Rondane National Park

After a day of driving, we arrived in the small town of Otta. There's nothing special to see in the town itself, but near Otta is the Rondane National Park. We saw a few beautiful pictures of the park and decided to see it ourselves.

We left for the park around 12:00 (a bit late, as we had to arrange some things). There is a normal road till the park entrance and from there you can walk or take a toll road till another car park (13km). To enter the toll road, you need a credit card to open the gate (in the Netherlands most cards work with Maestro, but they don't work. This also holds for some ATMs and machines for parking tickets, so take a card with your from Mastercard or Visa when visiting Scandinavia). When we drove into the park, we were welcomed by this view:

Wow! And we would be climbing one of those mountains today!

From the car park we had to walk 6 km to the first hut, from where the trail to the mountains would start. There are also bikes for rent if you don't want to walk that 6km. You call a certain number, they give you the code for the bike and when you arrive at the hut you have to pay for the bike. I looked around a bit and found an unlocked bike. So we decided to take/borrow the bike, stop a few kilometers before the hut, hide the bike and use it for the way back again. Haha, you have to do something if you want to save some money in Scandinavia! Life isn't cheap around here. After we ditched the bike we continued to the hut.

After we passed the hut, the trail quickly changed:

As we were heading up to to the peak Storronden, a few hikers already returned from the peak. It was now around 15:00 and according to the hikers it would take another 2.5 hours. They were a bit confused that we were still going up. The trail became more difficult and steeper:

After two hours of walking, we arrived at the top at 2138 meters. The last part of the trail was still covered in snow. What a view:

Around 18:00 we went back again. Going down goes a lot quicker, but it's more heavy for the knees. After two hours we were back again at the car park. In the following picture we're pointing at the mountain we just conquered:

The road you see behind us is the road to the hut in Ronvassbu. You can drive here by car (saves you 6 km of hiking or renting a bike), but unfortunately it's only accessible for personnel of the hut.

In seven hours we walked 22 kilometres and climbed almost 1000 meters. Djawid's and my knees were slightly protesting.. We quickly returned to Otta, since tomorrow we would go to the next national park for more hiking!

Lake Siljan

After we enjoyed our first Sauna in Sweden (Målkullan, STF Vandrarhem hostel in Mora was the only hostel with a sauna we found during the trip), we had to pack for our three day canoeing trip:

The next morning we left for the lake. What a view!

After some hours of paddling we decided to stop for the night. In Sweden (but also in Norway and Finland) they have the Allemansrätten, which means in short that it's almost everywhere permitted to camp. We chose a nice place and set up camp:

That evening we got a spectacular sunset:

Early in the morning we decided to go for a short (the water was ice cold) swim. For privacy reasons I made the picture slightly out of focus:

Ahh, some nice relaxing in the sun!

Two GoPro foto's:

It was so quit on the lake, nothing more than a small breeze and the sound of the paddles. In the three days we only saw three or four boats passing by. So if you're in Sweden, do go on a canoeing trip!

After we returned the canoe, we left for Norway.

Stockholm

Stockholm, a beautiful city with many grand prestigious old buildings. It has a lot of similarities with Copenhagen, but Stockholm is built on 14 islands, providing a different feeling than the canals of Copenhagen. Just as in Copenhagen, we did a free walking tour and Djawid and I really enjoyed the city. I wouldn't mind living at some point in my life in Stockholm or Copenhagen.

Stockholm has many parks and squires where you can relax in the sunshine:

After two nights in Stockholm we left for Lake Siljan for some canoeing adventures. But first we had to stop at the largest Ikea in the World! For this special occasion I decided to go in the Ikea colours:

On the way to Lake Siljan we found out where all that Wasa Knäckebröd was made:

From Copenhagen to Kalmar in Sweden

Before we left for Sweden we had a short morning left in Copenhagen. We decided to do a bit of sightseeing by car as we had been walking all day yesterday. When we arrived at the opera house, two guys were doing a photo shoot of a nice brand new car. So we waited a bit until they left and did our own photo shoot:

We wandered around a bit with these pictures as a result:

We left the Netherlands with heavy rains, but the weather in Copenhagen was perfect. A nice start of our trip. Around noon we had seen enough of Copenhagen and left for Kalmar.

As we entered Sweden, the landscape and weather changed quickly. From Denmark with an open landscape and many farms we entered the country of trees and lakes! Just trees and lakes, trees and lakes everywhere! Ikea has enough timber here to make furniture for the entire world. Unfortunately also the weather changed from sunshine to heavy rains again. Although the variety in the landscape was low, I still enjoyed it:

As we arrived in Kalmar we found out travelling in Scandinavia after the season has ended also provides some difficulties: at the end of August most hostels are converted to student houses for the new academic year. As a result the only hostel in Kalmar that was still open was fully booked and we had to take a hotel. In big cities there are normally enough hostel, but if your travelling after the season to small cities I would advise to book ahead (this also holds for Norway).

The next morning was a complete surprise: blue skies! Somehow until now we had managed to travel on rainy days and every day we were outside, the sun joined us!

Klamar Castle:

At the church the reserved a special seat for me:

I can!

After a bit of sightseeing in Kalmar we left for Stockholm. Though from Kalmar to Stockholm we only saw trees and lakes again, the nice weather gave it a whole different atmosphere. I didn't get bored at all and really enjoyed it:

The first part of the trip: Denmark

On Saturday morning Djawid and I left for for our road trip to Scandinavia. Though the weather was awful, we were warm and dry in the Volvo 440. Thank you Ivar that we can use your car! After some hours on the German Autobahn, we entered Denmark. We decided to go off the highway and take some small roads via the west coast to reach Ribe. Denmark greeted us with some nice views.

Not to long ago there would have been a beautiful golden cornfield:

The west coast of Denmark:

The Volvo 440:

Ribe is an old town with small cobblestone roads. It is really quiet and a nice stop if you don't want to drive too long.

If you are planning to stay in hostels in Denmark and you have some space left in your bag, take your own sheets and bed linen with you. This was a first for me, but in Denmark it is not included and they will charge 10 euros for it. We smiled nicely and the girl of the hostel decided to give us the sheets and bed linen for free. We stayed in Danhostel and it was a desent room:

 

 

After a nice long night of sleep we went to Copenhagen. A beautiful and very clean city. You won't find any hobos and there are bicycles everywhere. I guess there isn't much crime here, because all the bikes are locked with flimsy locks (even the fancy racing bikes). 

Of course we had to see the little mermaid:

 



To keep the budget tight, we decided to make our own dinners. The result was delicious.

 

 

Tonight we will meet up with Julie, a Danish girl I met in Bolivia more then a year ago. I like it to travel around and meet up with locals you've met during a different trip. They are able to give you a better impression of the place then when you would just stroll around on your self.

Tomorrow we'll leave for Sweden!