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After years of wanting to visit the Scandinavian nation of Norway, but my plans always being scrapped last minute, last year, I finally made it to this luscious land. As I expected this country was a green heaven of rolling grasses and waterfalls, that I would be happy to get lost in.

My journey took me along the coastline to some key port towns and inland to some beautiful scenic locations, which wasn’t hard as it seemed everywhere I turned, there was heavenly landscapes to see. I felt like I had walked into a movie with little wooden houses, and waterfalls everywhere you turned, it just needed a viking or two and the dream would be complete!

Waterfalls

I really am not exaggerating when I say I was seeing waterfalls everywhere, this was really the scenario. From little trickles, to huge falls, there was simply one waterfall after another. Norway is actually nicknamed the ‘land of a thousand waterfalls’ and has some of the tallest waterfalls in the world.

Whilst I didn’t actually have to go any distance to see a waterfall, I did make the effort to visit a few big ones. I visited Kjosfossen, Tvindefossen, Manafossen, and Langfossen. So here is a clue I worked out… anytime you see ‘foss’ in the name, it means waterfall. Before you start thinking that is where we get the word ‘faucet’ tap from; I already thought of that and the evidence is not there to support it I am afraid, but it would make a lot of sense…

All the waterfalls had their own charm but Langfossen was particularly impressive. A road bridge has been built over half the fall and so you can get pretty close for photos from there, but even closer by boat! After viewing it from the road, I jumped on a tour boat that literally mounted the waterfall as it entered the fjord, (so much so that I was concerned), and the tour guide picked up a bucket and scooped up some falling water for me to taste. The guide said that there was a legend that if you drink from the falls you would become more fertile, particularly the men, so of course, the men on the boat were taking extra servings.

Reflections

I know that ‘reflections’ is a strange subheading but I feel that it is something special about Norway that I can not describe another way. I have never been to a destination that has provided me with so many mirror or kaleidoscope like views. I saw these trippy images whilst sailing on the fjords, which are Norway’s famous sea inlets, that are characterised as long,narrow and deep, and formed from glaciers, that left behind beautiful valleys.

At multiple times during the trip, I would get up early to look out at the water, and it just messed with my head to see the crystal clear reflections that these fjords created. The water is so still and glimmered and it is really hard to tell where land and water meet as everything is just mirrored endlessly. It’s really magical and I loved it, next time I go, I want to do some kayaking so that I can get closer to the water and get even more amazing photos.

Wide spaces

Of course, not only are the waters spectacular, but the huge green landscapes are a great match to them. I was struck by how much of the area was perfectly trimmed rolling grasses, miles of picture perfect lawns, and its no suprise that there is a big tradition of insulating houses with turf covered roofs.

Beyond the grass, there are many smallholdings, vast pine forests, and brilliant ridges and mountains to hike. Some of the most popular are Pulpit Rock, a huge mountain plateau for the perfect Instagram shot, or another similar one is Trolltunga (troll’s tongue)! I would love the opportunity to return to Norway and spend more time exploring the big landscapes here, on foot.

Scenic Railway

In the beautiful little town of Flam, I had the opportunity to travel on one of the world’s most beautiful railway journeys. I boarded the Flam railway train from Flam and took a round trip via Myrdal, with a stop to see a huge ‘foss’ with classical music in the air, and a dancing actor jumping out to welcome me and the other passengers. There to portray another waterfall legend of a lady of the falls, the guide later told me that the ‘lady’ dancing around was actually two different local men dressed up as the same lady, to fool the tourists by quickly jumping out in different locations.

The journey was pretty pleasant and the views were great, but it was crowded, which makes it hard to enjoy when everyone has their cameras pressed against the windows!

Overall, I just loved Norway. As a nature lover, and someone that is keen to go for long walks in the fresh air, I could almost see myself relocating to Norway. The only thing keeping me away is the cold winters, but there is no question that I will be visiting again. Next time for longer, and hopefully with my someone special to enjoy it with.

Mendoza is located in the North of Argentina, close to the border of Chile and it’s capital city of Santiago. It is well known for being Argentina’s key wine making region, as well as being a small city with several suburb neighbourhoods. I visited Mendoza for a few days on my way across the North of Argentina.

I travelled to Mendoza from Ushuaia over several days, mainly by bus. My main overnight stop being in Bariloche again, where I enjoyed an unexpected hostel party before my final bus. On arrival to Mendoza, I checked into my hostel, (which was not very desirable), and relaxed quite a bit on my first day, but the humidity of the city did mean that I was eaten alive by mosquitos.

Following my rest, I began to explore. Mendoza is a reasonably small city with many small suburbs and hills surrounding it. The city has plenty of restaurants and shops, and of course several opportunities to taste wine along side Argentina’s famous asado dish. Unfortunately, the city is lacking in other things to do and see. There is a museum dedicated to the city’s foundations, which was somewhat interesting, but it is quite small and with little information in english. Next door, are the ruins of the original church, but the entire experience takes less than an hour.

The other thing to see is the Parque San Martin. This is a huge park which you can relax within, it has a huge lake, and a museum of natural sciences. I did enjoy a pleasant lunch in front of the lake following the one exciting thing there is to do in this city… paragliding!

I decided to ‘tale the leap’ and enjoy a short paragliding experience from the 100 metre cerro (mountain). I thought it would be more scary, but you did not have the chance to get scared, you are simply strapped in and pushed off! Then you can float over the city for 15 minutes, and enjoy some complimentary acrobatics from the pilot, which were fun but almost made me vomit!

As well as paragliding, there are other adventure sports available around Mendoza, for those that do not want to spend their time just drinking and eating. Rapid rafting, repellling, climbing and hiking are all available, and Mendoza provides accessible trips to the tallest mountain in the Americas, Mount Aconcagua. I was happy with the paragliding as my bit of adventure for that time, as I was only there a few days.

I realized that I could not come to Mendoza without visiting the wineries, even though I do not drink much wine normally. There are countless tours selling full day and half day guided tours to the ‘bodegas’ which are the wineries. These were quite pricey, and as I knew this was not very important to me personally, I decided to find a cheaper way to do it. I found out that some of the bodegas offer tours for free, so I made a reservation directly with one of them.

I booked a one hour tour with the Lopez family Bodega in Maipu which is only a 25 minute bus ride from the centre. Down the road from there is also an olive growing farm where you can also access tours directly. So my day became sorted for very little money at all, saving me around £100, and I still got to have the tastings. The winery had giant wooden barrels storing their oldest wines, and a small museum about the history of the bodega, and it was quite interesting to learn a little about the process. Equally, the olive farm was very pleasant, and I learnt that to have a mature olive tree that produces enough olives to be commercial it takes several decades, so they have to be quite dedicated.

Overall, I think Mendoza is a pleasant city and especially well suited to those visitors that like a little luxury and love their wine and grilled meat, but if you are a little more of a commoner like myself, it is best not to visit unless you are prepared to part with a good bit of your cash and have some adventurous activities!