General: Norway

Last summer I was given the oppurtunity to visit Norway to attend an International Environmental Conference on the small island of Vega. Living in a rural part of England I am used to beautiful scenery, surrounded by mountains and valleys of lush greenery but nothing could prepare me for the breath taking scenery carved through the rocks by ancient glaciers leaving sheer drops, long lakes and spectacular landscapes.

Arriving in Oslo airport we were shocked by how warm it was. We had prepared ourselves for Norway being a cold country but we were greeted by warm sunshine. During the few hours we spent in Oslo I found it to be a bustling friendly city with lots to see and do.

To get to our final location we had to spend a night on a sleeper train. This was an expereince in itself. To wake up in the early hours of the morning and look out of the window to see beautiful forests scattered with little wooden buildings that stood out in what seemed like the middle of no where, surrounded by a cloak of mist which gave almost a fairy tale feel was magical.

We were staying on a small island called Vega. It wasn't exactly the greatest place to have a holiday if you are looking for things to fill the day, but as we had a strick itinerary this didn't bother us. The locals soon warmed to the foreign invasion and proved to be very friendly.

One of the things that came as a great shock to us was the light. As restless teenagers we weren't content with going to bed at a sensible hour. With the island having nothing of a night life we had to settle with walking on the island. The strangest of experiences was the fact that by 1 am, it was hard to distinguish between whether it had got dark and was becoming light again or whether it was still getting dark to decide whether to carry on walking or turn back. We never experienced "night time" as it never got darker than dusk.

Whilst it could be a warm sunny day at sea level, if you climbed any of the surrounding mountains it was possible to find areas of ice, frozen over the sharp rock faces, in which it was possible to indulge in a ice/snow fight or two. If you are able to take a trip to the coasts in Norway or even one of the islands and get to a height that gives you the oppurtunity to look down onto the landscape it is breath taking to be able to see a dozen or so islands scattered between a shiny sea.

Norway is the most beautiful countries I have visited, whilst it is expensive (and food on islands isn't nice as they don't have regualar access to fresh food) the landscape more than makes up for it.