Taste of national tourist routes - Magazine

INCLUDING GUIDE TO OVER 60 PLACES TO EAT, STAY & PLAY ALONG THE NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES: GAMLE STRYNEFJELLSVEGEN, GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN, RONDANE, SOGNEFJELLET, VALDRESFLYA

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES IN NORWAY - scenic roads for exploring Norway’s breathtaking landscapes There are still roads that are not merely designed to get you to your destination as quickly as possible. When you drive the National Tourist Routes, the journey itself becomes a memorable experience. Each of the 18 routes has been carefully selected by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, and each has its own unique history and character. The Administration’s job is to provide the roadside services travellers need. This includes building spectacular viewing points, toilet facilities, car parks and footpaths, and installing outdoor furniture and works of art.

Bold, innovative architecture in a magnificent natural setting is the signature of the National Tourist Routes scheme.

The magazine you hold in your hands (and the website matlangsnasjonaleturistveger.no) are part of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s efforts to promote the unique culinary experiences and destinations to be found along the Tourist Routes. This edition takes you to Sognefjellet, Geiranger–Trollstigen, Gamle Strynefjellsvegen, Valdresflye and Rondane – five stretches of road with matchless cultural landscapes, fine hospitality and local temptations. nasjonaleturistveger.no tasteofnationaltouristroutes.com

TASTE OF NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES MAGAZINE No. 1–2013, ENGLISH EDITION EDITOR IN CHIEF Egil Ørjan Thorsen EDITOR Marit Sigurdson PHOTO EDITOR Tina Stafrén WRITERS Marit Sigurdson Eirik Dankel Tone Lyslo

COVER: Hege Thorson Nordskar, Glittersjå Fjellgård PHoto: Tina Stafrén

PHOTOGRAPHERS Tina Stafrén Espen Mills Helge Lysholm Jiri Havran ART DIRECTOR Johan Hallström TRANSLATORS Charles Ek Robert Moskowitz proofreading Samtext PRINT Trydells tryckeri 2013

FOLLOW THE BLOG www.tasteofnationaltouristroutes.com

PLAN Your NORWEGIAN Vacation www.nasjonaleturistveger.no www.visitnorway.com

www.hanen.no

GOALS AND CORE VALUES FOR TASTE OF NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES PROVIDERS OF DINING EXPERIENCES ALONG NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES ARE AMBASSADORS FOR GOOD DINING WHO CARE ABOUT INGREDIENTS, QUALITY, HISTORY AND GOOD HOSPITALITY.

-We will promote good hospitality when meeting with colleagues, suppliers and the travelling public.

-We will promote the diversity of ingredients and food products, as well as the taste and distinctive character from the sea, the fjords,the plateaux and the mountains along national tourist routes, with a focus on the use of norwegian ingredients.

-We will use ingredients and products that promote enjoyment of food and good health.

-We will market and make use of food and food traditions as an attraction.

-We will communicate the history of the ingredients, their origins and preparation.

-We will use local ingredients which are geographically related to the region.

-We will take advantage of seasonal variations in ingredients and products.

-We will choose ingredients and products that ref lect our concern for the environment.

-We will promote good food and food culture among children and young people.

IN ADDITION, WE ENDORSE THE GOALS AND VALUES OF THE NEW NORDIC CUISINE. www.nynordiskmad.org

contributors

Tina Stafrén -Photographer, photo editor

Marit Sigurdson -Writer, text editor

Johan Hallström -Art director

After a childhood replete with the food craftsmanship of Jämtland, and with a second home in Toscana, Norwegian food culture has now captured her attention. Tina is just as passionate and proficient in her cooking as in her profession. And when she eats out, the service is put to the test. On the other hand, it’s easy to pacify her by putting her

As she herself puts it: being a Norwegian soul in a Swedish body isn’t always easy. But she thrives on her culinary tours in Norway. Growing up in Västerbotten with three ravenous siblings, she nowadays enjoys food and drink without stress, and with few inhibitions about what can and should be combined.

In other words, she is willing to try almost anything in the search for new taste experiences.

