A few more with the mood changed. It could be sunny in one minute and switched to gray. Lofoten mood swings!


By the dock with the mountains backdrop

The next morning we woke up with at least 4” of snow outside. I was happy because I love snow. It was beautiful and peaceful. Once again, we were set to leave by bus at 9:00am for Reine. The journey only takes 20 minutes.



From bedroom window

Snowing!



After breakfast, we tracked through the snow to our bus stop. It was still snowing steadily and we realized that our plan for the ferry to Vinstad might not happen.









When we reached Reine, it was snowing pretty hard. We tried to contact our Lofoten bed&breakfast Reine, so that we could have our bags stored. Since it was a contactless booking, there was no one at the reception to let us in. We walked to the dock, but there was no ferry or people at the site. We just happily wandered around the area in the snow. It was so magical and serene!

We later heard that there was closure on E10 towards Svolvær due to a rockslide. We were a bit concerned since we were heading back to Svolvær the next day. We went to the visitor center to find out more information about the situation and indeed confirmed the closure of the E10.

We had to change our travel plans since we had to fly off from Harstad/Narvik airport to Oslo. In trying to avoid the closure road, we found the Hurtigruten cruise that was leaving from Stamsund to Svolvær on the same day at 7:40pm. We managed to book the port to port itinerary online on the same day to avoid being trapped by the rockslides on E10 after Leknes. We forwent the night stay at Reine and booked the Akker Brugge at Svolvaer for another night stay.





It turned out that a negative situation became a positive experience. We enjoyed the journey from Reine to Leknes just as much as before, and from Leknes to Stamsund, the journey was just as beautiful. The best was the cruise from Stamsund to Svolvaer, it was a thoroughly surprising journey, beautiful and delightful. The cost for the port to port cruise was around $35 for two. We arrived Svolvaer at 9:20pm.


Leaving beautiful Reine

Hamnoy

Hamnoy


Hamnoy Bridge

The church

On the way to Stamsund

Blue houses instead of ref






The cruise that we were going on

Beautiful!


Mural in Stamsund port



Leaving the port of Stamsund

On the way to Svolvaer








Sunset



Fiskarkona,-The fisherman's wife, was made by the sculptor Per Ung (1933 – 2013) and stands at the far end of the breakwater at the entrance to Svolvær.

Gorgeous photos! I hope to get to Norway some day. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Cherthor enjoying your excellent TR! Love all the photos. The scenery is breathtaking. I'm curious - is there a reason you chose to go in mid-April instead of a bit later in the season? Were the buses busy? It must have taken you a lot of research to plan your itinerary.

Hi Melnq8,
I knew you like to hike, so fall time is the best or early May to June if you do not mind the mud. Northern Norway is very beautiful with snow covered peaks.

Hi yk,

If I would do it again, I would choose beginning of April to visit so that I could have the chance to see aurora in the Hamnoy area. I am not keen on chasing the aurora with the tour, but I was told that the aurora presence is very high in March to early April, and you can see it right out of the rorbuers in the area. It was very pretty and serene for our visit even with no aurora presence.
I also like snow covered peaks, and the clear blue sky after the snow.

Easter holidays also less frequent transportation in Norway. It is an important factor to put in the planning.
A lot of shops were closed when we were there. We like the quietness but is not for everyone. The buses were not fulled and we just bought tickets when we were ready to move on.

It was instead quite a challenge to plan for the trip.

“It was indeed quite a challenge to plan for the trip”

Such a fabulous report, glad you included the transport details and challenges.
What a stunning landscape - I’ve been over your photos several times - the huge mountains, the rocky bays, the snowfalls, the stilted housing, i have so many favourites!

Hi Adelaidean,

Thanks for the kind words. I am glad the report brings joy to whoever reads it. I, myself, really enjoyed the simple happiness that the Mother Earth provides us as we were passing through.

Continuing….We woke up the next day with a gray overcast sky. We decided to visit Henningsvær after we had done our much needed laundry in the morning. Henningsvær was less than an hour's bus ride from Svolvær but services were not that frequent. We planned to leave at 12:30pm and back with the 3:51pm bus schedules. Henningsvær is a cute fishing village with a well known soccer field on the small rugged peninsula. Unfortunately it was an overcast day when we were there.




Waking up with cloudy sky

On the way to Henningsvær





Rugged coastline on the way to Henningsvær



Henningsvær

Henningsvær


Henningsvær soccer field on a small peninsula



Snowing, and the mountain on the far sight was almost not in view.

Our last day in Lofoten turned out to be a beautiful day. I woke up 4:30am in the morning and saw a beautiful sunrise sky through the window. I knew it would be a gorgeous and happy day for venturing. After an early breakfast at 6:30am from the hotel, we decided to do a 5km round trip walk to the statue of the Fisherman’s wife “Fiskerkons”.


Early morning, 4:30am, looking out the window

Beautiful reflection by the pier

Sunrise by the pier

Beautiful blue sky

Walking over the Svinoy Bridge

So calm and peaceful


Very quiet and beautiful day

Our bus from Svolvaer center to Evenes airport was scheduled to leave at 3:05pm. Initially I was skeptical about taking this 3 hour bus ride to the airport, worried that it might not make our flight leaving at 8:10 pm. After a number of the long bus rides in Norway, we knew that we would be fine. We arrived on time at 6:10pm, and going through the security was a breeze.


