I was in Norway
when I invited my friends Trond and Tone to paella (Spanish food). Then,
Trond proposed me to go to a trip that he had organized to Stavanger for
a group of people that he knew because they were with him in a kind of
course for medicine students in the Haukeland's hospital. In this course
there was people from several countries of Europe, Africa and America. |
After thinking on
it several days, finally I felt like going with them. So, the day of the
trip arrived and we got all together to start the trip. We were from the
left to the right me, Elina and Velina from Helsinki (Finland), Charleen
from Kalkara (Malta), Abe from London (Ontario, Canada), Andrea from Mosta
(Malta), Núria from Vilanova i la Geltrú, Trond (Norway), Fernando from Sao
Paulo (Brazil), Abubaker from Khartoum (Sudan), Marcelo from Sao Paulo
(Brazil) and Anna from Barcelona that is missing because she is making
the photo. |
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Trond came only to say good bye, because he was
leaving to Oslo that day. We got on the bus in the Bergen's terminal at
five o'clock and after five hours we would arrive to Stavanger at ten
o'clock in the "night". Indeed, Bergen is not far away from Stavanger.
The reason of taking so much time is because the rough coast of Norway
forces to make several crossings by boat and, fortunately several of
these crossings have been removed by means of underwater tunnels and
bridges. |
In Stavanger, we
went to the youth hostel, where stayed most of our fellows. However, Abubaker
and me went to the
camping that was next to the hostel. It was the first time for Abubaker
sleeping in a tent, but it wasn't going to be easy:
¡¡The pegs were missing!! So we had to look for branches to fix the tent
to the ground. Otherwise, all was perfect and we slept soon due to we
were very tired. |
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The next day, we
were going to make the greater excursion of the trip: to go up to Preikestolen
(the Pulpit), that is a famous point set on top of a near fiord called Lysefjord.
This is a vertical abyss with more than 600 meters high, reaching the
fiord at the base. So we woke up early to have enough time to arrive to
the harbour, where we arrived at half past eight in order to take a
ferry at nine o'clock. We entered in a departure lounge that was very
quiet. Indeed, we were almost alone. There weren't indications of any
ferry departing at nine either. When the nine o'clock arrived, we went
out and the boat had just gone out from the wharf. Nevertheless, it was
not very important, because there was another boat at ten o'clock. |
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Finally we
got on the ferry to Tau, where we took a bus that carried us to the
startpoint of the pathway to Preikestolen.
We entered
in a shop to take some information and we started the ascent. |
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Norwegian people has a curious way of building pathways using big stones,
so you have to walk almost jumping from one stone to another.
Fortunately there are also sections with wooden catwalks crossing
wetlands. |
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You could notice
the damp in almost all the way, the exuberant vegetation, there was not
too hot and the effort of ascending the slopes wasn't too much. |
We arrive to a
lake and stopped partly to rest and partly to swim. Only Abe, Fernando
and me jumped into the water. It was rather warm, even more than the sea
and I think that it was above 20 ºC. |
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We carried on and as we advanced, the landscape was more magnificent. We
now could see the Lysefjord (the
fiord). In addition, we enjoyed the view and sound of a furious torrent
that lowered from two blue mountain lakes and hurled over the fiord. |
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The landscapes that produce you vertigo started when we moved closer to
the fiord. The pathway past very close to the abyss and right away we
arrived to Preikestolen. |
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You were more afraid because
of the other's safe than your own safe, because you were looking at
people just at the edge of the abyss, and children playing and running
close to the more than 600 meters of free fall. In addition of our
feeling, the best was the privileged view of this place that allowed us
to gaze at kilometres and kilometres of the ancient glaciar valley. |
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Abe made himself this photo, in which he is like touching the void. You
can see his legs as floating into the air over the enormous abyss. He
was brave making this photo. |
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After spending some time in Preikestolen, I decided going up a little
more in order to take some photos from a higher point. Abubaker, Marcelo
and Fernando came with me at the beginning, but I carried on up later. |
The worst part of
this is that I lost the pathway, I entered in a small valley and it took
to me too much time to find the exit due to the verticality of the
place, so I returned to Preikestolen after I wanted to arrive.
Consequently, the others were waiting for me to return to the bus stop. |
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In the shop close
to the bus stop we found out that the next bus would depart four hours
later. So we asked for two taxis that carried us to the harbour of Tau.
To tell the truth, they were more or less the same price than the bus. |
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We arrived
to Stavanger, we bought food and went to the hostel. We were tired, ones
more than others, but some of us wanted some more party.
At the
beginning, Anna and me wanted to go for party to the city, but finally
we decided to stay playing cards.
We started playing the “liar” and then to “police, killer and bitch”. To
tell the truth, we enjoyed a lot. The two brazilians, Abubaker, Anna, Velina
and me stood up until two o'clock in the morning. I won't forget the
infallibility of Velina killing to all of us when she was the killer.
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The next day, we went for a walk to the city. We visited a church, the
old harbour and the historic city among other things. Finally we went to
a pizzeria before taking the bus to return to Bergen. |
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In Bergen we made
the last photo in which we appeared all together. |
I don't know if I will see my fellows again, but in
spite of the goodbyes are always a bit sad moments, you think later on
the experiences that you have lived and shared together with them and
you realize that it's worth having met them and making friendship with
them. Definitely a fantastic and enriching experience that the life
gives us as a present from time to time and that we don't have to lose. |