HOW TO VISIT NORWAY WITHOUT SPENDING A FORTUNE

Travel usually starts with choosing the country you want to visit. And only then you buy tickets. I did the opposite. For August I had a trip to Riga to visit my relatives. And I decided to go somewhere else from Latvia. In the online search engine for cheap flights to my destination, I selected the column “everywhere”.

It turned out that the cheapest flight from Riga was to Oslo. If you do not tied to a specific date, you can find a ticket for 8$. In such cases, there is usually a catch - a ticket back is already exorbitantly expensive. But if you return to Riga not from Oslo, but from another Norwegian city - Stavanger, then again you can save a lot. I found a ticket for 10$.

I know that it will be more expensive to fly from any city. But you can still find real prices. For example, from Moscow I saw tickets to Oslo for 100$. You can fly with transfers, or look at nearby airports.

True, it turned out that I arrived in Oslo in the evening of August 18, and returned back early in the morning of the 23rd. This, of course, is not very convenient for a budget traveler, since you have to pay for two "extra" nights. However, the last night in Norway, I immediately decided to spend at the airport, and for the rest I had to look for cheap accommodation.

But before booking hotels, I had to first decide how I want to spend these four and a half days in Norway. After reading dozens of travel articles and reports, I realized that Stavanger attracts me even more than Oslo. There are so many natural attractions near this city that it is simply unrealistic to see them in one day. I decided that I simply had to visit the so-called "Pulpit" and climb to the "stone-pea".

The next question - will I have time to visit some other city, for example, Bergen, the name of which I met literally at every forum?

There is a good site visitnorway, where you can get a lot of interesting and useful information. There I also found a proposal for the most popular tour of the Scandinavian country "Norway in miniature". This is not an excursion in the standard sense, in fact you buy a selection of tickets - train, bus and ferry, which dock with each other in time. You also have an hour or two left for a free walk. But! The cost of a 14-hour tour from Oslo to Bergen is 1630 Norwegian kroner, or, depending on the course, 150-200$. It is expensive for me, I had to give up the idea of ​​going to Bergen.

So, from Oslo there was a way straight to Stavanger. The ideal option is a train. It is cheaper and faster than taking the bus or ferry. If you buy a ticket in advance on the Internet (on the website nsb.no/en), then it costs 249 kroons, in the summer it was 25$. The train leaves Oslo at 10 pm, and already at 7 am you are in Stavanger. There are seating seats on the train, but if you are lucky and there are not enough passengers, you can take two seats and sleep all night.

So, I decided that I would spend one day in Oslo (plus the evening on the day of arrival), and then go to Stavanger and “drive” around the neighborhood there. It's time to start looking for affordable housing.

SEARCH FOR ACCOMMODATION

The ideal option for cheap accommodation for me is a hostel, always in the city center, so as not to waste money and time on travel.

Finding free beds in Oslo a month and a half before the trip was not a problem. But here you need to be careful. Often, hostels charge a separate fee for bed linen, luggage storage and other services. All these points are necessarily indicated on the booking sites, the main thing is not to be lazy and read the description to the end.

I found a suitable place - Sentrum Hostel. A bed in a common room for 6 people costs 279 CZK (at the time of purchase, 35$). You don't have to pay separately for linen, dishes and a luggage room, tea and coffee is free. The hotel is located in the center of Oslo, a five minute walk from the train station and the terminus of the airport bus.

In Stavanger, housing is much more complicated. On the booking sites, I found one and only hostel in the city center. All seats in it have already been sold! The hostel remained somewhere outside the city, on the way to the airport. But this option did not suit me.

I had to rent a room at the Stavanger Lille Hotel. For two nights I paid 980 kroons (at the time of purchase 120$). It is more expensive than a hostel. But I also live alone in a room, only a toilet and a shower are shared. The price includes breakfasts, tea and coffee can be drunk at least around the clock for free.

