We arrived at another of Norway's key and most recognizable landmarks, the serpentine road known as the Trollstigen, or Troll's Staircase.
The road climbed up a serpentine and now smoothly moves along a mountain plateau. The cone-shaped mountains in the photo are where we're headed; that's Trollstigen.
As is the case throughout Europe and Norway in particular, every attraction has its own facilities: parking, a souvenir shop, clean restrooms, a café, and safe viewpoints. Even attractions like the Trollstigen are safe to visit year-round, as long as you adhere to the site's rules of conduct, namely, staying on the walking paths and not climbing over the fences.
The view from the parking lot is astounding and delightful. The plateau we were driving along drops off into a waterfall somewhere deep, now shrouded in twilight. To the left and right are tall, sheer mountains, and the piercing blue of the summer sky covers it all. The brain and mind refuse to accept such images as everyday natural phenomena. It seems as if it's all staged, as if they're a set created by someone to make you believe... to believe that you're standing on the most beautiful land in the world... A little about scale. Look closely; you can see a viewpoint and the trail leading to it on the right side of the photograph. And the waterfalls, which are present in every photograph here, cease to seem out of the ordinary...
On the other side of the valley, two cone-shaped mountains loom like veritable trolls. Perhaps that's what they are, turned to stone thousands of years ago.
Well, we've looked around, time to take a look at the Staircase! This breathtaking serpentine road winds, clinging to the mountain ledges. Every guidebook I've read calls it almost extreme. I didn't see anything extreme or dangerous about it, but it's certainly beautiful.
Right there, a mountain river, which had been flowing quite calmly from the mountains into the valley, falls from a height of several hundred meters and crashes into the rocks in an unstoppable stream.
I simply don’t have enough words to describe the delight and emotions from the combination of high mountains, a beautiful waterfall and a beautiful serpentine road.
We descended, and the familiar sights began to change. We stopped here and there, and continued taking photos from the window. At one point, my wife said, "That's enough, I'm done driving, let me take the wheel..." and then, as we descended, she switched again. This was, if I remember correctly, in Norway, the first and only time Natasha ever drove. It seems to me, my dear, that you have some kind of mental list of roads you tick off 🙂 and the Trollstigen was definitely on it. I wonder if when we find ourselves on the "Death Road" in Bolivia, you'll ask to drive too? :))))
The waterfalls, rising higher and higher above us, begin to shimmer with rainbows!
It seems as if Stigfossen waterfall is crashing onto the road…or the road is crashing onto it. In short, your heart skips a beat, wondering what's around the bend!
This is what Stigfossen Falls looks like from below. Surprise and shock are the emotions evoked by the viewing platform on the serpentine road near the waterfall. Yes, I need to somehow rewire my brain. Europeans are very smart: realizing that people would stop to admire this natural wonder, they didn't skimp and slightly widened the road, thereby allowing people to safely stop and enjoy the magnificent waterfall.
Meanwhile, we've almost reached the end of the serpentine road, which, by the way, was built back in 1936. The twilight is getting thicker and we need to rush on: today there's another place that's "now or never" - the Atlantic Road.
We leave Trollstigen behind, looking at it in the rearview mirror, trying to comprehend what we've just experienced. A feeling dawns within me that this isn't just a cool landmark, but also a very powerful place energetically. It may seem silly to some, but for me, the Staircase is now something more than just a mountain road. One day, we'll definitely return!
Source: travel.ru