We leave the troll of Dombas for a rambling drive to our next rental.Our first stop is Vang Burial Ground near Oppdal – the largest Iron Age burial site in Norway with more than 900 mounds – most from the Viking Age, from year 750. It is a pleasant wooded loop next to a babbling stream. Link for more viking Info.This interpretive sign was interesting – we had forgot about King Bluetooth of Denmark – imagine paying your taxes in falcons, or walrus tusks.The Amotan Gorge is unique as 6 rivers meet in this one part of the national park. Svøufallet, 1027 feet tall, is impressive!We hiked around Amotan and crossed one of the rapids on this bridge.At the top of Amotan area we enjoyed our lunch at this picnic table with a view of the valley.Vinnufossen, the 6th Tallest Waterfall in the World. 2,838 feet – wow. Hard to capture the majestic beautify.Nordmorsvegan Bridge with the rain obscuring our views as we are head to the end of the peninsula and the fishing village of Bud.
Our first stop heading northeast from Dombas is this interesting architectural – overlook of the Fokstumyra Nature Preserve.A beautiful morning looking over Fokstumyra Nature Preserve towards the northwest.Next stop was the Wild Reindeer Preserve Visitor Center, or Besokssenter villrein in Hjerkinn.Nearby is where you start the hike to look for wild musk ox in Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella NP.A wide mile long uphill trail with historical timeline winds through alpine tundra in Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella NP.This is the Snohetta Viewpoint!Inside Snohetta Viewpoint we could appreciate this destination. A ranger had a zoom scope hooked to a monitor screen and showed us the dots on the landscape that were musk ox far across the valley.Wow – what a view to enjoy! Snohetta was once considered the tallest peak and is pretty impressive even with the clouds at the summit. There was also some pelts, antlers, and other information inside the Snohetta Viewpoint.A bit further south we drove to Sohlbergplassen Viewpoint on the eastern tourist route along Rondane NP.This was designed to go around all the trees which also made it much more interesting. Sohlbergplassen ViewpointAnd what a view of Mt Rondvassbu across Lake Atnsjoen to Rondane NP.We walked across the river feeding the lake at Strombu Viewpointand we fed ourselves at these fun curved concrete picnic tables.We turned around at Atnbrua Historic Waterworks at the south end of the lake.Natural waterfalls that powered Atnbrua Historic Waterworks – still a good source of electricity.Our home for 3 nights right on the ski slope is the upper cabin at Hytter Dombas.The view from our porch looking northwest up the valley.
We drove north and then west into Jotunheimen NP to the Vegaskjelet Viewpoint. This is Galdhopggen, the highest peak in northern Europe at 2469 meters (8,100 feet).We enjoyed views up and down the Boverdalen valley and made a stop at the Eleveseter Hotel.Fun historic architecture (and interior finishings) with slate roofs at the Eleveseter Hotel.Inside the octagonal building is a dining room with a painted ceiling at Eleveseter HotelOf course we are in Troll country!There is also the Sagasoyla Column with the history of Norway carved in layers which is here because Åmund Elvesæter campaigned to have it finished.
We followed the river to Lom Bakery for some fresh baked goodies and a loaf of bread to go. The National Park visitor center is here as well as the stave church.Impressive Stave Church in Lom was worth a wander. “Stave” means vertical planks of wood in case you were wondering as we were.Detail shot of building techniques from 1158 when this Stave Church was constructed.
We were upgraded to an EV with Eurocar (through AutoEurope). Norway is committed to electric vehicles and as tourists we should be part of this vision. The EV Tourist guide to Norway.Download an app from Fortum and add your credit card. This app covers several providers, like Recharge, and is what the manager at Eurocar recommended for our route. Many charging locations are at gas stations, near the center of town so plenty of options while charging. We learned later that we could add a non Tesla car to our Tesla account so that could have been a very good option as there were always a lot of Tesla charging stations.It is much more convenient to use a cell phone to charge so we bought a $5 SIM card at 7-11. For $15, we topped it up with 3GB data use in Norway only for a month (Update: we used less than one GB for the month. We added only on GB for second month at $8). Mycall.noThe charging stations vary in power from 50kw to 350kw. The cost per kw increases with speed but the charging time decreases. This car – VW ID.4 – has a good range: 455 km equals 280 miles. Update: We drove 4396 KM (2732 miles) with our total charging costs being $402 ($.09/KM or $.15/Mile)All 6 chargers full on a Sunday afternoon – but these are the 350 kw superchargers. All electric cars in Norway, including those with foreign registration plates, can drive through the many toll roads at either a rebated price or completely free of charge. Both riksvei (state own)- and fylkesvei (county own) ferries operate with a 50 per cent rebate for fully electric vehicles (make sure to inform ticket agent that you’re driving an EV to get rebate.) When we rented our car the manager said our AutoPASS charge would probably be less than the $58 we paid to add the second driver for our 34 day rental. (Update: the total charge was $73)
We are in Norway!About an hour and a half north of Oslo we have this remote cabin for 4 nights.Very cozy, quiet, and picturesque. After 18 hours of air travel it is perfect place to sleep and acclimate to the new time zone. Festly on Naera Lake thru booking.com.Sunsets are late and lingering. Full moon rise was amazing – glad we could enjoy both from this cabin.1994 Olympic Park in Lillehammer is less than half an hour north of the cabin. We watched practice runs of the famous ski jump. And took a tourist survey.Lighting the torch at 1994 Olympic Park, LillehammerBack to the cabin for some porch time and another impressive sunset.The cabin is surrounded by farms with sheep, cows, horses and crops. This is an open Air Museum in Elverum, where we went to visit the National Forestry Museum.Detail of the birch bark on the roof holding the moss, grasses, wildflowers and even trees in Elverum. There are lots of buildings with sod roofs all around.Blue Jean Baby! On our walk up the road from the cabin, the near by farm had this planter.Leaving Lillehammer we have a crystal clear day on our drive north to Dombas.