TRAVEL

Oslo. Evening of the first day. Itinerary: Cathedral - Parliament building - Royal Palace - City Hall - Oslofjord

at night My trip to Norway began at Moss Riga airport with not very good news. The bus to the capital costs 180 CZK. It's more expensive than a plane ticket! There is also an electric train, but it costs the same.

Two hours later I was at the hostel. One of my neighbors turned out to be international student traveling around Europe with a large backpack. He agreed to exchange my 20 euros for 200 kroons, although he miscalculated a little with the exchange rate. I got some cash just in case. Norway is a country where everywhere, even in public transport, you can pay with a bank card. But I decided to protect myself from force majeure, after which I went to wander around the evening capital. And do not forgot buy a good pedant for your girlfriend as a present from https://www.beyindi.com/

In advance, I made myself an approximate route. Oslo Cathedral - Parliament building - Royal Palace. Then, past the Henrik Ibsen Museum, you can go down to the Town Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. Around the building, a breathtaking view of the Oslo Fjord and the evening lights of the Akershus Fortress opens up.

Of course, I didn't manage to follow the route strictly. After all, literally every lane beckons to look into it. You take a step to look with one eye, and you can no longer stop, because somewhere in the distance you can already see a fjord, and you want to go straight to it. And on the way, you come across the National Drama Theater - a very beautiful building that you want to photograph from all angles. As a result, I approached the Royal Palace when it was already getting dark. But unexpectedly for me, at a very good time! I read that the changing of the guard near the palace takes place at 13:00. But I witnessed no less beautiful action, although I still don't know what it was.

It was about 10 pm, and the streets of Oslo seemed to die out. The central pedestrian alleys and restaurants were still bustling with life. But as soon as you took a step to the side, and on your way there were only huge rats hurrying to hide from your eyes.

I went to the city hall. I would like to talk about this building separately. It strikes at the same time with its simplicity and beauty. It is interesting to look at it up close, and it is pleasant to find the silhouette of the town hall, being somewhere in the distance. And if you walk a few more steps and climb one of the walls of the Akershus fortress, you will see a beautiful view of the evening Oslo Fjord and the city hall.

Oslo. Second day. Itinerary: New Opera - Akershus Fortress - Bygdoy Peninsula (Viking Museum and Kon-Tiki Museum) - Vigeland Park - souvenir shops The

second day in Oslo I started with visiting the New Opera. More precisely, from the observation of the views of the capital from the roof of this building. Then on foot - to the Akershus fortress, where at one time both the prison and the Gestapo were located, and now the Ministry of Defense of Norway and the Headquarters of the Armed Forces are located. After going around the entire fortress, I came out on the other side, where the night before I climbed the wall to admire the Oslofjord. Now my way lay to the pier, from where small ferries leave for the Bygdoy Peninsula. There are several museums there that I wanted to visit.

A small digression to calculate my new spending. First, the food. I took a few sandwiches and a chocolate bar from Riga with me. In Norway it is absolutely not considered shameful to eat right on the street. If you are not going to carry sandwiches with you in your backpack, you can buy food in Narvesen supermarkets (found at every step in the center of Oslo, for example prices, I bought yogurt there for 38 CZK) or Rimi (available at the railway station, and there you can find many promotional items).

Now about travel and visiting museums. In the capital of Norway, you can buy an Oslo-pass card, which will be valid for a day (two, three - depends on the price), for this you are provided with free travel on all types of transport (and free parking - for those who rent a car), and also free admission to many museums (more on visitoslo.com/en). So, a card for a day will cost 320 kroons. Whether to buy it or not is a simple arithmetic problem. Depending on how much time you want to devote to the Norwegian capital and what you want to see. A ticket for public transport in the city center (price depends on the zone) costs 30 CZK. Entrance to the museum 60-90 CZK.

