Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
plorer who was completing a description in his notebook of a craggy headland with two
unusual symmetrical valley glaciers, when he discovered that he was actually looking at a
walrus.
Fata Morganas are apparently caused by reflections off water, ice and snow, and when
combined with temperature inversions, create the illusion of solid, well-defined features
where there are none. On clear days off the outermost coasts of Lofoten, Vesterålen, north-
ern Finnmark and Svalbard, you may well observe inverted mountains or nonexistent ar-
chipelagos of craggy islands resting on the horizon. It's difficult indeed to convince your-
self, even with an accurate map, that they're not really there! Normal visibility at sea is less
than 18km, but in the Arctic, sightings of islands and features hundreds of kilometres in
the distance are frequently reported.
BIGGEST & HIGHEST
Jostedalsbreen
is continental Europe's largest icecap.
Sognefjorden
, Norway's longest fjord at 203km (second only in the world to Green-
land's Scoresby Sund) is 1308m deep, making it the world's second-deepest fjord (after
Skelton Inlet in Antarctica). Hardangerfjord, at 179km, is the third-longest fjord network in
the world.
Galdhøpiggen
(2469m) is the highest mountain in northern Europe.
Hardangervidda
, at 900m above sea level, is Europe's largest and highest plateau.
Utigårdsfossen
, a glacial stream that flows into Nesdalen and Lovatnet from Joste-
dalsbreen (not readily accessible to tourists), is placed by some authorities as the third-
highest waterfall in the world at 800m, including a single vertical drop of 600m. Other
Norwegian waterfalls among the 10 highest in the world are Espelandsfossen (703m;
Hardangerfjord); Mardalsfossen (655m; Eikesdal); and Tyssestrengene (646m in multiple
cascades), near Odda.
High Country
If you think Norway is spectacular now, imagine what it was like 450 million years ago
when the Caledonian Mountain Range, which ran along the length of Norway, was as high
as the present-day Himalayas. With time, ice and water eroded them down to their current
form of mountains and high plateaux (some capped with Europe's largest glaciers and ice-
fields) that together cover more than half the Norwegian land mass.
