Hathwar's View: Norway a Heaven on Earth.

Norway a Heaven on Earth.

Norway is the one of the most beautiful must visit Scandinavian country with ice covered mountains with panoramic landscapes, waterfalls, hills and valleys. This country once ruled by Vikings [most feared sea pirates] who have invaded every other nearest country including Europe looted them. Norway was well known for its ship building technology, people from many countries came here to learn the technology. After the discovery of oil in 1960 the Norway has become one of the oil rich country, catapulted the country to very high standard of life. The population of the country is around 5 million out of which 1.5 million migrated labors from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. The cost of living is highest among European and Scandinavian countries.

However this is one of the most beautiful countries on Earth and should be on the itinerary of anybody who visits Europe.

I my wife Leela, son Dhiraj and daughter in law Tejashree had planned to visit Norway for four days that involved some of the most important places in Norway. We took the evening flight from Helsinki to Oslo, reached Oslo at 10:30 PM. We checked into hotel near the railway station at 11:30 PM. Dhiraj has booked hotels very near to railway station so that commuting time is kept minimum. All Scandinavian countries and also European countries

have excellent public transport system unlike USA and Canada.

Next day our Journey started from Oslo station to Myrdal. The train left Oslo at 8:00 AM and it was raining heavily outside. Train route to Myrdal a hill station was a feast for eyes for enjoying the natural beauty of Norway. The ice on the mountain has not fully melted although the summer has set in. It was pretty cold outside. The trains are very clean and it is pleasure to travel by train. The train is attached with a dining car that serves very good breakfast. We reached Myrdal at 12:30 PM. Myrdhal to flam is by another train. The train will decent from the hill through steep curves crossing through dense forests, water falls and valleys. This train route that was designed way back in 1940’s, is an engineering marvel. The train stops at one of the famous waterfalls where we can take photographs. All along the route we enjoy the nature’s beauty at its best. Our train reached Flam at 2:05PM. We had quick lunch at Flam. There is railway museum at Flam which gives the historic details of railway from Oslo to Myrdal and Flam.

Our next journey is through the cruise to Gudvangen. Approximately 1 km Wide River flows from Flam to Gudvangen in between steep hills. The hills are covered with thick forests and one can see the water falls at every 100mts.The journey to Gudvangen will give you ample opportunity for taking photographs of Norway’s natural beauty.

We reached Gudvangen at 5:30 PM. A bus was waiting for us to take us to VOSS. The road journey was like the one we see in Himalayas steep curves. Any mistake from the driver would land us thousands of feet below the valley. The bus provided with a guide who would give explanation on Norwegian life, culture, education, sight seeing, population and other general information. We reached Voss around 6:30 PM. Norway during this time will have only five hours of night and same is the case with all Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland etc. When we reached Voss we were extremely hungry. Unfortunately, nothing was available for eating in the railway station. Voss is beautiful city of only 7000 people with large magnificent lakes [for them it is a big city].Weather this time of the year will excellent [June, July]. Our train reached Bergen which is the second largest city in Norway at 9:00 PM. After checking into Hotel we started searching for Veg restaurant. In these countries it is curse to be vegetarian. We could find a Chinese restaurant which offers one or two pure vegetarian menu. But while ordering food we should be very careful in telling them, no meat, no beef, and no egg etc .Otherwise you may find some of these ingredients in your food. We were so hungry the food offered by Chinese tasted very good.

Next day morning we got up at 7:30 AM and had a very fine continental breakfast in our hotel. Sightseeing by walk is ideal in these countries to enjoy the beauty of these cities. They are very small places one can walk around the city very easily barring OSLO.Bergan is port city on the western coast of Norway and it was once capital of Norway before Oslo was declared as capital. This place is well known for sea food and other delicacies. As we are vegetarians we could only enjoy the look of it. We took some good photographs of fisherman wharf. Panoramic view of Bergen can be had from the top of Ulrich hill, which can be reached by cable car. Old city has a beautiful century old wooden structure which is even today esthetically preserved.

In Bergen we wanted to have Indian food. We could locate a Punjabi restaurant in the city .We had some Nans and Pulav. It was a bad decision to have Indian food in these places .Immediately, after having food our stomach started troubling us and we had to take few medicines to restore it back to normal condition. In these countries it is better to follow their food habits than ours.

