Hike to Bessegen

Hike over and along the Besseggen mountain is one of the popular hikes in Norway. Besseggen is a part of the Jothunheimen mountains, one of the biggest mountain ranges inside Norway. These mountains are surrounded by beaufitul lakes and scenic valleys. The hike along besseggen w/o a stop usually takes about 6 hours. It is a quite a steep hike in parts and long stretches on top of the mountain with great views all around of the mountains, lakes and glaciers. The hike starts from Gjende and ends in memurubu. The mountain itself is between two lakes called Gjende and besvatnet. Its quite a view when you walk along the ridge sticking out between the two lakes. I think it is one of the most interesting hikes I have done in Norway so far. Challenging and tiring, yet satisfying.
Day 1: We had a group of friends who drove to Valdres, where our company has a cabin. We stayed over the night. Cabin experience is something one must really experience in Norway. When you drive along these mountains all you see is tons of cabins everywhere. Its almost as if every Norwegian has a cabin for summer and winter retreats. They are such a nature loving people. Anyway, we woke up early got ready and went to Gjende to take the ferry to memurubu and start our hike back to Gjende. You could do otherway around but we didnt want to risk missing the ferry on the way back. It was steep hike from Memurubu all along to the top and I was the last one left behind trying to catch up with the other fit guys. But i wasnt complaining and everytime I stopped to catch my breath there was always this fantastic views on both side of the mountains. Snow capped Jothunheimen mountain ranges all around and the green color of the Gjende lake was just mesmerizing. However it was very cold that day and windy as well. It became more windy as we reached went closer to the top. Then we came to this small ridge sticking out in between the two lakes and it was so beautiful. Green color of gjende lake due to the glacier runoff containing clay on one side and the blue color of the Besvannet lake on the other side was just beautiful. Then we climbed the rocks and went to the top of the Besseggen mountain and walked the trail along the top. We stopped here and there to take pictures, catch our breaths and to replenish our salts and energy. Finally almost at the day break we reached Gjende, where we caught the ferry. We were so tired at the end of it, but we truly enjoyed the hike. We had a drink in the coffee shop and went back to our cabin for the night. The guys were treated with a fantastic curry for the night, courtesy Yours truly!
Day 2: Since we were done with the tough hike on saturday, we decided to take it easy on sunday so we could have enough time to drive back home. So we decided to go to Bitihorn mountain very close to Beitostolen, a ski resort near Valdres. It was nothing spectacular, but a small mountain with so clearly marked trail. So we had to kinda figure out the directions to the top. We reached in about 2 hours time. Spent some time in the top, ate our packed sandwiches and rested for a while. On the way back, we decided to take a bit of adventuruous route down and started making our own trail down the mountain along the bushes. it was actually nice since we were trying to race each other to see who reached the bottom first. All in all it was quite an interesting hike and best 2 days of hiking.

Check out the photos from the hike.

