It had been a blast visiting my friend Tonje, but now it looked like my trip was going to round off in a sticky situation.
My return flight was through Vigra airport. However, Tonje and I were miles away in Volda, and though Norway might be a good ol’ pocket-sized country, the keyword here is “pocket-sized.” It doesn’t have airports in just any which city. The main method of transportation is by bus. We’d have to take a bus from Volda to Moa, and then transfer onto a second bus that would speed me the rest of the way to Vigra.
Collectively, a three-or-four-hour journey. Hey, we decided, easy as pie. All the more fun and countryside to see before parting ways.
The problem was, when Tonje checked the bus schedule, there weren’t any buses between Volda and Moa on the day I was supposed to leave.
Mental note: Never choose Sunday as a departure day again.
Tonje’s mom came up with the idea over the phone: “Why don’t you two go a day earlier and stay overnight at Ålesund?”
Why not? Vigra was, after all, the barest hop-skip-and-a-jump away from Ålesund. Actually, it could even be considered just a hop, really, minus the skipping and jumping, considering it was a mere 16km away. We’d bunk there on Saturday, then I’d catch a shuttle to the airport the next day while Tonje headed back to Volda. Sounded like a plan.
Of course, by the time we got to Ålesund, we found out that the youth hostel we’d been planning to stay at was all shut up. There I scribbled another mental note: People take their weekends very seriously here.
We ran around town, trotting on cobblestone streets and corners in search of other hostels. Finally we decided, “To heck with it,” and chose the first available place of accommodations we found. The most memorable thing about Quality Hotel Scandinavie, at least to me, I’m afraid, was how St. Patrick’s green our room was. But that was all right—who had time for hotel rooms when there was a town to explore? We chucked our luggage in and got started at once.
I had never heard of Ålesund before that, but I can vouch from first-hand experience: the town is beautiful. Granted, Norway in general is terribly, breathtakingly scenic. Regal stone mountains tower over ice-sparking lakes, and fir trees are coated in the deep calm of snow. But Ålesund’s rich stone architecture is something else. I had marveled over warm, wooden cabins and furnishings in Raudsand and Vigra; now, as we explored the cobblestone roads and subtly elegant town square, I was agog.
Ålesund is located on the coast, overlooking the Norwegian Sea that gradually blends into the Arctic Ocean. I got the impression that it is proud of being a fishing town. I’m sure by no means would it hype that to potential tourists as its only claim to fame, but it doesn’t shy away from the fact, either. Well, why should it? It’s a noble profession as well.
There’s no escaping the smell of fish that gently laces the air, but it’s not an unpleasant smell, by any means. It doesn’t overpower or knock you flat. Rather, it is a fresh, lingering reminder of a living well-earned. The reminder was strong where Tonje and I strolled along the docks, the fishing boats well-anchored, the air alive with salt ocean.
But just because it’s a fishing town doesn’t mean it’s rustic. I later read up on the architecture. Art Nouveau, they call it? I wouldn’t know. I just knew it as gorgeous, comfortable in its understated charm. We only had a few hours to spare before crashing at the hotel for the night, but in that time, we got our fill of curving brick roads, the town square made of stone, and ample marinas. We even found time to buy chocolate, because after all, who could possibly resist that?
I was tickled when we ended up having dinner at Hong Kong Restaurant—Chinese food in Norway. It figures, doesn’t it?
The little time we had—not to mention that it was still very early spring, and therefore there weren’t a lot of community activities going on—meant we couldn’t explore every inch of Ålesund. It’s definitely a place to return to in the summer, though. Now that’s a thought.
True, this encounter began with an anxious flurry and a scattered effort to make sure I’d catch my flight in time. But it turned out to be an unexpected perk to be able to top off my visit to Tonje with this little detour. Only goes to show, you never know where sticky situations may lead you.
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