Yesterday, we had a relaxing day of travel as we travelled by train to the little town of Voss in SW Norway. This was our fist day of our ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour. At this time of year, the town is very quiet, although it has a reputation for being the adventure capital of Norway. There is an abundance of white water rafting in the local rivers along with bungee jumping and skiing.
The train trip from Oslo took us about five hours. The first part of the trip took us though a number of towns on the outskirts of Oslo and then through farming country where fields were being ploughed for the sowing of this year’s wheat crop. It was interesting to see different types of architecture with red barns on every farm.
The highlight of our trip was the time when the train line crossed the Hardanger Plateau. It is the largest alpine plateau in Europe and was still covered in snow. Most of it is a national park and across other areas are scattered holiday shacks which get used extensively both on winter and summer. With the blue sky and the bright sun, the scenery was almost blinding – especially when we emerged from one of the many tunnels out into the open white landscape. It was just beautiful with scenes that we normally only see on Christmas cards.
We arrived in Voss at about 4.30 pm and settled into our hotel. This rather quaint building has been in the same family for generations. One story about it, is that the hotel was occupied during WW2 by the Germans. The family silver was hidden under the floor of the dining room and then safely recovered after the Germans left at the end of the war.
Absolutely magical. you must wonder if you are really on this earth with scenery like this. Beautiful photos Bruce.