Johan is the obvious candidate to be our driver on these culinary expeditions after spending a caravan holiday in Norway in the 1980s and taking a 13-day round trip of Europe. As an art director, his motto is ”less is more”, which cannot always be said of his attitude to food. Johan is a meat-lover par excellence, and would gladly drive many a mile for a good entrecote.

great weakness, butter, on the table..

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Memorable experiences Congratulations on the first English edition of the magazine ‘Taste of National Tourist Routes’. Here, we present a series of stories about unique locations that together offer a variety of culinary and activity based experiences along some of the most beautiful stretches of road in Norway.

Taste of National Tourist Routes © emphasizes the importance of blending great dining experiences with travel. We aim to make the search easier for you travelers! We present locations offering a good meal with thoughtful ingredients, quality, history and friendly hospitality. We all know that a meal is more than just the food – the atmosphere, the staff, the other guests and the environment are all important factors contributing to a good experience. This is all reflected in the stories that you hold in your hand.

Along the National Tourist Routes there is a variety of unique locations providing “relational cuisine”. At each one, there is a relationship between the people behind the craft and the food traditions, as well as between a lifestyle close to nature and its cuisine. Relationships like the ones between cultural landscapes and a farmer’s animals also create memorable travel experiences, as do hosts that serve foods based on self-cultivated, local or regional ingredients with a pride for their identity and tradition.

New Nordic Food The common denominator among all of the hosts presented here is a love and pride for what they do.

Both famous and less well-known people behind places like Arne Brimi’s Vianvang and Morten Schakenda’s Bakeriet i Lom, as well as Eris & Martin’s Kvebergsøya, Lindi’s BesteBakken and

Kenneth’s Restaurant Brasserie Posten are all a part of the New Nordic Cuisine. Generation hotels like Hotel Union Geiranger, architectural wonders like the Juvet Landskapshotell and farmstead tourism at the Valbjør Gard build on Norway’s contribution to Nordic food as a concept.

Skilled farmers, hunters, fishermen and food producers are the basis for the stories behind Taste of National Tourist Routes. Reindeer in Jotunheimen, Skjåk moose, deer from Sognefjord, berries in Valldal, beer from Atna, apple juice from Skjolden, brown goat cheese from Lom, the Dybvik brothers Gran Reserva clipfish (salted and dried cod), Norwegian lobster from the Sognefjord, herbs from Aukrust, milk used for cheese and, last but not least, the goats, lambs and cattle from farms naturally associated with the National Tourist Routes are all part of the memorable journey.

We also have a web page with a mission www. tasteofnationaltouristroutes.com. Our assignment begins with a question: Can Norwegian food culture measure up to the country’s most beautiful sights? Several car trips and food experiences later, we begin to suspect the answer, but we drive on tirelessly in our search for gastronomic pearls.

Eventually, the web page will become an excellent planning tool for your next trip to Norway.

Here, you will find an overview map, itinerary suggestions for dining, accommodation and activities both along and across the National Tourist Routes, so stay tuned.

Have a tasty and memorable journey!

Egil Ørjan Thorsen COORDINATOR Mat langs Nasjonale turistveger TASTE OF NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES egil@matlangsnasjonaleturistveger.no

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When idealism is converted into action, something beautiful emerges. Glittersjå Fjellgård is the result you won’t want to miss.

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Cod is salted and dried to turn it into exclusive clipfish. Just outside Ålesund, the Dybvik brothers explain the production process.

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Morten Schakenda has succeeded in turning our daily bread into a tourist attraction. Welcome to Norway’s best bread stop!

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We check in at Andvord Gard, whose housekeeper and manager Ann-Kristin Bøhle offers a delicious evening meal in the beautiful dining room.

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As a visitor to Jotunheimen you are sometimes lucky enough to find the local reindeer on the menu. We went along on the autumn reindeer round-up across the Valdresflye plateau.

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Staying at Rondane GjestegĂĽrd is a cosy farm experience, made all the more delightful by the old-fashioned hospitality of owners Christoph and Cecilie.

