Adventures of Team Munz: Rest Stops- Norwegian Style

On our initial travels around Norway we quickly found out that that there are rest stops dotting the entire road system as a convenience for the way many people travel around the country by road. These rest stops are more rustic than bigger rest stops in the U.S. and are more on par with rest stops that would offer only toilet and vending services(minus the vending). If you want food or gas then the towns were the place to stop. Depending on the part of our trip and how close we were to the next town these stops could be more or less rustic in what they offered, These are the signs we figured out and looked closely for, usually in some combination:

Rest stop( almost all of these had at least a picnic table and trash can at the very least, and they were every few kilometers in parts of the country)

Rest stop with toilet(WC's varied from modern sliding door ones you'd see on a city street to a composting toilet or outhouse with running water)

Viewpoint(some of these were the most spectacular we've seen and by the end of each day we felt guilty for passing some because of viewpoint fatigue)

Hiking Trail (these were in other spots too, but a bunch of rest stops also had trails you could take from them)

Information (often just a map or some details about the area on a sign at the rest stop, they don't have Norwegians offering "Big Summer Blowouts" every few kilometers.

This is our first rest stop out of Moss overlooking Lake Mjosa. There was a small walk up to picnic tables, we did the walk but didn't picnic, and it still made the girls' list of highlights for the day.

Coming out of Geiranger, this is a spot that a lot of cars took a break because it was flat compared to the last 20 km of uphill switchbacks dodging tour buses. It was raining off and on for most of this day.

After we got back to the main road turn off we pulled into this rest stop that had info and picnic tables. Elizabeth spotted a waterfall that she thought we could get closer to, so we geared up and went for it. Here are the girls when they thought they were just stretching and building some stone piles.

Back at the car, yes all directions are cool looking.

The waterfall before we decided to hike to it.

Similar to picnic benches at various rest stops.

Geared up for the hike.

That is the tunnel through the mountain in the above picture. We didn't go that way but went through over 50(rough guess) other tunnels on the trip.

Another man and his son had left a few people at their camper and had done the walk up too, Here is how close we got, not bad for an on a whim suggestion.

The waterfall had a cool steps look to it.

Of course you need to touch the water.

This is the view from the other side of the rest stop.

We stopped in Lom, so town rest stop and filled up on gas and talked to the National Park Office, but did snap a few pictures of their Stave Church, one of the more famous.

Juliet in red pants in the foreground is playing the role of tourist with the other bus patrons and trying to capture it on her tablet.

After a hike in Jotunheimen National Park we stopped to stretch our legs on the way out.

We got lots of sunshine from here on out in our trip. And the flowers were along a lot of roads to add some color.

This was while were cutting through a scenic valley between Jotunheimen and Jostedalsbreen Parks. The road is know for being a lot of up, and then a lot of down (think switchbacks to infinity)into where the Lustrafjorden connects down into some of the more famous fjords of western Norway. This stretch was one of two where we had to pinch ourselves to make sure we weren't in Middle Earth and there wouldn't be Dwarves running around, although Norway does have a lot of folklore about Trolls and there were a number of times that the scenery reminded Joshua of his time in New Zealand(where all the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies were filmed)

Those aren't brightly dressed Hobbits, just the Munz girls tablet paparazzi.

Then we got to the top of the ups at Sognefjellsvegen, possibly the most modern and spectacular rest stop in the world for its view as well as passive solar building and faucets that both wet and dry your hands depending on where they are placed. Yes, this is also in the middle of nowhere.

View from the back of the building.

The building had a stone floor that was soaking in the sun's rays and baking back up.

Two glaciers from a distance on the mountain ahead in the center and right of the frame.

The VW Golf made it. Now to test the brakes and gears going down.

Center glacier closer up.

Right glacier closer up.

Now the snow and glaciers were left behind us on the way down and we were back in Middle Earth with the brightly clad kids and their tablets.

Juliet was torched by this point. Fourth day without a nap and this day kept coming at us with scenery that never stopped. So she stayed in the car and watched Doc McStuffins at this stop.

We finally made it down to the Lustrafjord and found a rest stop where you could precariously walk down for a better view close up.

The car is up to the left at the top of a steep set of rock stairs.

They are delirious. That and we probably said they could have chocolate when they got back to the car.

Finally a new day of rest stops. This one is cheating because it is also a glacier info center. We stopped before and after hiking to the Nigard Glacier(teaser for a future post) but the info center had the only bathrooms for a good distance and the view for a snack was pretty sweet as well.

After taking a ferry on multiple fjords in the morning, we starting making our way to our last night of lodging for the trip. We added a bonus scenic road because we didn't want to go back down this road that led to a well-known scenic viewpoint called Stegastein near Flam. On the way up the road was one lane switchbacks about half of 8 km, which made for some tense white-knuckled driving for Elizabeth, and that is with the road up technically having the right of way.

Giving the car and driver a break.

And views from Stegastein.

The view from the bathroom.

By taking a different route than planned we did add another scenic road and had lunch on picnic tables near this waterfall before walking closer for a better look.

Our last day was mostly a driving back to Moss day, and we managed to squeeze in some stops that may be less scenic but they allowed us to get back to our apartment feeling like we did something besides just drive, at least for the 3 younger people in the back seat.