Hjelle to Nes Gard - Norway (Day 6)

Started off with a scrumptious breakfast at the Hjelle Hotel. Our plan is to continue on the Hwy 15 towards Lom and proceed to Hoyheimsvik for our stay at the Nes Gard.  

The drive on Hwy 15 from Hjelle to Lom was something that we were skeptical about because a stretch of the road goes through a high altitudes and authorities wouldn’t open the road until late spring or in summer as the snow can be too treacherous for the drivers. We lucked out and the roads were open just a few days before. 

This stretch of the road was a bit scary as it appeared like tundra with almost no one in sight traveling on those roads for miles at a time, but the serene beauty of the landscape cannot be explained properly. There were not many high peaks as we seemed to have come to such an altitude that all one could see was the snow and ice, but the weather was a sunny that made it a bit more comfortable.

Slowly the climb down those peaks showed signs of vegetation and greenery. By the time, we reached Lom, the weather felt very different. We stopped in the parking lot of the famous Lom Stave Church and got out for a breath of a dry air.  

A friendly local introduced himself and volunteered a lot of local information. He apparently lives in Oslo and visits Lom only to get away from the city. He mentioned that Lom is one of the driest areas of the country and hence, since ancient times, water was brought to the residents from the rivers through an innovative pipeline system. 

He suggested that we visit the open-air museum across the street where they had the replicas of the ancient log houses and this water pipeline system. 

He also gave some information about the Stave Church which is also where he apparently got baptized. The Church was really an interesting structure that has been preserved since 12^th century. These churches are distinct and different from the European churches in the sense that they are mainly built using timber just the like Viking ships and have several symbols (like dragons’ head) indicating a combination of nature worship (Paganism) and local mythology. Several of these stave churches also have paintings that carry very religious messages, but the artists are mostly unknown unlike the artists in Europe during the same time period.

From Lom, we drove on Hwy 55 along the Sognefjellet mountain pass. 

Somewhere at the top of this mountain pass, we passed through a visitor center that also served as a resting spot for the skiers. There was still quite a bit of snow around attracting lots of skiers. The mountain lodge is of a contemporary architecture that was quite different with lot of skylights and sharp features. 

Continuing our drive, we went past the stone sculpture, Mefjellet, by an artist Knut Wold that was a bit weird, but the setting of the sculpture with a glacier and towering peaks in the background was giving it a unique look especially on a cloudy day with light snow shower and sun trying to peak through the clouds.

The rest of the drive was continued downhill and along the shore of a fjord until we reached the Nes Gard Hotel just along the shore, with only the road between the hotel and the fjord.

Just across the hotel is a small church with the fjord waters on the background and beautiful waterfalls across the fjord. The setting was amazing with subtle sounds of the bells around the sheep neck. 

It started drizzling a little after we checked in and that added a different feature to the setting. The room we got was in the attic that has been tastefully decorated with minimal features and a window to get a view of the grazing sheep along the hill on one side and the fjord and waterfalls on the other side. 

The hosts served dinner and we shared our table with a tourist couple who are from Pennsylvania. It was a pleasant dinner with some common topics to talk about!