Scandinavia Round Trip 1995

My over fifty photos of Scandinavia are sorted by countries and they are divided into two galleries:

My 33 pictures of Norway only in the large picture gallery 1 ->

My 20 pictures of Scandinavia in the large picture gallery 2 ->

My first large journey into Northern Europe started in 1995 for four weeks. We took a minibus, sleeping bags and food with us for travelling through Sweden, Norway, north Finland and east Denmark. In the south of Norway we stayed somewhat longer because of all the attractions there. However I can only describe some of the highlights on this website.

In the south of Sweden we went to Malmö, Helsinborg and also Lund with the old cathedral. On the way to Oslo we drove through Göteborg and we saw the Vänern. The Väner is the largest lake of Sweden and the third largest lake in Europe.

Oslo, the capital of Norway is situated at the end of the Oslofjord. You find the city centre between three special places: between the Royal Castle in the northwest, the railway station in the southeast and the port and city hall in the south. From the port ferries go to the museum peninsula Bygdøy where you can visit historical buildings and ships.

After staying in Oslo our most beautiful days in Norway began: daily we saw fjords, mountains and many waterfalls. After mountains and highlands we saw wide valleys or narrow ravines and reverse again.

We went from Oslo to the west and saw at first some smaller, later also larger and more waterfalls. We also visited some of the typical Stave Churches. Finally we admired many of the world-famous fjords of Norway.

For one day we went by train in the highlands. We took the Bergen Railway from Voss to Finse and the Flåms Railway. The Flåms Railway goes from Myrdal, where also the Bergen Railway stops, into the Aurlandsfjord and down to Flåms. On twenty kilometers the train climbs 867 meter up.

On a clear and calm morning we left the Sognefjord towards the Lustrafjord and we stoped after discovering the unique picture of sun, fog, clouds and water.

The mountain world of Norway is ideal for some hiking and climbing tours. We spent some hours as well at the largest mainland glacier of Europe - the Jostedalsbre - as in Jotunheimen where you find several mountains with a high of more than 2400 meter.

In Norway they did not build only the stave churches out of timber but also the houses like in Røros (mining industry town southeast of Trondheim). Røros is part of the World Heritage of the UNESCO.

Beyond the Polar Circle the landscape becomes flatter and the vegetation more meager. Not far away from Bodø we saw the largest narrow stream of the world: Saltstraumen. Because of the narrow end of a fjord at the Atlantic Ocean there are intensive ebb and flood-time with a strong stream.

After stopping in Tromsø and Hammerfest we reached the North Cape island Magerøya by ferry. Today there is a tunnel under the bay. But the famous North Cape rock is actually not the northernmost point of Europe, if you do not watch at Svalbard and Greenland. The northernmost point is just a little rock some minutes west of the cape. We could hardly see both rocks because we were wrapped into dense clouds unfortunately.

On the return journey we drove through Finland and Sweden. We saw the lake Inari and the capital of Lappland, Rovaniemi. Via Luleå, Umeå and Uppsala we continued to reach the Swedish capital Stockholm.

In Stockholm we visited the city center in detail during very good weather. The main attraction is the central island "Gamla Stan" with all the multicolored houses and the narrow steep lanes. Later we went in the south of Sweden and took a bath in the lake Vättern.

Finally we arrived in Copenhagen and at the next day on the island Møn with its chalk rock coast. During good weather you can see the white coast of Møn from the German island Hiddensee. In the port of Gedser there is still the former ramp for the railway trains which went by ferry to Rostock until the early nineties.

This is the end of my first big journey to the North of Europe. I saw many places which I will explore during some of my next Scandinavia tours.

If you want you can correct my English because it is not my native language.
Just send me an e-mail: webmaster@nordpaul.de

• Northern lights      Aurora Borealis pictures
• North Cape      Welcome to North Cape 71° North
• Cycling      to the North Cape (more than 3600 miles)
• Scandinavia      at Wikipedia
• Nordic countries      at Wikipedia
• Link collection Northern Europe     with more links to the world wide web

... more of South-Norway        and glaciers  

... more of Stockholm        

... more of Copenhagen