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The beautiful Hjelle Hotel has passed down through generations of the same family. It is somewhere guests fall in love – both with the place and each other.

144 Melchiorgarden is a farm that produces the unusual combination of goats and raspberries. We pick sun-ripened raspberries and visit the goat kids at their summer pastures.

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At Kvebergsøya in Folldal, Eris and Martin serve well-prepared, country food on a farm that is the very definition of rustic romanticism.

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Bessheim lies near one of Norway’s most spectacular hiking routes, but we prefer to pop into the kitchen and watch the chef preparing ptarmigan for dinner.

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Hotel Union is the epitome of luxury and indulgence in Geiranger – not least when it comes to good food fished straight from the fjord.

54 A medieval atmosphere, tender goat kid on your plate and friendly hosts who know their cultural history – that is Valbjør farm.

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At HindsĂŚter Fjellhotell, AndrĂŠ Sundero and Karola Wenzel greet their guests with the same warm hospitality as in years gone by.

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28 Fast food does not have to be bad food. Welcome to a journey where every stop promises a high-quality meal made from the finest ingredients.

Nestling deep in the surrounding scenery is one of the talking points of the architectural community. Like many before us, we make a pilgrimage to Juvet Landskapshotell.

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Sognefjellet

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ŠFoto: Werner Harstad / Statens vegvesen

SOGNE FJELLET It flatters our vanity to greet the day at a loftier height than most others, even as the summits on all sides call us still higher. There’s a feeling of floating that lingers a while, even when we reach the warmth and the lush green vegetation along the fjord.

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Cultural treasure in Lom

“I’m proud of this place. There are so many fine things here, both inside and out.”

– Ann-Kristin Bøhle, Andvord GARD

Within walking distance of Lom lies Andvord Gard. Restored from floor to ceiling, its timbers, silverware and textiles tell a shimmering tale. We make a reservation on an autumn evening in keen anticipation of the culinary delights promised by mistress of the house, Ann-Kristin Bøhle, and enjoy a three-course dinner in what must be one of Norway’s most beautiful dining rooms.

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At Andvord Gard, the thick timber walls are merely the backdrop. It’s the furnishings that catch the eye: decorative cabinets, glittering silverware and beautifully preserved tapestries.

Wherever you turn, you find something new to transfix the gaze. Every angle is askew, and our voices are dampened by the soft textiles. Fascinated, we examine a beautifully painted cabinet that has been built into the timber wall.

“You’re welcome to open it. We don’t have any secrets here,” says Ann-Kristin Bøhle, Andvord’s mistress of the house.

The cabinet holds a coffee service, reminding us that this isn’t a museum but a small farm hotel where guests like us may come and stay.

Back in the family

The imposing farmhouse in which we find ourselves was built in stages during the 1700s and 1800s, but the farm itself goes all the way back to before the Viking era, Ann-Kristin informs us.

The name comes from the word andverdr and means “which is furthest to the fore”. Andvord was one of the four original large farms in the area, situated directly under the sharp Lomseggen ridge at the mouth of the Bøverdalen valley.

The first farmer associated with the farm was

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named Pål Andvord and lived in the 1300s.

Since then the farm has remained in the family, with the exception of the latter half of the last century when it was owned by the local municipality and became more and more dilapidated.

Then, in 2002, it was bought back by brothers Richard and Michael Andvord, and a comprehensive restoration project was begun to return the buildings to their original condition.

The result was a faithfully restored farm, which is mostly used by parties who want the place to themselves. But in the summertime, it’s also open for passing guests. Ann-Kristin manages the house, and runs the farm along with a caretaker and two additional staff members.

“It’s a many-faceted job,” she smiles. “I’m cook, business manager, hostess and cleaner.”

Together with a newly-built house on the farm, Andvord accommodates 26 overnight guests.

Many people make reservations here to celebrate special occasions, such as weddings, baptisms and confirmations, but groups of friends also come to enjoy each other’s company in the peace and quiet of a unique setting.