Some links:
http://www.besseggen.net/engelsk/index.htm

ferry timings
http://www.gjende.no/en/rutetider.htm

Preikestolen and Kjerag

Having lived in Norway this is a must do hike to Preikestolen or otherwise called Pulpit rock and Kjerag. Both these are fantastic view points of Lysefjorden which goes through Stavanger. they are pretty much located on opposite sides of Lysefjord. However Preikestolen is easily accesible from Stavanger city, Kjerag is quite the opposite. You definitely need a car to go to the base point to climb up to Kjeragbolten. Michel and I decided 2 days before the weekend that we had to go here and made all arrangements. Turned out quite expensive but we were upto it anyway. We decided to rent a car for the weekend and drive so we dont waste time waiting for buses. We took the night train from Oslo to Stavanger and rented a car next morning in Stavanger airport.
Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock): Off we went by the car towards Preikestolen hytta, base point for the hike. We had to first cross the Fjord by a car ferry and then started out hike from the Base point. Unfortunately weather gods werent smiling upon us. It was very foggy and full of clouds that day. It was a beautiful sight to see the mist hovering over the lake on the way. Slowly the hike became a very steep climb. It was crowded despite the fact that it was very cloudy. Maybe everyone was as optimistic as were. It took us almost 3 hours and bit more to reach the rock. It was quite a sight. The Pulpit rock is steep rock face jutting out of the mountains. You can appreciate the steepness from the pictures. On a clear day you could see the Fjord all the way below and around. Quite scary to actually peep and look down from the rock. Still we sat at the edge and took a few photos for our memories and decided that we need to come to this place again on a clear sunny day to enjoy the full view. We were waiting for the fog to clear up, but in vain. So we just walked all around the place and started our hike back to the base point. It was a bit strenuous, but manageable and we reached the hytta and took our car and went to the Three Swords monument near Stavanger. It was 3 Huge swords stuck to the ground with hilts up in the air commemorating the Battle of Hafrsfjord and the King who united three districts into one kingdom.
Kjerag: We had a good rest the night before and started very early to Kjerag. The drive to the base point itself was about 2 hours. It was a beautiful though, through the low clouds sometimes as we were climbing and also the sheeps all along the way and magnificient natural sceneries all around. By the time we reached Kjerag it was quite foggy up there. We knew this was the toughest of the two hikes, but little did we know that it was going to be very steep climb all the way. The initial climb was pretty much on a slippery rock face with no trails, but just a chain to hold on. All along the view just kept getting better. After a particular elevation, we were actually high above the clouds and view became much clearer. We could see the whole mountain ranges covered with snow caps, water falls and the clear fresh water streams from the melting snow. It was just beautiful. Then we saw Kjerag. It is a big rock or Boulder stuck between 2 mountains. its almost like a round marble stuck inside the bottle neck. The scary part is that it was 1000m deep below into the fjords. It was still cloudy and we were again robbed off the view of lysefjord. Having decided to push ourself to the edge we stepped onto the Kjerag and took a few pictures. One slip and we would fall 1000m below. Quite scary!! Thinking back, I dunno how and why I did it.. These mountains were a good place for Base jumping for the sky divers. Because of the bad weather we couldn't see any. We hikes around a little bit to explore some untouched areas and drank water from the clear stream, we tarted heading back to the base point. Just after 3 hours we reached the car and headed back to the airport to catch our flight. We just made it in time and by a stroke of luck were offered to take the later flight back in exchange for airline vouchers. We weren't complaining at all. :). This almost cut our expenses into half. So all in all it was a very good trip and would def. love to do it all over again.

View Photo Album

Weekend trip to Hemsedal

Another late blog.. :)

Hemsedal is a popular Ski resort during Norwegian winter. Plenty of Ski slopes and Cross country tracks means that Norwegians don't have to spend a whole lot to go to the Alps. Ofcourse this is not winter, but Hemsedal is still a nice place to visit during summer for activities. So we decided to go there and stay in a cabin for the weekend and do some hiking and kayaking. Turned out that our weather prediction got a bit screwed up and we had the most shitty weather you can ask for. It was raining, cold and cloudy. Not a hint of sun. But that didn't stop us. After stocking up the groceries for the weekend, we went to the ski slopes, took the lift up onto the top of the slope and then hiked a bit firther to the top. It was quite a view from the top. After a while it was just getting too cold and windy and we decided to take it easy and get back by the lift. During summer most of these slopes are turned into mountain biking tracks for the extreme sport enthusiasts. Pretty cool to watch them in action. We got back to the cabin and prepared a small pool in the cold stream nearby. Then we hit the sauna to get sufficiently warm and then take a dip in the real cold stream. Thats a part of the scandinavian culture. In winter, most people do the sauna and rolling over the snow or jumping into the cold lake covered with snow (ofcourse only for half a minute or so). Initially I thought you must be out of your mind to do this, but I did quite enjoy it although I was the first one to run out the cold cold pool. :). Then we had dinner and wound off the day with some marshmellows on grill.
Next day, we left the cabin and packed some lunch with us for a day full of kayaking. We couldn't get kayaks for everyone instea we took some kayaks and some canoes. We kayaked/canoed for a few hours and then got back and had lunch and then started heading back home. It was a lot of fun to be in a very diverse group of people doing fun activities together. Would love to go back to Hemsedal during winter.

