Trolls, Glaciers, and an Obsession with Mayonnaise

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Almost five million Americans are of Norwegian heritage, my late husband among them. His background inspired me to visit this beautiful, easy-to-manage country.

If you want to investigate your Norwegian roots or simply experience Norway, here are some high points based on my recent trip with an itinerary developed by Fifty Degrees North, a Nordic destination company.

Norway is part of the Scandinavian Peninsula with traces of early habitation dating back to roughly 10,000 BC. The Vikings expanded their holdings by trading with other areas and sometimes colonizing them.

This explains similarities between Norway and parts of Scotland, Iceland, and Ireland, such as longboat remnants, common place or personal names, and people with blue eyes and reddish hair.

Wet Suits and Waterfalls

One highlight of the trip was visiting Geraingerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Departing from the tiny town of Lom, we stopped at Nordberg where most of our seven-person group took a short hike. I opted to check out the small inn at the trailhead.

There, I chatted with a young woman who showed me a felted mat for campers to sit on and furs draped on chairs—good for snuggling under during the long, cold winters.

Our bus driver was incredibly capable, expertly navigating winding mountain roads and hairpin turns. Up in the clouds at Dalsnibba, I admired a glorious rainbow while eating a huge cinnamon bun, a popular treat in Norway, where coffee and pastries are devoured at all times of the day.

At Geraingerfjord, we donned wet suits—not the sleek outfits surfers wear, but huge, rubber garments covering us from head to foot. Once clad, we shuffled to our RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat, very like a Zodiac with seats running down the center), driven by William from Kenya, who supplied information laced with humor.

William zipped us around the fjord, pointing out mountaintops where there were once farms and steering our boat close to waterfalls like the Bridal Veil, where cascading waters reveal the outline of a wine bottle.

Watching people paddling kayaks and one brave man swimming in the cold water, I appreciated the relatively mild July weather and the wet suit.

Norwegian Dining: More Meh than Fab

I had two excellent meals during my eight-day stay: one in Oslo at Fiskeriet (Fish Market), featuring a seafood soup with salmon, mussels, and cod in a light cream broth; the other a venison stew later on. High-end eateries serve fish, but fruits and veggies are in short supply as they must be flown in, making even a tiny bit of broccoli thrilling.

Norwegians slather mayonnaise on everything—sandwiches, salads, smoked salmon, even eggs. If you want a snack, pick up a crispbread packaged with a slice of cheese that tastes like cardboard and keeps seemingly forever.

Old World Dancing at an Open-Air Museum

In Oslo, the Norsk Folkemuseum showcases the country’s cultural heritage. Outdoors, you can view sod-roofed houses and watch men and women performing traditional dances in nineteenth-century costumes.

Under cover, browse paintings, maps, old furniture, clothing, and handicrafts. The Folkemuseum is very kid-friendly with wooden stilts, tractors for climbing on, and special activities like harvesting potatoes.

A Famous Stave Church

During the Middle Ages, roughly 1,000 stave churches were built, although only 28 survive. The name “stave” relates to their post-and-lintel construction; the posts are called “stafr” in Old Norse and “stav” in modern Norwegian.

The Ringebu Stave Church, dating from roughly 1220 AD and renovated in the seventeenth century, lies between Lillehammer and Lom.

The interior wood is painted, and candles light the building; the doors are narrow to make it harder for evil spirits to enter. Outside the church is a pretty graveyard glowing with fresh flowers. Ringebu is more than simply a lovely building—it’s an iconic Norwegian sight.

A Tribute to Olympic Spirit

The Olympic Museum in Lillehammer celebrates the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 1952 and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. I admired one of Sonja Henie’s skating dresses, saw early versions of speed skates, and watched excellent videos of past Opening Ceremonies.

In the section devoted to the original Greek games, vases show men competing naked, which they did in all sports other than chariot racing. In this event, drivers wore clothing to “protect” them as they were often thrown from their vehicles and dragged.

There is a wonderful pair of ancient Greek boxing gloves. They were basically strips of leather that the fighter wrapped around his hands. Some boxers picked up rocks to make their punches more painful.

The World’s Longest Tunnel

The Laerdal tunnel is a tribute to Norwegian engineering. Built from 1995-2000 and covering about 15.5 miles, it’s the world’s longest road tunnel and takes about twenty minutes to drive through. Thanks to a sophisticated ventilation system, the air quality is surprisingly good for such a long tunnel.

Spirits and Trolls

The train in Flam takes passengers from sea level almost three thousand feet up to the Myrdal mountain station. Building the train started in 1923 when there were no roads connecting the Flam area with the fjords. While the early trains hauled goods, today the ride is a popular tourist attraction.

The train halted at the dramatic Kjosfossen waterfall. Suddenly, music played as a red-costumed woman appeared, dancing to represent the Norwegian spirit that lures men into the mountains from which they never return.

Like spirits, trolls are deeply ingrained in Norse mythology. Supposedly found in caves, trolls are considered nasty creatures who are unkind to humans. Although there are no reports of actual troll sightings, troll figures are prominent in shops and are usually ugly or funny-looking.

Bergen: Photo Ops and Fish

The second-largest city in Norway with about 300,000 full-time residents, Bergen was originally built almost entirely of wood, which was destroyed by fires and rebuilt. One side of the harbor is lined with pointed-roofed, brightly-colored buildings that were part of the Hanseatic League. The area is Instagrammable and fun to walk around.

The harbor has a large fish market selling everything that swims; in the evening, the market morphs into popular, noisy eating places with more restaurants under nearby tents. If you want to eat dinner here, plan to wait in line or go early.

Fjords, mountains, and glaciers make Norway’s scenery spectacular. In winter, visitors may see the Northern Lights. As it was summer, I missed these but was fascinated by the Midnight Sun, which never fully sets, providing an eerie twilight glow all night long.

If You Go:

• Flam Railroad round trip: $66
• Norsk Folkemuseum: Summer Adult Ticket: about $16.50
• Admission to Ringebu Stave Church: about $6.50
• Adult ticket for the Olympic Museum in Lillehammer: about $15
• Laerdal Tunnel: Free
• RIB boat trip in Gerainger Fjord: $63

*Prices are at the time of publishing.

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Author Bio: Mari S. Gold is a New York City-based freelance writer. Her work has appeared in American Profile, Davler Media’s City Guide, Go Nomad, New York Arts, The New York Times, Stratton Magazine and other outlets. She writes on theater, travel, food, museums and cultural activities and publishes a blog, _But I Digress_ at [www.marigoldonline.net](