Prosperity preserved

Ann-Kristin shows us some of the most noteworthy furnishings in the house. One of them is the large cabinet in the dining room, which was made especially for the farm by the famous 18th century woodcarver, Skjåk-Ola. The gold ornamentation reinforces the impression of bucolic prosperity, as does the polished family silver that shines in a cabinet on the opposite wall.

“A man from Andvord would take that old silver tankard with him when he left here to go to Christiania (Oslo) on business,” Ann-Kristin says and takes the tankard out. “With that he

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The bridal chest was Oven-baked brought to Andvord for acod, with a butter sauce of bacon and capers, cauliflower wedding. Hanging above ispurÊe and crunchy asparagus. the family’s old battle axe SOGNEFJELLET from 1502

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The old farm has now been returned to the Andvord family and fully restored. To the visitor it offers a shimmering journey in time.

The bridal chest was brought to Andvord for a wedding. Hanging above is the family’s old battle axe from 1502.

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could prove his credentials as the representative of a substantial property here in Lom.” A bridal chest stands beside the silverware, large enough to contain a small pony. It held the dowry that the accomplished weaver Tora Glømsdal brought with her on her marriage to Erik Andvord in 1751. Her tapestry depicting the biblical Parable of the Ten Virgins now hangs in a museum in Trondheim.

Above the bridal chest hangs a battle-axe, which has been in the Andvord family’s possession since 1502. As we soak up more and more of the historic atmosphere, Ann-Kristin willingly acknowledges that she loves telling guests about the farm’s historical treasures.

“I’m proud of this place. There are so many fine things here, both inside and out.”

Former tingstead

Andvord Gard was also a tingstead. From the 1600s right until after the Second World War, people would gather here to resolve their disputes. We walk up a staircase and step over the wide threshold of the restored assembly hall. We try to imagine the people of the area coming here to meet representatives of the authorities. And this was where a soldier would report before he was sent off to war.

Today the hall functions as a conference room.

The comfortable guest rooms are located elsewhere on the upper floor. There’s even a small spa here.

In the summer of 2012 the quality of the restoration work at Andvord was officially recognised with the award of the Olavsrosa: Norwegian Heritage’s mark of quality for ‘experiences of a particularly high standard, with regard to cultural history and interpretation’. The prestigious certificate hangs in the hall.

“It’s a great honour to receive the Olavsrosa,” notes Ann-Kristin, “and we feel it is important to keep the farm in such fine condition and continue to offer good service.”

Skjåk-Ola’s cabinet glistens against the dark timber wall. A more beautiful setting for a meal is difficult to imagine.

And the taste experience matches the rich atmosphere. Ann-Kristin has been cooking professionally for over fifteen years, most of them alongside the nationally-known chef and food philosopher Arne Brimi.

As an appetiser, we’re served oven-baked cod, with a butter sauce of bacon and capers, welljudged saltiness balanced against the sweetness from cauliflower purée and crunchy asparagus.

For an entrée, we have roasted haunch steak of reindeer, with hot red wine sauce seasoned with star anise. It’s served with chanterelles sautéed in butter, string beans and dainty almond potatoes from the vegetable plot of Ann-Kristin’s fatherin-law.

Ann-Kristin buys most of what is served here from the surrounding area.

“So much fine produce is available all round here, from the forest, the river, the mountains and from other farms. It’s absolutely fantastic in that way.”

We eat the tender reindeer meat reverently, and detect the unexpected but interesting taste of the star anise.

“I think ingredients should retain their natural flavours, but at the same time I approve of taking Norwegian cuisine in a new direction by adding a twist that isn’t quite Norwegian.”

For dessert she serves one such twist that makes us almost weak in the knees: a creamy chocolate mousse with passion fruit sorbet and plum salad with blueberries.

Perhaps it’s there, in the beautifully renovated traditional Norwegian setting, in front of the fire on a chilly autumn evening, that justice can be done to the exotic tastes of chocolate and passion fruit. And vice versa: the dining room has never been more beautiful. www.andvordgard.no

Norwegian, home-made and a little exotic

Darkness is falling over the farmyard when go in to dinner. The table is set before a large open fireplace, and in the light from the candelabra,

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favourite cheese On the dairy shelves in Norway, you’ll find a product that is more distinctively Norwegian than any other: the cheese known as Gudbrandsdalsost. This Norwegian favourite has long been produced in many places in this country.

