Our Travel Blog
Overview
Travel distance: 8.274,7 km / Travel time: 32.240 min
Preparation
We already started preparing for the trip in August 2021. Since we didn’t all know each other personally, we first met to just cook together. This is a wonderful way to get to know each other. We prepared a vegetarian pasta dish with lots of cheese. After our dinner we talked a lot and if I remember correctly we had also a glass or two of wine. It quickly became clear that we got along very well.
After this first meeting, we continued our planning on various occasions and at some point also set up a weekly meeting where we thought what is actually left to prepare. There was actually quite a lot to consider: check Covid-19 entry rules for the four countries we are visiting, make cars winterproof, clarify rules for road tolls, and much much more. The most important thing was of course agreeing on the specific route and booking at least a few of our accommodation in advance. Since we want to spend a whole week in Lofoten, we also agreed to rent a house there for this time.
During our whole preparation we got to know each other better and became real friends. Of course, the anticipation of our trip grew too.
A funny thing on the side, we wouldn’t have needed all the preparation for the Covid-19 entry rules. In the meantime, almost all rules have been lifted in Scandinavia – a very positive surprise for us.
ALA – 2022/02/19
Day 1
2022/02/25
Today our tour finally started and we are now on our way to hunt the Northern Lights.
Nicole started with Nora in her home near Cologne and Daniela and I with Volvi from the Frankfurt area. After a long drive with lots of traffic jams, snow, hail and heavy rain, the three of us finally met in Hanover, where we had a leisurely dinner at a steakhouse.
Tomorrow we want to drive all the way to Sweden. On the way we are going to pick up Line. She will join us close to the border to Denmark.
ALA – 2022/02/25
Day 2 2022/02/26
Today we continued our journey as planned at Hanover and met up with Line at the Tesla Supercharger Station in Busdorf, so that our small team is complete now.
From Busdorf we drove all the way up to Markaryd in Sweden. The weather was on our side this time. We had sunshine all the way and with temperatures well above freezing it was much warmer than expected.
The only disappointment today was that neither the number plate recognition nor the pre-rented transponder worked at the tollbooth for the Storebaelt Bridge. Guess we will have to have a word with the vendor here.
In order to compensate this small glitch we had a delicious Thai dinner in Markaryd this evening.
ALA – 2022/02/26
Day 3 2022/02/27
On day 3 of our trip we drove from Markaryd to Uppsala. Again sunshine all the way.
One of our regular charging stops we also used for having lunch at a lovely Diner on the the roadside. Over the day we lost some time on the road somehow, so that we unfortunately had to skip the 2 hours of sightseeing we had originally planned.
The highlight of the evening was having dinner together with our friends and former colleagues Katharina and Patricia in Uppsala. They are living in Stockholm and took the train to Uppsala just to see us.
Late in the evening we were able to compensate some of the time we had lost. We did a brief sightseeing walk through Uppsala during darkness.
ALA – 2022/02/28
Breakfast at our hotel in Markaryd
Driving time
Lunch at a roadside Diner
Driving past Stockholm
Dinner with Katharina and Patricia
Night sightseeing in Uppsala
Day 4 2022/02/28
After sleeping a little bit longer day 4 became a day full of driving heading to Umea. Coming more and more to the North now also the road conditions changed. We see more roads with only one lane for each directions now and there is lot of snow on the roadside and sometimes also on the road. The temperatures also dropped to well below freezing.
ALA – 2022/02/28
Day 5 2022/03/01
On the fifth day of our travel we arrived in Oulu, Finland. During the day we had different weather and road conditions: Sunshine, slight snowfall and lots of potholes on the road in some areas. The underbodies of our two cars touched the pavement heaviliy. Fortunately no damage was caused.
We also had our first wildlife encounter in the North. We saw reindeers on the road.
