Traveling by car in Norway

I have long wanted to see Norway by car, because it seemed to me that in this country the path itself should be no less important than the destination. An airplane can quickly take you from one city to another, but then you'll miss all the fun: waterfalls that suddenly appear around a bend, small wooden houses on the shore of a fjord, sheep that are completely uninterested in traffic rules, and mountains that look like someone specially put them as decorations for the movie. One day I decided that Norway needed not just to see, but to drive through, as far as I had enough time, energy and patience for Norwegian prices.

First impression of the road

It was like I was inside a huge postcard, only the postcard was constantly moving. The scenery outside the window was changing, and before I could get used to one view, another, even more beautiful, would appear a few minutes later. Sometimes the road ran along a calm fjord, then a real mountain serpentine began, and then suddenly a waterfall appeared, and I started looking for a place to stop, because it was simply impossible to pass by such a sight. At some point, I realized that my main plan for the day was something like this: drive, stop, take pictures, drive again, and stop again.

What I remember the most

I was especially impressed by the fjords, because the photos don't convey their true scale at all. When you stand next to the water and look up at the huge rocks, you get the feeling that the person here is generally a random character who was forgotten to be removed from the frame. 

Several times I just stood silently and looked around, although it's usually difficult for me to spend more than five minutes without a phone, photos, or any comments. Here, I just wanted to remember everything with my eyes, because even the best camera couldn't convey the feeling of this space.

The difference between expectation and reality

At the same time, traveling by car in Norway turned out to be not as carefree as I imagined. At some point, I decided that I had already gotten used to the local roads well enough, and it was then that another section appeared ahead, where the road went up, became narrower, and there was nothing around but mountains and rocks. 

I looked at the navigator, then at the road, then back at the navigator and tried to figure out why it was so calmly telling me that the next turn was still a few kilometers away, as if I were driving along Moskovsky Prospekt.

An unexpected adventure

In Norway, I had to accept that the usual human "quick run to the store" here could turn into a separate expedition. There were shops everywhere, so one day I decided that I would definitely find water without any problems, and I set off almost light. 

After a while, it turned out that the nearest store was not at all where I would like it to be, and my body was already beginning to hint very transparently that it was time to think ahead. As a result, I learned to treat water, food, and snacks almost as a strategic resource, especially when the mountain road loomed ahead again.

Mobile wardrobe

The funniest thing happened with the stops. In Norway, it's almost impossible to drive past a beautiful place and tell yourself: "Okay, I'll take a picture next time." The next time may simply not happen, because in five minutes an even more incredible landscape will appear around the bend. Therefore, my car gradually turned into a mobile wardrobe, a snack warehouse and a photo studio at the same time, and I myself learned to change clothes between stops as quickly as if I were participating in some very strange travel show.

A separate story is the Norwegian weather 

It can change in the time it takes you to get out of the car, take out your phone, and try to take a beautiful photo. I could start the day with the sun, get caught in the rain an hour later, then see the fog, and after a while find myself back in the sunny valley. At first, I tried to plan photos and walks depending on the forecast, but I realized pretty quickly that Norway would do it its own way anyway. So I just started carrying a jacket, a raincoat, and hope for the best.

One of the most memorable moments was the feeling of absolute freedom that appears during a car trip. You can stop wherever you want, turn off to a small village, linger by the fjord, or just park by the road and look at the mountains for a few minutes. On a typical trip, I often think about the time, the schedule, and what else I need to see, but here I've gradually stopped counting the hours. For the first time in a long time, it didn't matter at all how many sights I could see in a day.

What I've learned

Norwegian roads have taught me to take my time. Here, speed seems to become secondary by itself, because there are too many things around for which you want to go slower. Especially beautiful sections begin where the road passes between the mountains and the water, and then I caught myself thinking that I absolutely do not want this segment to end. Even if the next destination was waiting for me, I wanted to stay inside this landscape for a little longer and drive without any purpose.

Another memory

One day, after a long drive, I was so tired that I decided to have a quick snack and continue on my way, but I managed to cause a small disaster in the car with coffee and food. On a normal trip, I would have been upset, but here I just looked at all this, sighed and thought that now I have another Norwegian memory, just not the most photogenic.

But in the evenings, I felt especially strongly what all this was about. After driving all day, I wanted to find a small cozy house or hotel, take off my shoes, put my phone on charge and just sit by the window. Mountains were dark behind the glass, and water was visible in the distance, and I was going through the photos of the day and couldn't decide which one turned out better. And each time, I discovered that the photo I thought was ordinary actually looked like it had been specially prepared for a travel magazine.

A special atmosphere

It seems to me that this is why a car trip through Norway is remembered not by individual sights, but by the feeling of the road. I remember not only fjords and mountains, but also turns, rain on the windshield, small stops, coffee at a roadside cafe, sheep near the road, and those moments when I just sat behind the wheel and realized that I was in a place that I had previously known only from photographs.

When the trip was over, I caught myself with a strange feeling.: I wanted to return not so much to a particular city or a particular fjord, but to get back in the car and drive somewhere further. Perhaps this is the main secret of Norway – it makes you enjoy not only where you come from, but also the road itself. And the road there is so beautiful that sometimes you completely forget where you were going to go at all.