Atlantic Ocean Road is located on the West coast of Norway and is known to be one of the greatest highway road built so close to the ocean. It is also known to be the most dangerous highway in the road. Then the weather is harsh with strong wind, the ocean wave could gush the bridge and splash all over the high way. The high way also connects multiple islands all together and thus its aerial view is magnificent.
Atlantic Ocean Road is about 2.5 hours North of Alesund and we drove towards there early in the morning to avoid the crowd. We got there around 9AM in the morning and there was already many cars there at the visitor center. The good thing is that we beat the tourist bus first.
The visitor center is located right after the famous bridge. There is a walking path around the visitor center. People could also step off the trail to climb up the hill to have a better view of Atlantic Ocean Road. On the North side of the visitor center, there was also a huge crab decorated by using ocean wastes found in the sea. Its artist wanted to demonstrate that we should not pollute the ocean anymore. We also saw people flying drones there to get the aerial view. Unfortunately we did not have a drone to take those amazing aerial photos.
From the bottom of the famous bridge at Atlantic Ocean Road, it looked as if the bridge broke in half the the car was going to fall off the ramp. That is how steep the bridge is and created this illusion of broken bridge.
As we continue to drive North along Atlantic Ocean Road, we stopped by each view points to have a moment with each of these amazing view. At one of the stop, we came to realize there is a boat that take people to a small island to experience a Viking styled hotel. We did not find this place when we were planning this trip, which was unfortunate. It could be an interesting experience.
We we head back to Alesund, we took a detour to visit the small fishing village at Bud. Bud was not that interesting to be honest and not much to do there other than the Bud museum. The route to Bud was not that scenic either.
In general, Atlantic Ocean Road is an interesting place to visit, especially if you are into architecture. However, if you are short on time, it may not be a top priority to visit here.
South Sister Mountain is the third tallest mountain in the state of Oregon. Its summit is 10358 feet above the sea level. South Sister Mountain is located in central Oregon, about 30 minutes East of Bend. The summit trail to South Sister is rather doable without any professional gears and thus it is one of the most popular summit trail among hikers. The trail to the summit is about 6.5 miles long with almost 5000 feet of elevation gain. Since we have done this hike before in the day light, this time we are going to do a night hike to South Sister summit.
We left Portland around 4:30PM in the afternoon and got to South Sister trail head at Devil's Lake around 9:30PM. We stopped in between to get some dinner. By the time we got to the trail head, the sky was already getting dark. We had to put on our head light after we parked our car. One thing to note is that Northwest Pass is valid here. If you don't have Northwest pass, the parking fee is $5 to be paid in the envelop. Some people simply park along the highway so that they don't have to pay and also closer to the trail.
Since it was so dark, we had some difficulty getting on the correct trail. Initially we got on to the Moraine Lake trail, which we thought was right. But after checking on the map that is on the board, we realized that this trail is a bit further than we need to go. Thus we went back and went a bit further in the parking lot to find the correct trail.
We started the hike around 10:30PM. We crossed the highway and entered the first park of trail in the forest. The first park of the trail in the forest is about 1.5 miles long. It was pitch dark in the forest and star light could not shine through. It was a moonless night as well since moon would rise during the day and moon would set at the end of the day. We had our head light up and also used a flash light along the way. On the way through the forest, we also ran into few other groups of night hikers. The other hikers planned to camp at Morain Lake first before going to the summit.
After about 40 minutes, we went past the forest and got to the open ground. The stars shone upon us. It was a beautiful night and we could see the milky way clearly in the sky. It was such a leisure to hike in such a night in the mountain. We felt so relieved.
We continued to ascent and hike further along the trail and saw a camp with camp fire. This should not be allowed since fire at this place is quite dangerous.
As we continue to hike, the trail was getting harder and harder to recognize even with our head light on. We had to look for tracks on the ground to find the correct trail. Then eventually we lost track of the trail as we tried to climb over the ridge to Tear Drop Lake. We went on the wrong path and hiked towards the wrong direction on the ridge. We soon recognized that we were not on the correct path. Luckily, we traversed back to where we were and found the correct trail and finally got to the top of the ridge that overlooks Tear Drop Lake. On the ridge, we could see everything behind us and saw blinks of head light from the groups of hikers behind us.
From Tear Drop Lake to the summit is the final part of the trail. This final park of the trail was the hardest part. The air was getting thin and the elevation gain was crazy here. After an hour, we finally reached the top of the summit overlooking the crater and the North Sister.
The time is 3:00AM in the morning when we were at the top. It was still 2.5 hours away from sun rise and the wind was blowing extremely hard. It was freezing cold at the top due to the wind and we were trying to find cover to dodge the wind. We put on extra layers of clothes but still felt the chill to our bones. South Sister summit has shelters that are made out of lava rocks, but it was not good enough to protect us from the harsh wind. We were shivering and felt like we were going to go into the coma. We did not prepare for such harsh wind. We eventually went down to the crater where the wind could not get to us because the crater was like a bowl and wind blew over the crater on the top.