Photo Album

Trip to Bruges and Brussels

Another late blog... :)

My trip to Bruges and Brussels in Belgium during end of May 2007.

Bruges: Took Thalys (Belge version of TGV) from Paris to Brussels and then caught a local train to Bruges. Bruges is a beautiful small city towards north of Belgium. They speak a language called Flemish, very close to Dutch. Called Bruge' in French, Bruges in English and Brugge in Flemish, it is the Venice of Northern Europe. It has beautiful canals going through the city and some lovely buildings along the canals. One should not miss out on the canal tour of the city. Also famous for its Bell tower called Belfry and the Chapel which has Michael Angelo's sculpture 'Madonna and the Child'. The sculpture is a real beauty. There was a shop dedicated to Tintin, the local comic hero. Then went to the City hall which features a beautiful Gothic room full of paintings and carvings on the wall and also the Basilica of holy blood where a vial carrying a drop of blood supposedly of Jesus Christ. Interiors of both these buildings had a rich artistic feeling to it.

You cannot miss the chocoloate shops selling Rich Belgian chocolates, then Belgian waffles with whipped cream and choc sauce and the Fries with many different toppings. I bought a few belgian chocolates, some of which I still have, whoch were heavely once you put them in your mouth. I loved this concept of mixing many different sauces as toppings for the fries. I tried a couple of diferent vareities and also had Fresh Belgian waffles. Belgium is also renowned for its beer. So i had to try some vareities of Beer with every meal. It was a day well spent doing the walking tours with a lonely planet in one hand and a yummy waffle in the other :). I had to leave for Brussels after this to meet up with a friend to explore brussels.

Bruxelles: Brussels or bruxelles is the capital of EU. It is such a huge city full of modern buildings and some parts which has lots of beautiful old buildings like Grand Place. Since we had just one day, we decided to first take a guided bus tour to cover the most important tourist landmarks and then explore some on foot. Since the city transportation was very nice, we also took a pass just in case. We sw different landmarks like EU buildings, Atomium, Place cinquintinairre, Royal palace, Court of Justice and finally ended up in Grand place. Grand place is a beautiful city square with some beautiful buildings and the most visited place in Brussels. It is full of nice restraunts, eating joints, pubs and chocolate shops incl. the famous Godiva chocolate shop. Right around the corner of this square is the 'Manekin Pis'. Legent has it that this is the statue of the boy who pissed on a bomb fuse and defused the bomb and saved many people. The boy has diferent dresses for different occasions. Then we wound off the day with a yummy Waffle with whipped cream, strawberry and choc sauce. Yummy...yummy...

Click below for the photo album.. ( I love this flash player :)

Trip to Germany - Easter 07'

Finally I am updating my blog which hasn't been touched in a long time...

As usual i did last minute planning and booked my tickets and hostels 2 days in advance for a weeklong trip in Germany. I got lucky with the train tickets inside Germany and got cheap tickets and reservation during the holiday season. My plan was to fly to Bremen, take train to Hamburg and then go to Berlin by train and flu to Munich and finally spend a day in fracnkfurt. Seemed like a long tour, but I somehow managed to get the different booking done in time to make it not so expensive trip.

Bremen: Just spent one evening in the city square with a nice dinner and Bremen's own Beck's beer. Also saw the Brother's Grim fairy tale about the Bremen's musicians - Donkey, Dog, Cat and the Rooster statues.

