Princess' description
Experience the scenic wonders of the ruggedly beautiful Jotunheimen
National Park on an all-day excursion. After boarding the
motorcoach, you'll journey into the verdant countryside via the
Sognefjeller National Tourist Route. Rising over 4,700
feet, this mountain pass is Northern Europe's highest and your first
photo stop offers spendid views of the magestic Hurrengane mountains.
Another photostop awaits you at Sognefjell Mountain en route to the
stave church in the tiny village of Lom. Built in 1158 A.D.
using traditional post and beam construction, the exterior features a
triple nave. Nearby is the Norwegian Mountain Museum whose
exciting exhibits include a full-scale model of a mammoth.
Your next stop is the Fossheim Hotel for a delicious lunch followed by
a return trip to port. Along the way you'll stop to see the
131-foot tall Saga Column featuring decorations representing Norway's
history and finally the cascading Asafossen waterfall.
|
 We set off through the village and alongside the large lake.
It looked like this was part of the fjord but the terminal moraine had built up and
trapped the last part of the fjord in one of the interglacial periods.
After a while we turned off and started to climb and came to a place where the road
was closed for improvement/repair due to falling rocks. The road was
opened briefly periodically to let traffic through and the excursion group had arranged
that one of those times would be when got there. As we ascended the mountain
the views became ever more spectacular, but were a little inclined to bring on feelings
of vertigo if you looked back to see where we had come from. The hairpin
bends were a little unsettling too with the front of the coach sticking out over nothing
as we rounded the bend. At the top we had a photo stop and comfort break.
It was actually the highest but we had finished the steepest part. We had a
second stop further on where there was a small glacier but as it was still coverd from
the winter snow it was no much to see, there were the odd patches where you could see the
blue ice.
 We then drove on to Lom which had been kept in the old traditional style
and therefore had become quite a tourist spot, not just for foreigners like us but many
Norwegian familes visit as well. We started with the museum and then went
down to the hotel for lunch by coach. Some idiot had parked his vehicle in
the drive and then left it. When we came out after lunch, which was very
Poached salmon with a delicious sauce which went well with the vegetables (celeriac,
carrots, asperagus and beans all cut in small battons) as well as the fish, he was still
there and we were now blocked in by other coaches. The hotel had paged him
but there was no answer, they thought he had gone climbing. They had to back
all the coaches out and park them in the other car park so we could back out.
My suggestion was to get all the beefy men together and roll him over the hedge.
  We then returned to the car park by the museum to visit the stave
church before setting off on our return. We had two further stops on the way
back,three if you count the road works where we were a little early. It was
a pretty spectcular journey and a delicious meal.
|