ALA – 2022/03/01
Northern road
Road house near Töre
Dinner at a beautiful tavern in Oulu
Day 6 2022/03/02
Driving back from Finland to Sweden
Crossing the Arctic Circle at Lansjärv
Lots of snow at a closed roadhouse
On our sixth day we drove back from Oulu in Finland to Sweden. We stayed in a small hotel in Kiruna. Kiruna is a larger city north of the Arctic Circle.
The suprise of the day was that we saw Northern Lights for the first time. This was totally unexpected and really amazing experience.
ALA – 2022/03/04
Amazing Northern Lights
Our hotel in Kiruna
Having fun at the ice park
Day 7 2022/03/03
Todays trip from Kiruna to Ramberg on the Lofoten was characterized by a lot of snow. Sometimes it snowed so hard that we had hardly any visibility and the road was thickly covered with snow. The pass road to the Norwegian border was even closed until just before noon due to the weather conditions. We were among the first cars to be let through again.
But luck didn’t leave us on the seventh day either. Shortly before our destination we saw a moose running out onto a frozen lake. And as if that wasn’t enough, after arriving at the rented house we could see the Northern Lights in a gap in the clouds for the second time.
ALA – 2022/03/04
Heading towards the pass road to Norway
Lots of snow around
Northern Lights for the second time
Day 8 2022/03/04
Today we had a lazy day. This was partly planned and partly because of the weather we had today. We mostly stayed in the house and only went outside briefly to shop.
Towards evening there was a heavy storm and we took the opportunity to cook together and playing cards.
ALA – 2022/03/04
Day 9 2022/03/05
Another rainy day with snow showers and strong winds on the Lofoten. After a long night’s sleep in our house in Ramberg and a hearty breakfast, we set off in our cars to Å, the last village at the end of Lofoten. From there we walked the narrow footpath to the end of this chain of islands to just look on the ocean with its waves.
On the way back we grabbed some supplies from a small grocery store in Reine.
We rewarded ourselves for this day with a self-cooked dinner and were lucky again to be able to discover Northern Lights within the few gaps of the clouded sky in the late evening.
ALA – 2022/03/06
Sightseeing in Å
Along the road to Å
Scary sight at a museum in Å
Short hike to the end of the Lofoten
Heading back to Ramberg
Northern Lights again
Day 10 2022/03/06
On our 10th day we had bad weather again, so we used this day to plan our accommodations on our way back to Germany.
In the afternoon, when the rain and snow stopped for a while, we took a short walk along the coast near our house towards Flagstak.
Concluding the day we decided to regularly check if there are northern lights again. To do this, we alternately went outside the house every half hour and searched the sky. At around 9 p.m. it really started then. We had northern lights all around us.
A nice place to chill
in the middle of nowhere
No camping allowed
Northern Lights all over
Day 11 2022/03/07
Today was time for sightseeing in Svolvær. We got up early and drove to the capital of Lofoten with Volvi. With fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, Svolvær is rather small. There is a nice aquarium nearby and a museum about life in Lofoten in the past which we visited.
We ended the evening in a pub in Svolvær before we drove the hour and a half back to our vacation home in Ramberg through a impressively dark night.
Having fun at the aquarium
Nice guy
Where am I?
At the museum
How life was in the past
Svolvær
Day 12 2022/03/08
Today we visited a Viking museum and learned about the history of Lofoten and the people’s desire for freedom here. In the center of the museum was a so-called longhouse. In the museum there were typical Norwegian waffles with a kind of sour cream and strawberry sauce.
The evening was again dominated by the Northern Lights and there was a whole lot of it. We could even see a reddish glow. Unfortunately, this could not be captured on photos.
ALA – 2022/03/11
Meet the Vikings
Sleeping room
Emergency exit for Vikings
Flagstad
Northern Lights again
The successful aurora generation team
Day 13 2022/03/09
We were in adventure mood today and did a brief trip to the Trollfjord. This fjord is about two kilometers long and connected with the Raftsundet strait near Svolvær. It has a pretty narrow entrance and is surrounded from steep mountains. The name is derived from the troll mythology of Norway. To make it a bit more of an adventure we decided to do the tour not with an ordinary passenger ship but with a zodiac like speed boot, so that we all ended up in a neon colored waterproof thermo suit, which made us look quit silly.