Take my breath away! Roof Top Pool Sunset at Alcossebre Sea Experience.Full Moon rising over the Mediterranean reflected in the roof top pool.Hot Chocolate and Churros is a really good way to start the day!We are ready to explore the coast along the Natural Park Sierra d’Irta.The Alcossebre Lighthouse was designed in 1990 by architect Rita Lorite Becarra. Here is an interesting link to Spains’ lighthouses.Great waves make some nice pockets of sandy beaches.We continued to enjoy the sun and sea with lunch on the coast.And what a meal. Everything comes with French Fries even the Grilled Salmon.We learned about pressing olives in Cervera at the Moli de l’Oli. These 4 massive wood beams are from 1600, as is the building. Men operated this corkscrew which lowered the beams like a teeter totter.At the other end of the beams, ripe olives go into these baskets, stacked, and the beams crush the olives releasing the olive oil. This technique was developed by the Romans.Then the olive oil is scooped out, left a specific time to settle, before it is hand scooped out again to leave the sediments behind.We are not yet tired of sunrises from our balcony!We returned to Tirig and the Valltorta Museum to refresh our memory on the levantine cave paintings.A few miles north, we returned to Peniscola as a pleasant day trip.Wherever there is a Castle, there is a Dragon!The walls and area around the Castle have a great view!All the resorts line the long beach of Peniscola behind this barbarian invader.Walking the maze of streets in the old town with the hanging balconies.A friendly gull kept us company on our walk.Enjoying Alcossebre Sea Experience’s roof top pool for another sunset!
The Roman Aqueduct of Peña Cortada near Cheiva. This is an engineering achievement being 28 KM in length over rugged terrain.We found the Hanging Bridges of Chulilla over the river Turia. These were originally built as shortcuts by workers building a dam upstream but is now a very scenic hike.This gives a new meaning to your daily commute!Our balcony is the lower on left overlooking this lovely Fuente Toran park in Teruel.We walked across this pedestrian bridge with great views of the valley to explore Old Town.There was an amazing modernist style Grand Staircase to a park in the valley.A lovely building in San Juan Square of Teruel.One of the Mudijar towers of Teruel – this on the Cathedral.A gorgeous modernist building on the Torino Square. Notice the very small bull on top of the fountain column. The famous Toro of Teruel.The nearby village of Albarracin was worth a visit.Albarracin’s buildings are made of a local pink stone which makes it unique.We walked to the castle on the hill for a great view.You can see the walls protecting the city of Albarracin.Nearby is a hike in the Pinares de Rodeno with this view of the landscape.There are alcoves with Levantine Petroglyphs like this horse, estimated to be 7,000 years old. Wonderful they are preserved for us to enjoy.Embassament de Arenos – this is a reservoir we enjoyed on our route back to the Mediterranean coast.
Another day trip to Valencia just for the Calatrava architecture and to explore the city of the arts. Pictures from our visit in 2020.Museu de les Ciences was first as we waited for the weather to warm a bit from the chilly January day.Loved the architectural model with the reflection of the window in the glass pond.Out of this world! Birth of Stars in the Rosette Nebula.In the music section Henry is the Maestro.Severo Ochoa was one of 3 Nobel Prize winners for Spain.This is an exhibit showing Severo Ochoa explaining his theories of DNA.There is a beautiful glass sculpture depicting our DNA. There is also a really good exhibit explaining each of our chromosomes and their characteristics.Let’s have a chat and a brew with my Neanderthal Ancestors – probably have some of their DNA.Ruta 99 is a fun play on Route 66. These are picturesque small towns in the Provence of Valencia with populations of 99 or less.The next building over is the Agora – as we remember that is Greek for the meeting place.Inside the Agora is a fun futuristic place to hang out. And sometimes you can see a concert or movie.Typical of Calatrava’s buildings, there are moving parts of the Agora that can open to let in more or less light.