Then the time finally arrived. We started to see the twilight in the sky and were just waiting for the sun rise. We climbed to the very top to wait for the sun to come up. As we waited, more and more people got to the summit and the moment was totally worth the night hike. The scene was unbelievable. We could see the sun rising from the horizon and shone upon the mountains. We loved it so much. The view on the South side over the Cascade Lake was also so amazing.
After enjoying the view for an hour, we headed back down the trail at around 6:30AM. Walking down the trail was also harsh. There was a lot of scree on the trail which was quite slippery. Our body was also very tired since we have not slept for over 24 hours. We finally got down and got back to the car around 9:30 and it was such a relieve.
Overall, this night hike was totally worth it. We recommend to have a perfect understanding of the trail when doing the night hike in case of getting lost. Most importantly, also bring enough clothing and prepare for the harsh wind.
Dalsnibba is the highest car accessible view point in Europe and was only built back in 2016. Access to Dalsnibba is only possible through a toll road, which costs 140NKR per car. The Dalsnibba is also known as Geiranger Skywalk because it overlooks Geiranger. Since we visited Geiranger, Dalsnibba is the next reasonable place to visit.
From Geiranger, we drove 1 more hour to get to Dalsnibba. At the bottom of Dalsnibba toll road, there was a gate collecting the toll fee. Then heading all the way up to the view point took another 10 minutes. On the way up to the view point, we saw many small green EV cars from Geiranger driving up there.
At Dalsnibba view point, there was not many parking spaces, but luckily not many people were visiting this place for some reason. We were able to find a parking space easily.
Other than checking out the view on the platform, we could also walk off the platform to get closer to the edge of the mountain to have a better view of the valley and fjord. It was an incredible view.
There was also gift shop and washroom here. However, there was a construction going on and there were only 3 washrooms available for us. Thus the line for washroom was crazily long.
As we head back down, we also saw this incredible view of Lake Djupvatnet. Lake Djupvatnet is located at the South side of Dalsnibba. The landscape around the lake was just so different. There was no trees, but rocks. The water of Lake Djupvatnet was incredibly calm when we got there. It has this perfect reflection of the mountain around the lake. We have never seen anything like this. The lake water acted as a mirror providing perfect reflection.
Along the mountain road, we also saw some interesting houses on the mountain side. All these houses of sod roof and look very cute. There wasn't any road that lead to these houses so we weren't sure whether these houses are still occupied or not. Perhaps the Trolls live in there!
Dalsnibba is definitely an interesting place to visit, especially if you are already planning to visit Geiranger. Lake Djupvatnet was a surprise visit for us and we were really happy to see this lake provide an incredible reflection.
Geiranger is one of the most popular cruise destination in Norway. There could be 2 or more cruises stopping by Geiranger everyday. Geiranger is located about 2 hours away from Alesund by taking a ferry to Eidsdal. On the mountain side of Geiranger, there is also a popular view point where tourist stop by to take photos.
We left Alesund quite early around 6AM to avoid the crowd. When we got to the ferry, it was just about to leave and we just made it on time. It was our first time taking the ferry in Norway and the fee was 200NKR, it was not cheap!
We got off the ferry and got to the view point around 8AM and there were already many people. We were lucky to find a parking spot. The most annoying thing was that this view point did not have a parking place for tour bus and tour bus simply just stopped in the middle of the road and blocked all the traffic. It was very frustrating for cars that wanted to go through.
From the view point, we could see Geiranger on the far side with 2 cruises already arrived at the pier. The view of the entire fjord was also simply amazing. We got a panoramic view of the entire fjord. The ultra wide angle lens really helped here to capture the panorama view of the fjord.
As we were about to leave, backing out the car was difficult. Due to the tour bus parked along side the road, it completed blocked the view of incoming traffic. Luckily one of the car wanted our parking space and waited for us to come out.
At Geiranger, there were several unique gift shops with sod roofs. There were also several restaurants to attract visitors, but we did not stop by because it was too difficult to find a parking space. At Geiranger pier, there was also a store renting out environment friendly green EV for tourists to drive around. It was simple and small, but powerful.
The Geiranger view point is definitely a must go place when visiting Alesund. It gives the best view of the fjord.
Trollstigen is a famous tourist attraction in Norway. It is located about 2.5 hours away from Alesund. Trollstigen mean Troll's Path and the valley does seem like a path that Trolls would take. To get to Trollstigen, one must drive up this winding mountain road that is extremely narrow and drivers need to have good driving skill to back up the car on the narrow winding road.
Trollstigen was the first place that we visit as soon as we landed at Alesund and got the rental car. The weather at Alesund was amazing with about 16 degrees Celsius with sunny weather. The light breeze never felt so good.
As we reached the bottom of the mountain road, we could see a waterfall falling from the top of the mountain just along side of the road. The view was unbelievable. As we drove up the road, the traffic stops often to allow tour bus to go through, which was quite annoying. After about 30 minutes of drive on the mountain road, we have finally reached the top and got to Trollstigen view point.
We got to the top around 11PM and it was very difficult to find a parking space. The main parking lot was already full. We had to park the car along side the road and the assistants there said we could park there.
The view from the top was just incredible. We could see the winding mountain road that we were driving on. The view of the valley was on the far side. There was also a clear water pool at the attraction. The water was very clear and came from the melted snow. The temperature of the water was freezing cold.
