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  • Europe
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  • Norway
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    • Oslo and the Oslofjord
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  • Things not to Miss
Shadowed by rearing mountains, the S-shaped Geirangerfjord is one of Norway’s most stunningly beautiful fjords. From polar-bear spotting to birdwatching to husky driving, the vast, glaciated landscapes of this gorgeous Arctic archipelago present a spectacular range of wildlife safaris. Before his death in 1943, Gustav Vigeland populated Oslo’s favourite park with his fantastical, phantasmagorical sculptures. A ride on the Flåm railway from high up in the mountains to the fjords way down below is one of the most dramatic train journeys in the world. Norway’s second city is an eminently appealing place with a clutch of fine old buildings, great restaurants and top-notch art galleries. Nudging the ocean, beguiling Ålesund boasts a wonderful coastal setting and a platoon of handsome Art Nouveau buildings. Pilots, minkes, humpbacks and sperm whales show themselves in all their glory during summertime scouting excursions off the Vesterålen coast. Trondheim’s vaunted gothic domkirke (cathedral) is the largest medieval building in Scandinavia – and one of the world’s most awe-inspiring religious structures. Take a guided walk out on to this mighty ice plateau as it grinds and groans, slips and slithers its way across the mountains behind the Nordfjord. Perhaps the finest of Norway’s stave churches, Urnes is distinguished by the frenzied intricacy of its woodcarving. Of the handful of Viking longboats that have survived, the Oseberg is the best preserved – and was unearthed complete with a rich treasure-trove of burial goods. At once eerily disconcerting and bewitchingly beautiful, the aurora borealis flicker across northern Norway’s winter firmament at irregular, unpredictable intervals. Munch’s unsettling, highly charged paintings appear in several of the country’s museums, most memorably at the Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo. Simple in design but complex in their symbolism, Alta’s hillside prehistoric rock carvings offer insight into the beliefs of the region’s earliest inhabitants. The Lofoten islands are strewn about with scores of picture-postcard fishing villages, of which Henningsvær is among the most arresting.