Overnight stops (in date order): Tallinn (x7); Helsinki (x3); Savolinna (x2); Kuopio (x2); Kuusamo; Juuma (Oulanka National Park); Rovaniemi (x2); Sodankyla; Inari; Olderfjord; Nordkapp (x2); Alta (x2); Tromso (x2); Tommerneset; south of Mo i Rana; Trondheim (x3); Andalsnes; Geiranger; Flam (x2); Bergen (x3); Preikestolen (x2); Kristiansand; 20km south of Arhus.
We set off early from our Hotel in St. Petersburg for Ivangorod, the Russian border town with Estonia, expecting a difficult crossing. I had read on-line of freight trucks queuing for several days to clear Customs. In the end it was a relaxed four hours, with friendly officials on both sides, before we were back in the EU. By mid-afternoon we were eating burger and chips in an Estonian cafe and by 6p.m. we had parked the truck in Tallinn
and checked into the Hotel Telegraaf.
The old town
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, even at the height of the tourist season, an easy place to relax.
Estonia, population 1.3 Million, has been an independent country for just 44 years of its history – between 1918 and 1940 and since the fall of Russian Communism in 1991. It was annexed by the Russians in 1940, under the (secret) terms of the Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact, the Germans took over when they invaded Russia and the Russians returned in 1944 as the war turned in their direction. The country’s liberation from Russia came to be known as the ‘singing revolution’ because hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds and sang.
The Grounds are still home to a five-yearly song festival which has a choir of 30,000 and an audience of 100,000.
My camera was repaired and returned on our last day in Tallinn
and we took the morning ferry
across the Baltic sea to Helsinki.
The weather during our first few days in Finland was more Mediterranean than Baltic and we basked in warm sunshine at Savonlinna, in Finland’s Lakeland,
whose castle
is the venue for a festival of opera – which had finished days before our arrival. In Savonlinna we met Gilles and Manon, the first overlanders from Quebec that we had encountered.
As we continued north, we experienced aspects of Finnish culture such as plunging into a cold lake
after sweltering in a wood-smoke sauna,
lumberjacks doing clever things on floating logs
(and sometimes falling off)
and hiking in the spruce forests.
Some time before we crossed the Arctic Circle
we started to encounter reindeer
the first one we saw was walking towards us down the central line of the highway which behaviour, in combination with their road-colour camouflage, explains why each year there are 3,000 collisions between reindeer and road vehicles.
At Rovaniemi
we visited the Arktikum Centre
which explains life in the Arctic, including the culture of the Sami people who are indigenous to northern Scandinavia,
and undertakes research into changes brought about by global warming. More importantly the town is the official home of Father Christmas.
We stopped at Inari and at Karasjohka which are the capitals of the Sami people in Finland and Norway respectively.
After crossing the border into the Finnmark County of Norway at the Tana River
we drove north beside the Porsanger Fjord
as far as the road goes – to Nordkapp, which is billed as the most northerly point on the European mainland.
In fact knivskjellodden,
a 9km walk away, is a full 47 seconds of latitude north of the Cape.
We experienced the four seasons in our two days at the Cape alternately basking in the sun
and shivering in the wind, the rain and the mist.
However, when the weather permitted, the views were spectacular,
as was the sunset;
and there were more of these.
On the long drive south (Nordkapp is more than 2300km from Bergen) we stopped at Alta, where there are engravings on the rocks beside the fjord that were made 7,000 years ago,
and at Tromso, which has a famous modern cathedral
and a museum dedicated to the Norwegian exploration of the Arctic; with pride of place given to Raold Amundsen, who proved his un-British qualities by eating his dogs en-route to beating Scott to the South Pole.
The road itself winds down the Fjord-shattered west coast of Norway, punctuated by bridges, tunnels and ferry crossings,
and passes through some impressive country.
Trondheim’s 13th Century cathedral,
which was partly built by English masons, marked the burial place of St Olaf an 11th Century Viking king who (allegedly) converted to Christianity and became Norway’s patron saint – though from what I have read of his life his behaviour remained more typically that of a Viking than of a chivalrous Christian knight!
Trondheim has preserved and restored many of its old wooden houses
The drive from Trondheim to Bergen took us through the western Fjords. Near Andalsnes we camped beneath Trollveggen (‘Troll Wall’) the highest vertical cliff in Europe
and next day drove the hairpin bends up the Trollstigen (‘Troll’s Ladder’)
to the pass.