In the afternoon we met with a Norwegian friend of Line in a nice restaurant and had late lunch. Later on we did a short hike and he showed us a spectacular view point near the city.
We had no Northern Lights sighting on this last day on the Lofoten.
ALA – 2022/03/11
Let’s do some adventure
Narrow Trollfjord
Going full speed
Hiking to the view point
Spectacular view
Icy world
Day 14
2022/03/10
Farewell to Lofoten. From now on we are heading back to the South.
Since we had to take the 7am ferry from Moskenes to Bodø, we had to get up very early at already 4am and skipped breakfast. Unfortunately, we only found out at the ferry terminal that the ferry connection was temporarily suspended and 5 hours late due too bad weather conditions, so that we would have had enough time for our breakfast in the house. Fortunately we were allowed to enter the ship without cars, so that we were able to grap us some coffee.
When the ship finally left the harbor with our cars and us on it, we were still facing quite heavy sea conditions with waves up to 6 meters and winds up to 9 bft causing everybody but Daniela to get seasick during our four hours ride.
Ariving in Bodø we had to have an early dinner to regain some our our strength again. We found a nice little restaurant for that.
After the dinner we drove five more hours through the snowy and steep roads of the Norwegian mountains to get to our hotel in Mo i Rana, a mine city already south of the arctic circle.
ALA – 2022/03/11
Our cars waiting for the ferry
The ferry waiting for our cars
On the ferry eventually
Bodø harbor
Early dinner in Bodø
Driving to Mo I Rana
Day 15
2022/03/11
After a wonderful breakfast in the dining car of our hotel in Mo i Rana, we were off again driving.
Our original plan was to get to Orkanger outside of Trondheim in order to use the Tesla destination charger promoted by the hotel. Without this charging option we would have decided for a hotel directly in Trondheim to make sightseeing there next morning easier.
Arriving in Orkanger we had to realize that the promised destination charger was not working at all. After thinking about to cancel this hotel and look for a different option we agreed to stay there and da a self-guided tour through the historic part of our hotel, which was offered us as kind of compensation.
To accept this came up as a pretty good idea because it gave us some interesting impressions of how was staying in a Norwegian hotel like in the past.
ALA- 2022/03/12
Breakfast room with railway feeling
Along the road
Roadhouse in the middle of nowhere
At a historic hotel
Dining table
Old fashioned hotel room
Day 16 2022/03/12
After leaving our hotel in Orkanger, we first drove to Trondheim for sightseeing. Strolling through the streets, visiting the cathedral and eating delicious cakes were on our program.
In the afternoon we continued our journey back to Kristiansund where we had dinner overlooking the harbor.
ALA – 2022/03/12
Bridge in Trondheim
Nice little houses along the water
Cathedral in Trondheim
On a ferry again
Scenic fjord view
Fish and Chips in Kristiansund
Day 17 2022/03/13
Today was a day of scenic views. We drove from Kristiansund to Skei. Since the route was quite short with only around 350 km, we could treat ourselves to sleeping in a little longer.
Shortly after leaving Kristiansund we drove the spectacular Atlantic Ocean Road. We used basically every rest area along this road just to “inhale” the majestic views.
In the afternoon we enjoyed the spectacular views of various fjords and also drove on a very small pass road to one of our three ferries today.
ALA – 2022/03/13
Atlantic Ocean Road
Geiranger Fjord
Along the Atlantic Ocean Road
Atlantic Ocean meets mountains
The road
Waiting for the next ferry
Parking in front of the fjord
Nice view from our hotel in Skei
Day 18 2022/03/14
On day 18 of our journey we drove from Skei to Bergen. This was again a rather short trip to give us some time for sightseeing.
