Trolltunga
(The Troll’s Tongue Rock) is an amazing tourist destination which deserves a
spot on any 10-places-to-visit-before-you-die list and can thus also be
described as a natural must-see destination for visitors to Norway. The place
is situated a couple of hours from Norway’s second largest city Bergen and the hiking outset in Skjeggedal is
reachable by car, or by bus during the tourist season.
Although it
is a great sight it is certainly not a destination for anyone though, as you
have to calculate a 4-5 hour hike just to get there. Add that you have to stand
in line if you want to test if you’re brave enough for a walk on the edge of
the horizontally stretched rock, and the roundtrip up and down the mountains might
take you anything between 8-10 hours in total. Whatever you do, remember to bring good
shoes..
 |
| Climbing the first mountain on our way to Trolltunga |
Our hiking
team consisted of me, my mother, my boyfriend Yuma and my American friend and travel
buddy Adaora. We were all totally psyched about visiting the Troll's Tongue Rock, and were pretty ready for the long hike that awaited us.
 |
| Our hiking team! |
When that is said, I have to mention that as Norway is a really
mountainous country with a small population a lot of people grow up close to
nature in an environment where it is quite common with outdoor activities such
as hiking in the mountains. That is why our dear friends from Denmark (a land known
to be as flat as a pancake) like to refer to us Norwegians as “Fjellaber”
(mountain monkeys) from time to time. To put it simple: Not all of us had the
same suitable background for mountain climbing, which made parts of the hike go
extremely slow. On the other hand, having a will of steel is also a rather
practical ability, and this meant that we were still able to reach the famous
rock surprisingly fast. The whole hike took 9 hours in total, which included a
large number of photo breaks and of course some 15-30 minutes waiting to get
our photos taken at Trolltunga.
 |
| A sign showing the road to Trolltunga |
Although
parts of the hike proceeded very slowly this meant that some of us had a lot of
time to enjoy the view and eat berries on the way. Norway has a lot of wild edible
berries such as blueberries and cloudberries in the mountain, so my mother and
I spent some time gathering
berries on the way. This earned us a new
nickname too: “berry pickers”. Haha..
 |
| Picking blueberries along the way |
 |
| Just climbing a tree for fun :) |
 |
| T stands for tur (from tour, meaning trip), and shows you the path you have to follow |
 |
| A big rock Yuma climbed on the way |
 |
| Trolltunga is not the only place you can see beautiful nature during the hike |
 |
| Panoramic view of the fjord |
 |
| Relaxing |
Oh well, that's all for now. I'll be back with some more delayed posts about my trip to Norway soon! Ciao! :)
About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.
Leave your comment
Post a Comment