After a little hiatus to finish the university semester, I can now continue sharing my last day in Norway on our road trip. So today is day three, we are at the furthermost point in our road trip from where we started in Bergen. Our destination is Førde, which is the most populated municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane. The township of Førde is located east if the end of the Førdefjorden and at the mouth of the river Jølstra.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to find in Førde, since it doesn’t seem as touristic as other towns, but there are a few great attractions that you can visit. There are the waterfalls of Huldefossen and Halbrendsfossen, the Førdehuset cultural centre, where you can find the Salmon sculpture, The National Tourist Road and the Sunnfjord Museum. We were quite time poor since we arrived quite late the evening before and only had the next morning to site see before driving back down to Bergen to catch our flight. However, we did get to see a couple of attractions and were happy that we included this stop in our trip. 

 

If you remember in my last post we had just crossed the Sognefjorden and spent the early evening in Balestrand. From there we drove to our Airbnb, which was north-west of the town of Førde. This drive took about 1 hours and 45 minutes and was really scenic and showed us another landscape in Norway which we hadn’t seen.

 

Accommodations

Our Airbnb was located about 20 minutes from the centre of Førde. I was a bit concerned that we booked a place so far out, but it was just a gorgeous spot. This was the view from our windows that we got to enjoy that evening and wake up to the next day. It was just off lake Karstadvatnet, which runs off the Førdefjorden

 

The accommodation was the entire ground floor of this lovely home. It was spacious, clean and very comfortable place to stay. We only met one of the hosts, who was an Scottish expat and she was extremely friendly and helpful. I’m very happy we stayed a bit far out here and were away from the hustle and bustle of town.

 

This is the morning view of the lake Karstadvatnet. As you can see the morning brings a whole new perspective to the landscape. After taking a few photos and we packed up and made our way into town.

I had a bit of trouble finding a place for breakfast that was open early in Førde. I also had trouble finding anywhere decent to visit the night before for dinner, which is why we had eaten in Balestrand. The few restaurants that we found on Trip Adviser had really terrible reviews. However, after we had driven past the centre of Førde, we realised how populated the town was. I can say for sure, but I am sure there are plenty of great dinning options, that were just not advertised online.

 

Breakfast

For breakfast we found the only early morning bakery, which was a short drive out from the centre of Førde. Naustdal Dampbakeri AS is a bakery cafe that offers fresh baked  bread, pastries, sandwiches, cakes, gluten free options and coffees. We ordered a few things to share, including Chocolate crossiant, Solskinnsbollar, Wienerbrød and Pizzabrød. I also had a coffee with soy milk. In comparison to the pastries we had eaten in other bakeries so far these ones were not as good. However, they were still pretty decent for freshly baked pastries and the prices were much lower then most other bakeries we had visited.

 

After breakfast we made our way to the Sunnfjord Museum. I will actually do another post for this museum, so we will skip ahead to our next stop.

 

Huldefossen Waterfall

After we visited Huldefossen, which is only a 5 minute drive from the Sunnfjord Museum. This is one of the most photographed waterfalls in Norway and is quite easily accessible if you have kids. From the car park its only a short walk across the bridge and along the river bank. It has a 90m long fall, making it the biggest waterfall in the Førde and Gaular area. It is also in quite a tranquil location, as there is no businesses or shops nearby. Only thing nearby was a farm, just across from the car park, which had a few animals for O to visit.

 

After visiting the waterfall we had to make our way back to Bergen. This took a bit over 3 hours and included a ferry ride across the Sognefjord. We were a bit worried about that it would take longer with the ferry or traffic but we got a pretty good run. We stopped into Søstrene Hagelin for lunch when we arrived into Bergen. I already detailed this in my post, Bergen: historic trader town (part 2). So if your interest in stopping in this historic fish shop and want to know more then check it out.

 

Lagunen Storsenter

Our last stop before our flight was the Lagunen Storsenter Shopping Centre in Bergen. This shopping centre is only a ten minute drive from the Bergen Airport. It is an ideal stop if you have time extra time before your flight and need somewhere you can park a bit longer, since parking is difficult in the city centre. This shopping centre has many the classic Norwegian and European brands and plenty of places to eat.

We stopped at Baker Brun to have our last Norwegian pastries and coffees. This Baker Brun is not the same company as the Baker Brun in Oslo that we had eaten at. It was originally called Finngårdsbakeriet and was apparently Norway’s first bakery (1893). Today they have 13 stores  under the Baker Brun across Norway. They offer a variety of Norwegian pastries, breads, sandwiches, hot dishes, juices and coffees. I don’t remember what this large scroll pastry was, all I remember is that it turned out to be $18. Marco didn’t realise when he picked it, but it was good nevertheless. 

 

So coming up next, I will take you to Sunnfjord Museum in Førde and that will be my last post for Norway. Then we will be going to Stockholm, Sweden…