Norway, Land of Raw Beauty, Valhalla Myths and Fjords. Stay 2: Alesund

(View of Alesund from our hotel room)

We flew south from Lofoten to the city of Alesund.

This ninth most populated Norwegian town is built on several islands. A massive fire in 1904 leveled the town. It was rebuilt as a picturesque Jugendstil town. Jugendstil is a German Norwegian version of Art Nouveau and can be found in cities like Munich Weimar and Vienna. But here it is a dominant feature. The rebuild was financially supported by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

One of the busiest streets is named after him.

(Our hotel room with below sitting nook to look at the city across the inner harbor)

((As it rained a lot those days, we were more often there enjoying the view and having a glass of wine)

Below picture is a typical example of the Art Nouveau streets in Alesund

(Picture from the Nook)

Above poster shows best the full day fjord cruise we took the second day here in Alesund. It turned out to be the only dry day of our stay here. The Geiranger fjord is one of the longest fjords in Norway.

(Almost immediately after leaving Alesund you find rural Norway)

(Left a very typical fjord picture and right a very common small farm on the fjord slopes, many abandoned)

The reason for these typical lonesome farms dotting the slopes of Norway’s  fjords is emigration which took place between 1820 and 1920 when more than 1 million Norwegians emigrated to the US for a better future and more land.

Poverty was the major driver of this exodus with most Norwegians settling in the Upper Midwest. 4 million Americans claim Norwegian heritage. Only Ireland had more people leave for the USA.

(It is amazing to me that wherever we travelled in Norway these streams or waterfalls never dried up)

(Geiranger town is now a typical tourist destination year around with is own waterfall)

((Every self respecting town has its own troll and I marveled at the colorful heather they planted around town)

The next drive that week was towards the famous Atlantic Road or Atlanterhavsveien in the local language, a 5 mile stretch of road connecting islands over the wild Norwegian Sea via 8 bridges built between August 1 1983 and July 7 1989. It lasted that long as the construction crew had to battle 12 European windstorms before completion.

(The best way to illustrate this engineering marvel is this poster)

When we visited the weather was stormy like it often was during construction.

The pictures below will do the talking

(Foreboding typical weather pattern showing sun less than an hour later)

(A  beautiful example of bridges crossing between little islands)

(And all around us is a stormy sea and the pictures do not show the strong winds)

(And then surprise: this phenomena)

The rest of our days were rainy and overcast, so we spent our days reading in our nook or visiting our favorite O’Connors Irish Pub attached to our hotel and then a 50 yard dash to Sjobua restaurant for the best steak tartare we have ever enjoyed.

The last day in Alesund the sun reappeared so we decided to try another fjord drive the Hjorundfjord. Long story short we never saw that fjord as we took a wrong turn and had to cross a mountain on a single track road rivaling the Scottish best and narrowest winding ones to arrive at a village that had a ferry to get us at long last to our fjord. As a Leknes destined ferry came and went we consulted a grocery store owner and found out that our desired ferry went only twice a day and the next one would be 5.30 pm. Luckily we found a way home that did not require the hideous pass over the mountain.

Thus well rested on to the next adventure: Central Norway national parks.