The road passes lakes with mirror surfaces
and leads to Geiranger where we took a boat up the fjord.
The road out of Geiranger passes a viewpoint that looks back and down on the Fjord
on its way to Jostadalsbreen, the largest ice field in mainland Europe
– though the glaciers that flow of the ice-cap have seen better days.
The western Fjords were the heartland of Medieval Norway. The ‘stave churches’, such as the wonderful 12th Century Borgund Church,
are the most striking relics from this period.
Bergen’s hey-day was the period when it was a principal port of the Hanseatic league. Until the 18th Century up to 2000 German merchants occupied the Bryggen – a town within the town.
The modern city is set among hills and fjords
and thrives on tourist trade.
The Bergen art museum has a great collection of works by Edvard Munch;
including a self-portrait painted while he was a patient in a psychiatric hospital
– and talking about Munchies;
thanks for the advice about the prawn sandwiches, Simon!
On our penultimate day in Norway I walked to Preikestolen (‘The Pulpit Rock’) from which there is a drop of 600 metres to Lysefjord
– this is the view looking down –
and on the way back some great views of Stavanger.
After 23 memorable days we left Norway by ferry
from an Autumnal Kristiansand
to Hirtshals on the northern tip of Jutland (Denmark).
from where we drove south towards Germany.
Far from an afterthought, our six weeks in Scandinavia was one of the highlights of our journey. We camped in some remarkable places
and saw the season turn from the brief northern Summer
to the early Autumn.
Responses
Paul Faithfull says: You’re slipping. You didn’t tell us what red wine you were drinking by the lake in Russia and you didn’t mention that the statue (above) in Tallinn is to Gustav Ernesaks. I hope this lack of information isn’t going to continue for the rest of your journey! I’m amazed (and delighted) at how well the pair of you look after two years on the road. See you soon
Denise says: brilliant photos! what an adventure…. I’m so envious of you….really looking forward to catching up with you soon.
Paul Faithfull says: At last, somewhere I’ve been before you. Not only did I visit Sanity Clause in Rovaniemi 20 years ago, he even let me sit in his chair (for a moment I thought he wanted me on his lap…). It was my one-and-only foreign trip for Reuters TV. Such professional heights, such depths…Hurry home: you owe me 643 pints and counting…
Simon Mcilroy says: Reached the roof of the world! Fantastic. Looking at your maps it is incredible to think that there are more people living in Greater Beijing than the whole of Scandinavia. Paul, was that your dressing gown hanging up in the shack?
Simon says: (From Susie) Hello dear travellers, you look so well and fit. How nice it must have been, Danielle, to speak in French to fellow Quebecois. Scandinavia appears serene and clean, it makes me feel peaceful just to look at your pictures. And a wonderful sunset. Now Paul, I can’t help wondering if you dilly dallied on the way to Savonlinna Castle to ensure that you just missed the opera festival! Simon has a request: could you pop back to Finland and pick up a Nokia simcard for him.
Sharon Larsmon says: Wow, on top of the world eh ? We’ve been to Romney Marsh. For 1 night. In a B&B. Tres chic. Soph’s producing a touring “witchcraft” play, so that’s why. Scandinavia look amazing – though I’ve never been, but we are all going to Sweden for Christmas. You both look very well – must be all those western burgers !
Sharon Larsmon says: How dare you trespass on my territory! Actually I’ve never been more than 100 miles north of Oslo (I’m a southerner in Norway as well as here). Interesting that you started and ended your voyage in similar terrain. NZ’s fjords aren’t so different to Norway’s. Echoing Faithfull – looking forward to seeing you. I have a plan which involves a surfeit of meat and Argentinian wine…
Sharon Larsmon says: oops – that was from me not Sharon. Still don’t get this blogging thing…
Simon Mcilroy says: Norway is beautiful. I visited with my father a few years ago on a Saga Cruise. Gerainger Fjiord was one place we sailed up. I estimated that one quarter of the 600 passengers were hard of hearing as the most popular word on board was ‘PARDON’. The most popular phrase was ‘can you say that again please’ What was most impressive about the cruise was that my fathers bar bill was larger than mine. If you go to Bergen, I recommend a prawn sandwich from the market and a trip on the funicular railway.