On the bus to Hastad/Narvik airport

Leaving Svolvaer





Lodingen village

Lodingen ferry port

The bus waited to pick up and drop off some passengers.

Crossing the Tjeldsund Bridge

Runway with the view of a snow capped mountain

Leaving the beautiful northern Norway! Hope to come back someday with a different season.

Sunset!

We arrived in Oslo at 9:30pm and managed to get on the 10:13pm train to the city center. We used the VY app to check the train schedules and to buy the tickets. It was very convenient and easy to use the VY app. It cost us kr124 for two which was a lot cheaper than taking the airport shuttle or taxi. Our hotel Sommerro was only a 6 minutes walk from the train station.

The water in most of those photos looks smooth as glass.

Yes, mirror pictures, calm and peaceful!

We only had one full day in Oslo city with the two nights stay. We would after fly to Stavanger for one of the much anticipated hikes in Norway- Preikestolen or Pulpit rock hike.

It was a beautiful day in Oslo. The Sommerro hotel’s breakfast was the best among all the hotels we had stayed in Norway, cooked to order breakfast with other varieties included with the hotel stay.

After breakfast, we walked from the hotel to the waterfront promenade. Oslo city is indeed pretty and very walkable. We skipped the museums but covered a lot of grounds in a day. We enjoyed our city walk, and very much appreciated the beautiful day.


Norwegian Nobel Institute


Nobel Peace Center

Waterfront promenade





City Hall

Franklin Roosevelt


Akershus Fortress











Powerful and moving!






Oslo Opera House- beautiful Reminded me of Sydney Opera House.



Saunas by the harbor












Along Karl Johans gate




Oslo National theatre

Oslo National Palace









Wonderful Lobster playground

Moving on to Stavanger……Our flight next day to Stavanger left at 12pm on time. We arrived in Stavanger with a cloudy sky and drizzling. We had two nights in the city center and our hotel was near the bus station. We planned to do the Preikestolen hike the next day, provided Mother Nature gave us the “go”.

We took the shuttle bus from the airport to the city center. It took less than 30 minutes for the journey, and our hotel was 6 minutes walk away from the bus stop. After checking in the Clarion hotel, we went to the visitor center for the city’s information, and also sought advice for tomorrow’s hike to the Preikestolen hike.

We were just three days short for the regular starting of the summer season bus schedules to the Preikestolen Base Camp. There were no direct buses going to the trail head the next day. The ladies from the information center told us that we could take the public bus100 to Jørpeland, then followed by taking a taxi to the Preikestolen Base Camp. She also told us that it would be a good day to go the next day, no rain was in the forecast. We also asked for a city map to explore the neighborhood even though the drizzling continued for the day.

The next morning we went to the bus station to take the bus100 after breakfast. We paid Kr80 for the two senior tickets. The journey lasted about 51 minutes and went through the 14.4km Ryfylke Tunnel, which is the deepest and longest subsea tunnel. It was a present journey and the bus was not crowded even with school children going to school and locals going on their business for the day. We arrived at Jorpeland town center by the Kiwi grocery store. We called the Strand taxi number provided by the tourist information center, waited for 15 minutes, and the taxi showed up with already two passengers who were also going to the Pulpit Rock trail head. The journey only took about 10 minutes. We paid kr320 for the ride, and the other couple





























paid the same. We had already been told that the journey would cost around Kr400 by the tourist information center.

It was a nice day for hiking. The park is free to enter but the parking is not free. It is listed as a round trip hike of 8km with an elevation gain of 500 meters. At the end of our hike, it showed in our app a much longer distance covered, and the Sherpa built staircases were a lot higher than the normal stair steps. It was a harder hike than what it said to be a moderate hike to us. It was still a very beautiful hike, and we thoroughly enjoyed the hike.

We managed to carpool a taxi later back to Jorpeland with another couple and took the bus100 back to Stavanger central. We were happy with the good weather and the hike we had done. We would be catching an early bus from Nor-Way express to Bergen the next morning.

I had pre-booked the tickets for this journey before the trip, paid kr796 for two with panoramic view seats. The journey took around 4.5 hours and included two ferry crossings. (The bus route includes two ferry crossings, one across the Boknafjord and the other across the Bjørnafjord. Tickets can be bought online via vy.no or in the Vy app, or directly from the driver.) Our bus left at 8:30am and arrived punctually at Bergen 12:50pm. It was a good day, the view on the way was beautiful, the two ferry crossings were absolutely pleasant, comfortable and relaxing. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire journey.

Leaving Stavanger

On the way to Bergen

Beautiful scenery


Farmlands along the coastline

Coming ferry for our first crossing, the timing of the bus arriving is perfectly coordinated



Very pleasant and beautiful ferry ride







Beautiful fjords along the coastline


That house has it all!







Another ferry crossing

We stayed 3 nights in the Home Hotel Havnekontoret, which is right by the Brugge Harbor. We did the NIN on our own, and stayed a night in Flåm. Since this area is very well trotted, I would stop my report here. We enjoyed our visit in the Bergen area but not as much as the other regions that we visited. So long, happy travels!