them, or places you can pull over if you start to get claustrophobic.  Although if the latter happened it probably would have been best not to drive into it in the first place! 

One thing I did retain that our guide shared was that Norwegians are very trusting.  She said they will even leave babies bundled up outside in the cold to nap to get them used to the chill temperatures, knowing that no one will bother them.  At our first photo stop we saw another evidence of trust with a delivery of bacon, eggs and other essentials left at the door of the snack shop, which was closed and had no one around to take the goods inside.  Also, it's still mind boggling to me how many places in the world charge you to use their bathroom.  Good thing no one had to use the one here since the key was unavailable.

Our photo here is at a place called Kokarsteinen.  You can barely see the small clearing in the flat spot above my head across the water but there was a small house there.  No idea how anyone would get to it.

Weather looked threatening but apparently in this part of the world it usually looks that way.

At least we knew we were headed in the right direction.

Tunnel selfie, it does get pretty dark in those long tunnels through the mountains.

Traditional colors for houses in Norway are yellow, which used to indicate that you were doing okay financially, a sort of middle class color,

red, which was the least expensive paint color to get so was used by the poorest class,

and then white, which was made with the expensive zinc oxide so you were telling the world you had money if you painted your house that color.

No idea what color this old beauty might have been in better days but I loved it even with its weathered look.

Just a little flora growing along the side of the road and in the granite cracks.

Below us at one stop was a salmon farm.  These can be found all through the fjords.

The rainy day continued on one side of the fjord,

while we had sunshine on our side.

This area is one part of Norway where they can actually have fairly large apple orchards

 

and strawberry fields.  With their short growing season the berries were about at their end and the apples getting close to ripe.

Pretty much every barn or outbuilding we saw in the countryside was painted with the more inexpensive red paint.

Although it looks like I used a silver tone filter this one was actually just shot into what sun there was.

Most of the churches we saw along our way looked just like this one with its local cemetery surrounding it.

We followed the river for many miles as we rode along,

enjoying it in the open and through the trees.

Another village in a mountain valley.

Beautiful waterfalls ran down the mountains here and there.

Mountains here weren't as tall and rocky as those we'd seen the day before.

I know this is random but this was one of the oddest restrooms I'd seen in our travels.  You'd slide that horizontal bar to lock the door,

and the entire restroom was metal, with the staggered stalls, all very unique.

We stopped at a spot called Liabygda for a snack, photos, and the above restrooms.  We were able to enjoy the scenery here as we ate.

I have become quite enamored of Norwegian cinnamon buns.  I'm going to need to learn to make them!  We also tried some little cookies that were really similar to the kiplje that Grandma Elisabeth used to make and that Karl like to recreate at Christmas.  We liked the pearl sugar on them better than powdered sugar.

That's us sitting there in the window, enjoying the beautiful view!

The waterfalls here had created holes in the stone as they wore through them,

dropping down from the mountains above.

Normal shot on the left and a long exposure version on the right, such fun to do with waterfall photos.

This zigzag metal bridge gave us great views above the falls.

A spot where the water is cutting its way through.

Okay, I can never get enough of waterfalls!

Quick photos of LeaAnn and Chuck enjoying the view as well.

There was local produce available to buy just before we got back on the bus.  My friend Kim was kind enough to share some sweet strawberries with me, and Cecilia shared some raspberries.  I was wishing I wasn't the last one back to the bus so I could have bought some more!

On we went, into the mountains known as being the home

of the elusive mountain trolls.  According to Norwegian folk legend (and Jane's research!), trolls roam through the mountains of Trollstigen every night, but change to stone when they are hit by sunlight each morning.

More waterfalls and gorgeous mountain scenery.

Ditto on these photos!

Look for troll faces in the stone behind us!  This was the lower viewpoint on the Trollstigen Plateau which was directly above the Stigfossen, the waterfall in the photo above.  You can see how windy it was with my hat blowing away from my face.

And speaking of trolls, one thing about them is that they are mischievous, kind of like this guy who left a surprise photo of himself on my phone!

Here we are at the top of the

Trollstigen which was closed to traffic, although we did see a few people walking along parts of it.  It actually looked about ready to open once again.

All those squiggly lines are the Trollstigen, which translates to Trolls Ladder.  It has 11 hairpin turns, a steep 10% gradient and very narrow lanes.  Buses have to make three point turns, plus beware of rock falls and roaming trolls!. It would have been a definite e-ticket ride to go down and then up again.

While our guide shared a myth with us about the creation of the Trollstigen, something about it being plowed by a troll who thought men wouldn't be able to pass along it, the reality is that it was completed in 1936 after eight years of construction.

The views through the valley gave us another glimpse of the Geiranger Fjord.

Mountains nearby have the nicknames of King, Queen and Bishop.

The drizzly weather with moments of sun did have its bonus when we were treated to a rainbow along the mountainside.

On our way back we got more beautiful views

of the mountain lakes,

waterfalls,

and glaciers that were our surroundings.

As we drove the guide kept talking and reading us multiple troll tales

to the point that Jane found an app that could turn us all into trolls ourselves!  There was a lot of quiet laughter going on in the back of the bus. 🤣

The different kinds of trees on the mountainsides came in all sorts of greens.

Another farm, another of my favorite grass roofs.

Back by the lake again the clouds were still low and gray.

Then a bit a sun came out and we got yet another rainbow.

This may have been the largest building I saw with a grass roof,

and this the smallest.  On the right is a closeup of the roof of the restaurant where we had lunch.  Looks like they could use a goat on top.

We made a brief stop at the Rosekyrkja, or Rose Church, built in 1789 and famous for its colorful wall to wall paintings inside.  I also found the metal crosses in the cemetery surrounding it lovely.

In retrospect I would have like to have gone inside, but being tired and thinking it was another church and wouldn't be that different than so many others we'd seen, we didn't pay the six krona to go.  Thanks to Jane for finding these examples for me to share.  And lesson learned about missed opportunities.

Back in Alesund we bid our tour guide goodbye and decided to wander for a bit on our own.  It was time to get our final souvenirs from Norway as rumors began to fly that we wouldn't be stopping in our last Norwegian port of Bergen in order to get to Amsterdam sooner due issues ships had been having getting into port.  Apparently some rather vocal groups have been protesting cruise ships coming into Amsterdam.  It really makes you want to just stay on the ship when you know you're not welcome  Plus not getting to Bergen was really disappointing as it looked so lovely in all the photos, and I have just loved Norway so much.

We took a photo at what is supposed to be the iconic spot for it with the colorful buildings.

I, of course, really loved the colorful flowers.

A statue stood nearby as a nod to the importance of the cod fishing industry.

A few more of the the lovely Art Nouveau buildings.

Alesund really is a lovely city.

Knowing that it is often chilly here, even in summer, they have a few water heated metal benches along the canal.

LeaAnn, Karl and Jane enjoyed warming themselves on this one on a windy afternoon.

We found trolls outside lots of souvenir shops in town

so we took photos with a few of them,

although I wouldn't describe any of us as unhelpful, unfriendly, old, ugly, and not very clever, as trolls are described to be.....  Farewell Norway, you were one of my favorites!