Day 16 *07/21/2023

We packed up after breakfast and today the destination was: Geirangerfjord

Before we started, we stopped briefly at the reception because there was a lot of fishing gear there. We wanted to take another look at that... And then we also bought something...

We first headed towards Molde. The goal there was the panoramic view over Molde and the surrounding mountains. Theoretically, you can drive up all the way, but Steve really wanted to walk the last 2.5 km... It may not sound like much, but when 2.4 km of it are steep uphill, it takes time. And if it keeps raining on top of that, it's even less fun 🥴😮‍💨

Once we reached the top, we rewarded ourselves with a waffle with cream and strawberries, tea to warm up (Joy), and a cinnamon bun... Oh, and people told us, 'You have to try the amazing soft ice cream!'... So we did, and... It was the best soft ice cream of our vacation (so far). After an hour break, we got back to the car and then went to the center of Molde. When we arrived there, we quickly found a parking garage that looked more like a huge limestone cave... When we left the parking lot, we found ourselves in the middle of crowds of people and a very colorful market. Besides vendors with a lot of kitsch, there were all kinds of food options. Sweet things like crepes, waffles, candied fruits, donuts, etc. Or savory things like ham, cheese, salami, fish, pizza, elk burger, etc. Musicians were playing in some corners, but there were also cars for sale or whirlpools 😆🤷

We strolled around the market for a while, bought some gemstones as pendants, and then went to the cathedral and onto the town hall roof. The cathedral is a Lutheran Episcopal bishop's church of the Diocese of Møre. Next to the church is a 50m high bell tower with 26 bells. Adjoining the church is the town hall roof with a really beautiful rose garden. Molde is also called the 'City of Roses'. From mid-June to the end of August, numerous roses bloom throughout the city, due to the climate. That's why there is also the 'Rose Girl' in front of the town hall.

Molde also hosts a big jazz festival, as can be seen, for example, by a statue on the market square depicting a saxophone player.

Then we continued with the ferry from Molde to Vestnes to continue towards Geirangerfjord. When we arrived there, a fantastic view of the fjord awaited us... Pictures speak louder than words at this point... And even those pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it is in reality...

Actually, we wanted to spend the night at one of the 3 campsites, but they were completely overcrowded... It felt like the Ballermann (party center) of Norway... So we just made a detour to the souvenir shop, took a photo with the troll, and then continued on our route towards Lillehammer. The plan was to stop at one of the campsites on the way and spend the night, or find a nice free camping spot... But first, we had to go up the mountains in serpentine roads... It got colder and colder, and we were at 6 degrees all of a sudden, and there was snow... 😍 A landscape that was barren and fascinating at the same time... A turquoise blue lake... Everything was so beautiful...

We drove for a while, wanting it to get warmer again. Steve had also discovered the joy of driving after 10 PM because we were almost alone on the road...

Then we passed by the beautiful stave church in Lom... We stopped, took photos... Unfortunately, at that time, we couldn't go inside anymore...

Right next to the church was a campsite with an adjoining climbing park, probably nice for the girls, I thought... But after just 5 minutes of thinking about it, we were bitten by several mosquitoes... We didn't feel like dealing with that... So we continued on...

At some point, I thought I had found a great campsite online, used Google Maps... And suddenly we found ourselves on a gravel road through a remote forest... There were sheep lying in the middle of the road, staring at us in confusion 😆 the GPS still said 20 km... I just hoped for civilization 🙈🥺 and then we arrived at a campsite, it was almost midnight by now... It was raining... We parked the car, quickly set up the tent, and lay down to sleep...

A long day...