I, as it was written earlier, took a small ferry near the town hall, which for 55 kroons took me to the Bygdoy peninsula - a concentration of Norwegian museums - and returned me back. I didn't buy the Oslo-pass card, but then I regretted it. I was sure that I simply would not be able to visit several museums. But it turned out that I had enough free time before the evening train.

The first thing I did was go to the Viking Museum. The entrance ticket cost 80 crowns, and inside there are two real and almost untouched by time Viking ships, as well as everything that was found during excavations. I was shocked! This is something worth seeing!

The second museum that I really wanted to visit is the Kon-Tiki Museum, which exhibits both legendary sailing ships of the famous traveler Thor Heyerdahl. There are also personal belongings of the crew, photographs and an Oscar statuette for the best documentary filmed during the voyage by Heyerdahl himself. The entrance to the Kon-Tiki Museum costs 90 CZK.

However, there were also free attractions. One of them is the Gustav Vigeland sculpture park. It takes about an hour to walk from the town hall to it, you can take a tram.

The sculptor worked on his brainchild for 35 years, during which time he created 227 sculptures! And not just sculptures. Each - reflects certain emotions of a person. Moreover, the compositions have no names, visitors to the park themselves must guess what the author wanted to say.

I confess that I am not a lover of contemporary art and know little about it. But what he saw did not leave me indifferent even!

There was still a lot of time before the train, so I decided to take my time to have dinner and buy some souvenirs. Takeaway coffee in small cafeterias costs 25 CZK, already in restaurants - about 50. So I sat on the lawn by the fountain (fortunately, I was lucky with the weather, it was hot in Norway). I drank coffee and finished my food, and then wandered off to study the price tags for souvenirs. Not far from the station, I found a shop where a native of Baku sells. He still remembers his language a little, he gladly makes discounts to his “fellow countrymen” and even gives gifts! And by the way, prices in this place are much lower than in other stores in the center of the capital. I left 190 kroons in the souvenir shop.

It is worth mentioning about the Norwegian train that tickets are checked there, it will not be possible to pass it "like a hare". Each seat has a set of blankets, air cushions, eye masks and earplugs.

Third day. Moving to Stavanger. Pulpit

At 7 am I was in Stavanger. Tourists at the station are greeted by railway staff, who give out a map of the city and kindly answer standard questions.

I immediately wandered to the river station, it is twenty minutes away. My ultimate goal was a place called the Pulpit. To get there, you must first take a ferry to the town of Tau, and then take a bus. The bus and the ferry work "in conjunction", there is no need to wait for the transport. All tickets can be bought in Stavanger, a round trip will cost 250 CZK.

The bus brings us to the launch site. There is a cafe, a shop, a toilet and even a wi-fi. Further - only on foot. Four kilometers uphill, it's about two hours one way.

I was very worried if I would make it. After all, I have no special training. As well as there were no special shoes and clothes. But the path was not so difficult.

And here is the pulpit of the Preacher. Such a name was given to the cliff by the people for its external resemblance - it is an almost even square protruding forward with an area of ​​about 25 by 25 meters. Below is the insanely beautiful Lysefjord.

It is the duty of every tourist to take a picture at the edge of the cliff. But this is not as easy to do as it seems from the outside. There is such a wind upstairs that it literally blows you off your feet. Therefore, for the first time on the rock you literally crawl, and there, on the edge, you gradually straighten out.

And then you can just sit on the edge of the cliff. And look down. On the brilliant waters of the fjord, ships sailing past and the endless expanses that nature created here in prehistoric times. This is where you can philosophize about the meaning of life.

Time passed quickly, and it was time to return to the city. After all, there I still had to find a guest house where I had booked a room. By the way, in Stavanger, not far from the train station, there is a Tourist Center, where they drew a route to my hotel on a map.

Day four. Ascent to the stone-pea

. This day I had planned a trip to the Kjerag plateau. There, a kilometer above sea level, between two rocks, a huge stone was stuck. The people called it a pea-stone.