Arriving already at around 4 pm, we put our luggage into our hotel rooms and and headed into town. Since Nicole caught a cold she stayed in the hotel but re-jointed with us later on for dinner again.
Interestingly shops in Bergen closes already a 5 pm, so we were rather strolled through the city just to take some pictures.
The restaurant we found for dinner offered live music later in the evening, but after realizing that even I would help to reduce the age of audience significantly, we decided not to stay for that.
ALA – 2022/03/15
On our way to Bergen
Spring time in Bergen and no rain
Fortress near the harbor
Nice little buildings
Dragon Alley?
Bergen downtown
Day 19
2022/03/15
Another day with only a short drive, so we used the morning for some more walking around in Bergen before we continued our trip back to Germany to Flåm. In Flåm we had rented a nice little apartment, so that in the evening is cooking and gaming time again.
ALA – 2022703/15
Sightseeing in Bergen
Breakfast before leaving for Flåm
Our cosy little apartment in Flåm
Day 20 2022/03/16
This was a day of tunnel driving, memories and meeting with friends.
We started in Flåm and had a great breakfast with fresh Danish pastries at a Supercharger nearby. We bought the pastries in a bakery we found along the way to the worlds longest road tunnel.
Driving through the Lærdals tunnel was an experience of its own. With its almost 25 km of length it takes more than 20 minutes until you reach daylight again. Interestingly it is not getting boring due to the different light arangements inside the tunnel and it provides actually a lot of fun. The popular Norwegian song “Give that wolf a banana”, which was played on the radio all the time helped as well.
Continuing our drive we found again a lot of snow until we reached our todays destination Kongsberg, where Line lived for half of year a couple of years ago. This gave us the chance of having dinner with a friend of her in the evening. Unfortunately Nicole was not able to join because she was still not feeling well, but we got her a pizza and of course integrated her remotely as much as possible.
ALA – 2022/03/22
Looking for breakfast
Best bakery ever found near Flåm
Entry to the mountain
Inside the mountain
Tunnel with light effects
More than 20 minutes of tunnel driving
Some snow again
Evening in Kongsberg
Memories for Line
Numedalslågen river
Dinner with a friend
Day 21 2022/03/17
On the 21st day of our trip, we slowly began to realize that our vacation together was slowly coming to an end. On the way from Kongsberg in Norway to Copenhagen in Denmark, we briefly passed Gothenburg in Sweden, where Volvi was built. We also had our first traffic jam there in three weeks. Also, we left the snow area. Shortly before the border to Sweden, the landscape around us was suddenly only brown and grey. During our breaks, more and more German was spoken around us.
When we finally arrived at the hotel in Copenhagen late in the evening, we had a quick meal in our room and took a short walk along the harbor.
ALA – 2022/03/22
Somewhere in Sweden
Road impression
Near the harbor of Kopenhagen
Day 22 2022/03/18
On our 22nd day we actually went back to Germany from Copenhagen to St Peter-Ording. There Line showed us her home a bit and we were spoiled by her parents with coffee, herbal tea and biscuits.
After unloading Line’s luggage, the remaining three of us then went to the hotel in Busdorf, where we enjoyed the last dinner of this trip together in the hotel room.
The low moon showed us the way throughout our nightly journey.
ALA – 2022/03/22
Crossing the Great Belt
Last dinner together for three
Only the moon is our limit.
Day 23 2022/03/19
On the very last day of our trip we said goodbye to each other in the morning and Nora and Volvi rode separately for the first time in three weeks. An unusual feeling for all of us.
Nora went straight home with Nicole near Cologne. Volvi made a detour via Mülheim an der Ruhr and brought us safely to Sulzbach am Taunus after that. Around 9 p.m. we were all back home after almost 8,275 kilometers driving and our crazy journey was over far too quickly.
ALA – 2022/03/22
Always ready for the next journey
A car wash wouldn’t hurt
Back home