Arctic Circle Tour - Geiranger to Lillehammer, Norway

On Day 14 of our tour, after yet another delicious buffet breakfast featuring fish prepared in multiple ways, we left Geiranger and headed south. We stopped for photos overlooking Geiranger.

We had a group photo taken but could only get a copy if someone from the group would distribute the photos via email. Bit cheeky of Cosmos to contract out the admin work.

The bus climbed to over 1000 m above sea level through spectacular countryside and we stopped at Lake Djupvasshytta for more photos. We passed some stark looking stone huts that hearty walkers stay in for overnight stops and learned about the roadside salt boxes that are used on icy roads.

At lunchtime we stopped at Fossbergom (pop. 837) in the Lom region of Norway. It is a pleasant town on the River Bovra in a beautiful valley and has two claims to fame, three if you count the very popular bakery.

The Fossheim Turishotel which opened in 1897 is a long low wooden building with a grassed roof.

The Lom Stave Church is particularly impressive and was originally built in the 13th century and moved to this location in the 17th century. It is one of the biggest stave churches in Norway.

What is a stave church I hear you asking? It is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north western Europe and refers to the timber framing where the load bearing ore-pine posts are called “stafr” in old Norse – thus stave church. Most surviving stave churches are in Norway.

Continuing south east we arrived at Lysgårdsbakken the site of the ski jump at Lillehammer’s 1994 Winter Olympics. We took the chair lift to the top of the jump and wondered just how crazy the skiers who take part in this sport must be – it is VERY high. There must be a lot of crazy people out there as the venue sees 80,000 jumps in the

winter and 20,000 in the summer season every year.

We arrived in Lillehammer late in the afternoon although still quite sunny. Why does Renveig say the weather in Norway is terrible? We stayed at the Clarion Hammer Hotel which had a wooden façade as did many buildings in town.

It was very quiet in the main shopping area as it was a Sunday so we had a beer in a local bar and went home for the night. John only complained about the cost of beer once and fortunately he did not see a Troll once.

Next: Arctic Circle Tour – Lillehammer to Oslo, 4 September 2017