There were also several hiking trails from Trollstigen. We did the easiest one that was only 2.5km. The trail went on top of the cliff and came back down on a lake along the road. The trail was mostly on the granite rock and we really enjoyed the view while hiking on the trail.
There were also several ships enjoying their lunch along side of the trail.
Overall, Trollstigen is definitely a must visit place when visiting Alesund. We recommend to go there early to avoid the tour bus and also get a parking space early.
Akershus Fortress was built in 1290 and was used as a military fortress to provide protection to Oslo. It is located right by the bay of Oslo that can oversee any incoming ships. The fortress is now open to public and became a tourist attraction for people visiting from foreign countries. To visit the interior of the fortress requires admission fee, but it is includes as part of Oslo Pass.
We got the Oslo Pass of course and went into the fortress to check it out. The fortress is quite big with many rooms to explore. The first place that the tour took us was to the crypt. The crypt of Akershus Fortress was dark and humid, just how a dungeon feels like. The crypt in the fortress also reminded us the crypt of Winterfell Castle in Game of Thrones. It felt exactly the same. In fact, the entire fortress felt like Winterfell Castle. It was very rustic and made out of stones.
After the crypt, we visited the great room. The decoration was not as fancy as the castles in other part of Europe with gold and silver. It was very simple and clean with not much in there. Even the design of the window was very simple.
As we continue along the tour path, we reached the prayer room. The windows of this room has stain glass, which was quite pretty. The centre of the room has the status of Jesus. This room was also darker than the other ones.
After the interior tour, we walked outside to check out the exterior of the fortress. The fortress kept the canons it used back in the days and we could see the rusts on these canons.
We also went up to the fortress wall and we could see very far to the South. It has a great view from the top of the wall and it really was a perfect spot to build a military base to defend the city.
Overall, it was a good experience but do prepare for some walk at the fortress. The fortress is also accessible by walking from Oslo central station. It only took about 10 minutes to get here. If walking is too much to do, there are also buses and trains that come here. We did also see tour bus that parked outside of the fortress, so there are many options to get here.
Tommi's Burger Joint is a popular burger fast-food restaurant in Norway. It has multiple locations across Norway and have received good ratings among people craving for burger. There is a Tommi's Burger Joint right at the central Oslo where the shopping street is at. Since we were tired of seafood, we decided to try some Norwegian burger!
As we were going door to door on the shopping street in Oslo, we stumbled upon Tommi's Burger Joint. We remembered that we read the review of this place and decided to give it a try. There were not many people in there since it was already in the afternoon, but we could still smell the beef patties being grilled on the pan.
We went into the store and got the signature burger of course and we got the meal along with fries. The meal did not come with a drink however and we had to purchase a can of coke separately. The coke can was skinny and tall,, quite different from the coke can in US. It also seems that the volume of the can is smaller.
After about 5 minutes, the burger was here. After having the first bite, the burger was very hot and juicy, with some special sauce in there. The sauce was like BBQ sauce but much sweeter. The fries was not as good as the burger unfortunately. The fries was quite thin, and again quite salty. We did not like the fries much since we prefer thick cut fries.
Overall, Tommi's Burger Joint definitely offers top notch burger, but the fries was just ordinary. We recommend to come here for burger, but don't need to get a meal since it does not come with a drink anyway.
Fiskeriet is a seafood restaurant located at central Oslo in Norway. It sells not just fresh seafood dishes, but also prepares seafood for people to take home to cook. On Yelp and Google Review, it has a relatively high rating as a seafood restaurant and thus we wanted to try it out as our first official meal in Norway.
The restaurant is very close to the central Oslo train station, just about 5 minute of walk. However, we did have to walk through this sketchy alley way that smelled really bad. This alley way was so sketchy that we did not see anyone around and all the stores were shut down.
As we get to Fiskeriet, the street gets better and the restaurant is located across from the park. We did not see many people dining at the restaurant but we still wanted to try it out. As we sat down, the waitress told us that 3 out of 4 dishes on the first page are not available for the day. We guessed that it was Sunday, so the seafood was not replenished.
We looked at the menu and felt that the selections are very limited. There is about a total of 6 entree that we could choose from. Nevertheless, we still ordered 3 dishes to try out. We ordered a fish and chip with halibut, smoke salmon appetizer, and fish cake.
The halibut fish was quite a large piece. There was some drizzles of sea salt on top of it, which made the fish and the fries rather salty. In our opinion, it was way too salty. The fish cake was not great either. The cake itself was quite dry and hard. We did not like it much even though the salad that came with it was quite fresh.
The smoke salmon had a very good texture to it. It was very soft, tender, and juicy. The only issue we had was that it was also very salty. We figured that this is what Norwegian dish is like. Food tend to be more salty than usual.
Although the food was not exactly our taste, we still enjoyed having authentic Norwegian food. While dining in, we also saw Foodora delivery person riding the bike to pick up the food. The waitress at the restaurant was also very generous to give us additional tourist attraction to check out in Oslo. She recommended Ekeberg Park where we could have a view of entire Oslo from the top.
