8/17/2017 – Alesund Norway

Our first stop in Norway was Alesund. It was an overcast day but at least we had no rain.

The town of Alesund Norway as we arrived, taken from the ship

We were on an all day excursion from the ship that took us into the coutryside of Norway to see Trollstigen (the Troll Path), which had an impressive waterfall and a long steep road to get down into the valley with hairpin turns and really impressive views. The highest point where we stopped was 2800 feet above sea level, and the road was built by hand before there were any machines for road building. They believe that had it not been built during that time, it would never have been built because it would have been too expensive. 

There are loads of Norwegian legends that exist around trolls living in the mountains and the woods so many things are named after trolls. 

We drove along Fjords and saw hundreds of waterfalls coming out of the mountains along the way to Troll Path. Also because the mountains here are so rocky and steep and basically come straight down to the Fjords where most of the roads are built, they have a lot of issues with rocks falling onto the roads and they build tunnels into the bottom of the mountain side so that cars can drive along the Fjords edge and be protected. 

One of many small harbors along the Fjords edge

Fjord near Alesund

A tunnel at the base of a mountain

These little villages are built all along the way at the shore of the Fjord, sometimes around a farm like this one, and sometimes just clusters of houses. Many are vacation homes for the people in the larger towns, but there are quite a few full time villages as well. The houses are often red or yellow and are very colorful. 

There are also little clusters of areas where people dock their boats. For the people who love along the fjords, the boats used to be their only means of transportation, but that has become less and less true as the roads are reaching more areas. 

When we reached Trolls Path we came up the less steep side of the mountain so it didn’t appear that we were really going that high but then when we got to the parking lot we realized just how high we were. There was a long steel path with several viewing platforms that had been built that allowed views of the waterfall, and the mountian, and the road which has 11 hairpin turns in it along the way. It was really impressive, and a little bit scary to drive down in a huge bus but we made it just fine. 

The waterfall at Trolls Path

Off to the right you can see the trail and one of the viewing platforms which give a little perspective on how massive this place really is

Another view of the waterfall

Looking down from the top on the Trolls Path Road which winds back and forth. 

Trolls Path road with the waterfall passing just along side of it. 

Conrad in front of the falls standing out on one of the viewing platforms

A view of the falls from the bus as the road passes right beside it

A view of the falls from the bottom

We left trolls path headed for  Troll Wall – a very famous mountain climbing location. This wall has the highest overhang in Europe and is visited by world-famous climbers every summer. The scale of the wall was difficult to capture. There was an area where the climbers go straight up the wall, and then a different area nearby where people jump off with parachutes (illegally), and then just across the street was a different mountain that they call the Norwegian Matterhorn.

The area in the center right that climbs up to the jagged peaks is the climbing area, there are actually 5 paths documented on a sign nearby that can all be traversed although they all look impossible to us. The area to the left where there is just one lone “chimney shaped” rock sticking up is where the parachutes jump from. 

Conrad staning in the parking lot for scale. The red phone booth is a place where climbers could call for help. 

Norwegian Matterhorn, although it looks higher than Trolls wall, it’s really about 200 meters lower.