Leg 12 of 18 · Days 187–206 · Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland
300 Days:Fjords, Waterfalls and Dancing Lights
After a month of hunting down the perfect schnitzel in Central Europe, we pointed ourselves north. Three weeks, four countries, one rental car and an awful lot of waterfalls. Scandinavia and Iceland had been near the top of our list since the very first version of the spreadsheet, mainly because of three things: the fjords of Norway, the landscapes of Iceland and the chance to see the Northern Lights. Spoiler alert... we saw all three.
Copenhagen
We flew from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and spent a couple of sunny days exploring one of the happiest cities in the world. Nyhavn, with its brightly coloured townhouses and old wooden boats, is every bit as pretty as the postcards. Rosenborg Castle looked like something out of a fairytale. And then there was the Little Mermaid... can you see her? Neither could we, thanks to the hundreds of other tourists and a cruise ship worth of selfie sticks. We were, of course, part of the problem.
We couldn't leave Copenhagen without trying smørrebrød, the famous Danish open sandwich. The Danes definitely have it right: less bread, more filling. Brooke has written all of her Copenhagen favourites up in her Top Tips: Copenhagen post.
Oslo
Next up was Oslo, where we arrived the weekend of the Oslo Marathon, so the road up to the Royal Palace was lined with red banners. We climbed onto the roof of the Opera House, which slopes straight down into the fjord so you can walk all the way to the top, and admired the glass sculpture floating in the water next to it.
The Nobel Peace Center was a highlight for Brooke. It was a welcome reminder that whilst there are some bad people in the world, there are so many great people ready to fight back. For me, it was the Viking Ship Museum. We were in Viking territory! The Gokstad ship was built in the 9th century and is in amazingly good condition for a boat that spent around a thousand years buried in a burial mound.
Our last stop in Oslo was Vigeland Park, the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist, Gustav Vigeland. More than 200 sculptures of naked people, all in various states of wrestling, hugging and climbing over each other. The monolith in the middle is carved out of a single block of granite and contains 121 human figures. Interesting...
The Norwegian Road Trip
This is where the road trip really began. Rental car number six (we had already driven our way through Mexico, the USA, the UK and Central Europe) and five days to drive from Oslo across the mountains to Bergen, up to the glaciers around Stryn, through the fjords and back across to Lillehammer.
The drive to Bergen was one of the most beautiful days of driving I have ever done. We crossed the Hardangervidda plateau, where people had built stone cairns in the lakes, and then dropped down to the Hardangerfjord where the water was so still that the mountains and even a cruise ship were reflected perfectly. And then came a first for both of us: an underground roundabout! Halfway through a mountain tunnel the road splits into a roundabout, lit up in bright blue. Only in Norway.
Bergen
Bergen is known as one of the rainiest cities in Europe, so we couldn't believe our luck when we woke up to not a cloud in the sky. We walked along Bryggen, the old Hanseatic wharf with its colourful wooden buildings, and took the funicular up Mount Fløyen for the view over the city and the harbour. The signpost at the top helpfully told us how far we were from Rio de Janeiro, Beijing and the South Pole.
Unfortunately Bergen also gave us a souvenir we didn't want: a 600 kroner parking ticket for parking in a residents' zone. Lesson learnt: always read the signs, even when they are in Norwegian.
Glaciers and Fjords
From Bergen we took a car ferry and drove up through green valleys dotted with red farmhouses to Briksdalsbreen, an arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier, the largest glacier in mainland Europe. It was icy cold at the bottom of the glacier and while Brooke tried to video call her friends to show them the view, a certain paparazzi photographer kept getting in the way.
After a night in Stryn we headed through the fjords towards Geiranger. The mountains were dusted with fresh snow and the water was like a mirror. With autumn and winter fighting it out on the hillsides, all I could think was, are we sure this country isn't New Zealand? Then it was over the mountains on hairpin roads and on to Lillehammer, home of the 1994 Winter Olympics, where we stopped to see the ski jumps before crossing into Sweden.
Stockholm
In Stockholm we spent most of our time in two places: the Vasa Museum and the meatball restaurant. The Vasa is a 17th century warship that sailed about 1,300 metres on her maiden voyage in 1628 before sinking in the harbour. She then spent 333 years at the bottom of the sea before being raised in 1961 and she is now almost completely intact. It looks like something straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean!
We also squeezed down Mårten Trotzigs gränd, the narrowest street in Stockholm at only about 90cm wide, before heading to Meatballs for the People for what Brooke described as the best meatballs she has ever had. I went for reindeer meatballs. Sorry Rudolph, they were delicious.
Iceland
And then it was on to Iceland. Day 200 of our honeymoon! Two thirds of our 300 days gone, which was a slightly scary thought. We celebrated with a tasting menu at Dill in Reykjavík, which was certainly interesting, and the next morning we hit the road in rental car number seven and headed along the south coast.
The south coast of Iceland is basically one waterfall after another. First was Seljalandsfoss, where you can walk behind the waterfall. We got completely soaked. Then the mighty Skógafoss, a wall of water 60 metres high. Further along we stopped at a glacier lagoon full of floating ice, then the huge rock arch at Dyrhólaey and the black sand beaches that stretch for miles along the coast.
A couple of days later we drove the Golden Circle. At Geysir we waited with our cameras for Strokkur, which erupts every few minutes. You see the water bubble up into a big blue dome and then whoosh. She's about to blow! Then on to the enormous Gullfoss waterfall and Kerið, a volcanic crater with a lake in the bottom.
We finished the day at the Blue Lagoon, where a couple of clowns got a little carried away with the silica face masks. Brooke has written up all of her tips for the best Blue Lagoon experience if you are planning a visit.
The North and the Northern Lights
Our last few days were spent in the north of Iceland around Akureyri. From there we drove out to the geothermal area at Hverir near Lake Mývatn, which looks like a scene from another planet. Steaming vents, bubbling mud pots and orange and yellow rocks everywhere, plus a smell of rotten eggs that you never quite get used to. We also tried to see Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, but the fog was so thick we mainly saw the sign.
By this point it had rained for six days straight and we had almost given up on the Northern Lights. Then, on our last night in Akureyri, the skies finally cleared. At first there was a faint green glow over the fjord, then it got brighter and brighter until green and pink lights were dancing amongst the stars right above us. It was absolutely magical, and worth every single drop of rain. If you are hoping to see them yourself, read Brooke's 5 tips for your first Northern Lights experience.
Goodbye Iceland. I'll miss your volcanoes, glaciers, sulphuric waters and lack of McDonald's... but I will not miss your rain! Next stop, Helsinki, and the start of our journey across Russia.