Hamburg: I spend one whole day in Hamburg. the harbour town. Hamburg has the second largest Harbour in the Europe next only to Rotterdam. I took a guided boat tour of the harbour and was amazed at the sheer size of the harbour and how many ships it can cater to at the same time and also the docks where the ships are repaired or maintained. After the tour, I just took a stroll all around the city to different touristy spots and did what a regular tourist would do i.e take plenty of pictures :). I slept that night in Hamburg and proceeded to Berlin the next morning.

Berlin: What a magnificient city!! The modern buzzing city with the scars from the past... This picture speaks of it clearly... I took the free guided tour of the city along with several other toursists. The best part about this guided tour is that it is free and the guide is usually an american, brit or aussie and if you are happy you pay them tips for their service. I think its a fantastic idea. http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
I went to the Berlin's most famous monument, the Brandenburg Tor (gate). It served as a victory monument under several kings and leaders. It was even a monument that stood right near the Berlin wall. Then we went to see the Holocaust memorial for all the holocaust victims all across the Europe. We then proceeded to a car parking place beneath which lay Adolf Hitler's Bunker in which he spent his last few days before he shot himself. We then went to see the remains of the Berlin wall which fell in 1990 when the communist East Germany united back with West Germany to become unified Germany. Some sections of the wall has been preserved and the rest of the wall has been demolished and replaced with brick lines along the road to remember the history. We walked along the wall to come to Check point Charlie which served as a check point between the East Berlin and West Berlin for the people to cross the border. We also walked along several other monuments which included Bebel platz, where Hitler urged the students to burn the books written by jews, the Berliner Dom, Opera house and Museum island. All in all it was a great guided tour with lots of historical information. I also went to the Berlin Olympia stadion to see the football pitch where Italy beat France in the FIFA Worldcup 2006 and Zidane headbutted Matterazzi. Its the same stadium which hosted the Olympics in 1936 which was inagurated by Hitler himself. I finished off my tour with a trip the Reichstag - The German Parliament. Its a bit strange that I ve been to two parliaments one in Germany and one in Norway, but I still havent been to Indian Parliament. I hope to do it at the earliest available opportunity.

Munich: The city of Monks, the city of beer and breweries... The history of Munich is that Munks from the monastries started brewing beer to the weary travelers and thus the city became famous for its pure beer and the munchs who started the tradition. Hence the name Munich or Munchen. I took the free guided tour in Munich too and went all around the city to see the beer garden,s Hofbrauhaus - the famous brewery in Munich, English gardens, the city market and Allianz Arena, home to Bayern Munich footballteam. Next day I went to the saddest place I ever been to. I visited the Dachau Concentration camp or whats left of it. I ve seen in pictures and movies, but I never imagined what it would be to enter one of these camps. The enterance is the iron gate in which it was written "Work shall set you free" in German. What a tagline to fool the entering prisoners and duping them into lifetime of servitude and death afterwards. It was so poignant to walk on the hallowed grounds of the camp. There were several monuments to the murdered innocent jews inside the camp. I also went and saw the living quarters where the jews stayed in the small bunk beds, used the common washrooms etc etc.. I felt a shiver when I walked into the Gas chamber where many jews were murdered in cold blood. It felt like a nightmare just being there and then you appreciate the cruelty and injustice done to them. I walked out of there with great sadness... After that I took the train to Frankfurt

Heidelburg: Since I didnt want to spend much time in Frankfurt I took the train to Heidelburg which is a small city by the river an hour south of Frankfurt. Its such a beautiful city with the ruins of the castle by the river. Took a castle visit and then a stroll along this beautiful city...

Thus ended my tour of Germany which lasted a whole week and by the end of it, I was so tired of walking that I really longed just to go home and crash on my bed.. Someday I will go back and continue my journey and see other cities that I ve missed out the first time... Dresden, Cologne, Dusseldorf...

My photo album from the trip



Free Guided tours: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/