Norwegian Fjords & the Preikestolen Hike, Norway

May 2017.

When I came to live in England, my travel-freak typical Bong brain went crazy. I remember I would explore any and every new place I came to know on the weekends and holidays; the evenings on the weekdays would go in researching any potential places to explore. One such fine evening, I was looking into Norway and my crazy roommate from Chennai leaped at the idea of it. She made me watch few Tamil movies (of course she had to be my translator) which were shot in the Fjords in Norway. Few days later, another friend of mine called me up and shared his experience of hiking the Pulpit Rock in Norway (Man! I was jealous!). And then few days after this, a friend whom I had known briefly for a few days expressed her wish to go to Norway! It was like the whole universe was conspiring to inspire me to go to Norway. And thus Norway happened.

I have been to Norway twice. Once to the capital city of Oslo and next time to hike the Pulpit rock and cruise around the fjords but my second trip was easily my favorite. And I will spend some typing effort today for this favorite city of mine, Stavenger. 

We flew to Stavenger and got into our pre-booked taxi to the airbnb. It was pretty late at night and on the journey from the airport to the city, we saw nothing but darkness and with that darkness came a sense of anticipation and joy. Our Airbnb was a smallish two storied house and we had the first floor to us. It was in a typical Norwegian residential neighbourhood. I will always recommend everyone to stay in a place like this; it gives you the flavour of local life.

Stavenger is quite popular in terms of its population, area, industry. It is located on the Stavenger peninsula in the Southwest Norway and is the gateway to the stunning fjords that adorn the country line.

From our BnB, it was a brisk 20minutes walk to the happening part of the city i.e. the ferry docks. The road on one side of it was lined up with pubs and cafes and expensive restaurants. Food is really expensive in this part of the country. My friend’s favourite story is the 25£ sandwich that we had in one of the cafes. The road follows the port area and then goes inwards to the town shops, museums and churches. On the other side of the port, is the old town. The old town is quite pretty with its narrow and winding uphill roads, cutesy houses decorated with flowers and small gardens. You walk all around the old town and come down on the other side to the modern area hosting a big multiplex. As you walk along the shoreline, you see the many boats and ferries and ships that take you through the fjords.

We jumped into one of these boats and started cruising through the fjords. The fjords in Norway are often considered to be the world’s best and most diverse travel destination and I will not dare to deny it. The fjords are simply stunning with its beautiful deep gorges, flowing waterfalls, towering mountains, deep blue water. Just amazing! We cruised through these beautiful fjords, sometime getting into a little cave like area, sometime getting sprinkled by the whooshing waterfalls, passing striking rocks. We also saw the pulpit rock that we were going to hike the next day. It was hovering on us as our boat passed beneath the rock.

It was a bright day. We walked by the port into the pretty streets lined up with cafes, marvelled at the street art, walked up to the big stony church, hovered on the price lists of the expensive restaurants, crossed on to the other side to the old town, climbed up the mounds and then went inside a tourist office to collect info for the hike to Preikestolen.

Preikestolen or Prekestolen i.e. Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock is a steep cliff that rises 604 metres sharp above the Lysefjord. The top of the cliff is a characteristic flat 25 x 25 m area.  We got a boat from the ferry point and then a bus to the base of the Pulpit rock. The hike begins there. In total it took us about 3-4hours for the round trip. The walk up the hill was very interesting with its rocky steps and breath-taking views on the side. The hike continued to give us pleasant surprises with sudden hilly lakes on the way, a deep flat valley in between, the gorges with variant scenery on the sides. At one part of the trail, the path was broken and we had to pass through with the help of some ropes. It was tricky. 

When I reached the top, my heart skipped a beat. Oh how I had dreamt of that moment and it was just perfect. There are very few things in life that turn out to be exactly how you want to. This was one of those moments. The view was spectacular and the flat top rock stood still that gives you a feeling of both beauty and danger. You could see the mountains rolling till as far as your vision extends with the deep blue sea cutting through it and you feel like you are on top of the world. People were going nuts, dangling their feet from the edge, posing as if they are falling off the edge in front of their cameras. We climbed further up and did our little picnic with some oranges and cold pizza left over from last night’s dinner.

Our trip was coming to an end. With an overdose of scenery and nature, we felt fully content. On our last day, we made a visit to the maritime museum and even chanced upon a cycle race. My friend is a mad cyclist, so it couldn’t have been any more ideal for him. We stood by the road and watched the cyclists riding past in their jerseys and the crowd cheered for them. On our way to from the port to the Airbnb, there was a big lake full of swans and a graveyard of sort. We made a last customary visit to these places and bid farewell to Stavenger.

I loved Stavenger through and through. I can say no more but this trip will always have a special place in my heart because of so many reasons. And if you ever get a chance to visit these heavenly fjords or hike up the Pulpit, do not hesitate, not for a second. ^_^