In the afternoon at 3:00 PM we took a cruise to Stavanger. In these countries it is pleasure to travel by cruise. Cruise offers everything, good food, entertainment and for wine lovers it is a haven. Duty free shops offer all sorts of articles which is cheaper than outside. A short journey by cruise is really enjoyable. We reached Stavanger at 9:00 PM. As I already told you, day or night there is no problem in these places; we have all the time light. The hotel staff at Stavanger was extremely courteous and rooms were excellent. Breakfast was also good. They will also allow you to eat our own food, if you have carried something. Next day morning after breakfast we left for Tau by cruise for our adventures Journey to Pulpit Rock.

At Tau a bus was waiting for us to take us to base camp of Pulpit Rock. It was raining heavily and we had too little information about the Journey we are undertaking. My wife and daughter in law, purchased rain coat but I and my son had only Jerkin. We decided to brave the way to Pulpit rock top, which is About 3.8 Kms one way and around 700 Mts Tall. One would take around 2 ½ to 3 hrs to reach the top of the rock which is standing vertically over River stream.One can have the Panoramic view of this rock and River below. But there is no easy way to reach there. One has to carry food and water as the journey will be extremely tiresome. The journey is so physically demanding it was not meant for people like us. However after deciding to go by this route there is no looking back. Our Journey was further made difficult by rain and clouds. The path was not visible beyond few yards. If you do a small mistake you are bound to fall and injure yourself. It took us 3 hours to reach the top .By the time we reached we were so physically exhausted we took some energy drinks and cookies to reclaim energy. We were so fortunate after reaching there sun god opened his eyes ,we could see the awesome view of the rock and surrounding areas which cannot explained in words and can only be experienced. We spent an hour at this place taking photographs. One would find it difficult to leave this place and it is once life time experience.

We spent equal amount of time to reach the base camp. We could realize how difficult it is to climb down than going up. It was more challenging and physically more demanding. After reaching Stavanger we were so much exhausted it was necessary to take a hot shower to restore our energy. Hotel was kind enough to offer this service even though we have vacated the room in the morning. It may normal for all guests to make such requests.

After dinner we had planned to leave by train to OSLO. Train leaves by 10:00 Pm reaches Oslo by in the morning. In Oslo we have decided to go for sightseeing after putting our luggage in clock room. But yesterday’s adventure had serious effect on our ability to walk. Oslo is place where we have to see lot of places. In these countries the local transport is extremely good unlike USA and Canada. Oslo we first visited noble peace prize centre, where we c could see the Nobel peace prize winners photographs. Nobel peace prize is given at OSLO and other Nobel prizes are given at Swedish academy of science located in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. After visiting Nobel centre we went Vigeland stone sculpture Nobel peace prize museum

Park where we could see world renowned stone sculptures created by renowned sculptor Gustav. Afterwards we visited Viking Museum where old ship used by Viking is kept. There is not much to see there and entry fee was ridiculously high. By this time me and wife so exhausted due to previous days tiresome journey we were no mood to see anything .We could not visit the opera house which is another magnificent modern monument. We had to be satisfied with what we have seen so far and our visit to Norway was coming to close. We took evening flight back to Helsinki, where we stayed for almost two and half months.

View of Bergen city

Oslo railway sation

In between we visited several countries, like Estonia, Sweden, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, switzer land and Paris. One thing common I have seen in these countries is excellent infrastructure, like roads, transport system, by sea, land and by air, which we cannot see any other part of the world.

What makes feel sad is that our country perhaps unique in the world and whatever we saw in those countries are available in our country in abundance. We have history of more the 3000 yrs. We have magnificent structures like Tajmahal, Fatepur sikhri,Sun temple ,Kazuraho ,Belur and Halebeed,Magnificient temples of Madurai and Tanjavur in Tamilnadu,Ajantha ,Ellora cave painting ,Historical monuments of Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi, Palaces of Rajastan and Mysore ,Akshara dhama temple,Kutub Minar,Bahai centre,lal kila at Delhi ,Bulbaiya of Luknow, Gir lion sanctuary,Bengal Tiger sanctuary,innumerable number of zoos where we all animals in the world,Sanchi stoopas,Bodh Gaya , Golden temple at Amritsar, beautiful Himalayas and heaven earth Kashmir and Sikkim and longest beach of Goa to mention a few. India is total package of culture, heritage where monuments created by all religions in the world can be found which no other country in the world has and can be proud of.

But unfortunately, we do not know how to showcase natural treasure we have to outside world. Our infrastructure is awful. We showcase filth and not our national treasure. When do we realize this? Why we have to travel abroad when we have everything here. Only difference between those countries and ours is we have messed up everything. We have no pride about our heritage and our national monuments. Travel within our country so hazardous, unsafe and unhygienic which will discourage all of us to take tour and there is no wonder it will discourage outsiders. We do not know how to showcase our rich heritage. It is sad commentary on a country which aspires to become super po