The place is located quite far from Stavanger. The only bus leaves at 7 am and goes back at 4:45 pm. This pleasure is not cheap at all - 490 kroons! But cheaper - only hitchhiking.

I came to the bus station in advance, except for me there was only a guy from Korea. But when the bus arrived, it turned out that the queue simply does not exist! All tickets are sold out in advance. The crowd of those who wanted to squeeze into a completely non-rubber transport remained on the platform and plaintively called out to the driver. And he had in his hands a list of the lucky ones who had bought tickets in advance, and he was expecting only two "lagging behind". And so, to my great happiness, and to the happiness of my new Korean friend, these two never showed up. And instead of them we got on the bus!

From the tourist stop to the pea-stone, it is 5 kilometers uphill. This is about 2.5 hours of travel. This time the track is much more difficult, the ascents are steeper, sometimes you have to hold onto the chains, which are specially installed in the most difficult sections of the route. Above, on the plateau, a terrible wind. It's good that I had a scarf with me. There is snow in some places. But it's pretty warm in the sun, you undress to a T-shirt.

When I approached the pea-stone, there was already a line of people who wanted to test their strength and tickle their nerves - for this it is enough to stand at least a couple of minutes at the top of the "most dangerous stone in the world."

From the outside it looks pretty funny. Everyone steps on a stone and assumes the same posture. And someone at the other end of the abyss with a dozen cameras in hand takes a picture. Touched only by an elderly couple who posed on a stone in an embrace. But when you return home, you already look at your photo with different eyes. It is unlikely that any of the friends will have the same!

And climbing a stone is not so easy. Remember when I wrote about the unreal wind at the top of the plateau? So, it's one thing when you are blown off your feet on a wide surface, another thing is when you take a step to the side and you will fly down.

After completing the main mission - a small lunch, overlooking the same mesmerizing Lysefjord. And it's time to go down, because the bus is not waiting! In the parking lot, I still had time to drink coffee (39 kroons), and only when I entered the restaurant, I saw that a building with panoramic windows was standing on the edge of a cliff. Outside there is a small observation deck. In general, the coffee turned out to be very useful!

The fifth day. Stavanger: city center - embankment - fishing quarter - Three Swords monument The

last day of my trip I decided to devote to a walk around the city. Stavanger was once an ordinary fishing village, but in 1969 oil was found near it in the North Sea. Now it is one of the richest cities in one of the richest countries in the world!

In the center, next to the low houses, there are high-rise luxury hotels, next to them are boutiques of world brands. And the quarter where fishermen once lived was given a museum look. To make it more pleasant for tourists to walk there, all buildings were painted white. However, among the local population there were some troublemakers who refused to paint their houses. Their small dwellings are still gray and somehow unsightly.

The center of Stavanger, on the other hand, impresses with its colors. There are troll figurines and small animal sculptures everywhere. And the houses, whose facades overlook the embankment, as if from a colorful Scandinavian postcard. They contain bars and restaurants. All tables are packed.

After lunch I went to the outskirts of Stavanger. There is a monument "Three Swords", which symbolizes the unification of the Norwegian lands into a single state. What can I say - the monument is, of course, magnificent. But it’s worth going to him only if you, like me, have a lot of free time. A round trip will cost 64 kroons.

I spent the first part of the night in a bar on the waterfront. A glass of beer costs 84 kroons there! But in any case, it is cheaper and more interesting than sleeping in a guest house. At three o'clock in the morning the first bus leaves for the airport (on weekdays they run around the clock, and on weekends they take a break from 10 pm to 3 am). The fare is 120 CZK. At the airport, I realized that I did the right thing, that I did not go there at 10 in the evening! After all, cafes and shops located there are closed at night. You can, of course, sleep on the bench, which I did a couple of hours before registration.

This is how my trip to Norway ended. Having bought key rings in the form of trolls with the remaining crowns, tired but satisfied, I went back to Riga. I must say, this was one of the best travels in my life!