Hello Beauties

I recently came back from a trip to Norway. It’s the second time I go there. The first time, I went in winter to have a chance to see the Northern Lights and it was amazing. You can read the post about that trip here.

This time, I went in summer, to be able to do other types of activities, like climb some fjords of Norway.

My friend that lives there, made an excellent itinerary for us. Fully packed with activities and fun. In less than a week, I went on a cruise, visited two cities, climbed two fjords, and did many more things.

Let´s start from the beginning

The base was Stavanger because it’s where my friends live. On the first day of arrival, we went to see the principal monument of Stavanger. The name of the monument is Sverd I fjell, which means the swords of the mountain. It is three swords of 10 meters high, that commemorate the victory of king Harold in the Hafrsfjord battle in the year 872.

We also did a walk around Stavanger to be mesmerized by nature and the fact that at 10 PM it was sunny like it was 4 PM. Amazing and completely different from what I experienced when I went there for the first time.

On the first day, we still made a cultural thing of Norway, that is the steam rooms that are located in the river with a view of the fjords. Amazing, once again. We were in the heat of the steam room and then you could jump to the river to have the contrast of the north.

The second day was the hardest one, in terms of physical activity. We hiked the World’s longest wooden stairs, AKA, Florli.

To arrive at the base of Florli we did a small cruise through the beautiful fjords. We saw amazing and unique landscapes, including the Preikestolen, the most famous fjord in Norway.

Arriving at Florli, you have in the base a small hotel and a restaurant, to prepare for the trip or stay there if you regret going up and want to stay in the base waiting for the rest of the group.

Florli has 4444 stairs and follows two water pipelines and the rails of an old trolley of material.
You start the climb with a lot of enthusiasm, in the middle you start to feel the legs and also start to take off clothes because the body will start to get warm. But no one wants to give up because the view it´s wonderful and each time you think about giving up you just need to look around and the motivation comes again. You have some spots on the rails or the rock to stop to rest and eat. I don´t want to sound convincing, but I have physical preparation, and I think if I was by myself, I wouldn´t stop. For me, again, the climb was not too bad, I enjoyed it. I think it took more or less 2 hours to arrive at the top. The view was spectacular. We stopped for lunch at the top of the mountain and rested our legs because the worst was about to come.

I don´t understand why no one talks about the mountain descent. I did research some days before the trip, and all the blogs that I read were talking about the climb but not about the descent, which for me was one hundred times worse than the hike. Maybe it was worse for me, because I have a knee injury, and in the middle of the descent, the pain was strong and I couldn´t bend the knee, so I had to be extra careful about how to put my legs on the rocks.

The descent is beautiful, but you go through some trials of rocks, mud, water, wood, forest, and all these types of trails in the descent of a big mountain. We usually don’t put pictures of us in the blog, but the next one is me in the end.
The feeling is of relief because joining the pain I had always the feeling that I was about to fall, hit my head on the rock, and die.

In summary, this was a hard climb but I would do it again because I like to challenge myself, and the feeling after it is of fulfillment and pride.

If you are thinking of doing Florli, I highly recommend you to do it because it´s worth it, but go with some preparation.

About what to wear. Layers are the answer. At the top it can be a little cold and windy, so a windbreaker jacket and a thermal would be good, but during the hike up the stairs, you will feel the heat of the climb.

The next day was the cruise day.
We went on a real cruise from Stavanger to Bergen. The ship makes the crossing between Denmark and Norway, stopping in Stavanger and Bergen.

We spent two days and one night in Bergen, but that will stay for a future post.

On the last day in Stavanger, we did the famous Preikestolen. Of course, we couldn´t go away without it.

After doing Florli, this one was easy. My knee handled it, and the climb is not bad. We saw during the climb so many people like it was a walk through the city. Old people, young, babies, and a lot of dogs with their owners doing the morning walk.

We started the climb at 8 AM to avoid the crowds, but even when we arrived at 10 AM at the top, there was already a line to take pictures at the point to the Preikestolen. The view is something from another world. It’s breathtaking.

The descent’s on the same path of the climb, so we had to stop sometimes to let the people that were going to the top pass. It was so busy, like when you are in transit during rush hour.

It was a sunny day with a warm temperature, so the lunch was on the fjord riverbank, which was a little beach.

Talking about clothes. Norway is a practical city, and if you are going to do these types of activities, you need to be comfortable. Even in summer, the temperature is not more than 25ºC degrees in Stavanger at least, so a jacket or a light blouse with long sleeves it’s appropriate.

Hope you liked following this trip as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

Xoxo

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