But here in Gudbrandsdalen itself, at the dairy in Lom, the cheese is made with particular pride and affection.

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Dairy manager Jens Erik Hagen serves us coffee before taking his place on the sofa. We’ve driven a few kilometres northwest from Lom and are now ensconced in the break room at Tine Meieriet Lom & Skjåk.

“The cheese has always been produced at the dairy, ever since it started in 1924. So there’s a long tradition.”

He’s talking about Gudbrandsdalsost, which has its origin in Norwegian whey cheeses. It’s made from whey, cream and the milk of both cows and goats, and it has a rich, sweet taste reminiscent of caramel. We’ve found the sliceable cheese at breakfast buffets all over Norway, and we understand why it’s been called “The Most Norwegian of All Things Norwegian”.

As the name suggests, it was here in Gudbrandsdalen that the history of the cheese started, in 1863 to be precise. Jens tells us about the milkmaid Anne Hov, who lived farther south in the valley.

“Cheeses resembling Gudbrandsdalsost had been made for many years before that, but Anne Hov added goat’s milk and more cream to her cheese. So that was the beginning, you can say.”

“In the 1970s, there were 8–9 dairies making the cheese in Gudbrandsdalen alone,” Jens tells us. “But today it’s only those of us in this valley who carry on the tradition.”

The dairy in Lom is also among the last that still makes the cheese in the old way, Jens tells us, by boiling it in a closed kettle.

The dairy has a long and proud tradition. So it comes as no surprise to learn that there were protests when the Tine Group, for financial reasons, wanted to move the entire production of Gudbrandsdalsost to other, larger facilities in Norway.

The protests came from abroad and from the local people. With two very popular personalities, Arne Brimi and Elisabeth Hartman, in the forefront, an action group was started via Facebook to keep the production of Gudbrandsdalsost in Gudbrandsdalen. Popular support was enormous, especially after a TV report which resulted in the group gaining about 50,000 members. The Tine Group management did a complete about-face.

“Everyone here cheered on 17 March 2011, when we got word that we would able to stay.

This action also showed, of course, the power that consumers have, so it was exciting!” Jens says with a grin stretching from ear to ear.

The power of the people

Gudbrandsdalsost became a sought-after commodity, and more and more farm-based cheese makers and co-operative cheese factories began producing it successfully, both here in the area and in many other parts of the country.

Secret recipe

In the early days of Gudbrandsdalsost, the cheese was produced in open pans, which was energyintensive and required a plentiful supply of wood.

In the beginning of the 1900s, a more industrial

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form of dairy production got under way, and manufacturing became more structured and more efficient. At Tine Meieriet Lom & Skjåk, it was decided to maintain the most import components of the cheese-making craft in the modernisation process.

We go down into the production area at the dairy. Chromed pipes twist ingeniously between various tanks equipped with large regulator wheels. In the course of a work day, approximately 5.6 tonnes (metric tons, in North America) are produced, Jens tells us. Right now there is no production under way, but we can still picture its passage through the closed system, from raw materials to finished cheese.

“We get cow’s and goat’s milk from the local area, and whey from Western Norway, and cream from other Tine dairies,” Jens explains. “And these are blended according to a secret recipe,” he says equably.

The mixture is led into a vacuum evaporator, a tall cylindrical tank on the short side of the room.

The vacuum permits boiling to occur at a temperature as low as 62 degrees C, saving a great deal of energy. It takes about 5–6 hours before a sufficient quantity of water has been evaporated and the mixture is more concentrated.

“At that point it has the consistency and colour of vanilla custard,” Jens tells us. “Then we run it into a storage tank where it stays until the next day.”

The concentrate is then moved from the large storage tanks to the cheese kettles themselves – round, closed vessels – where the cooking process continues for the next two hours. It occurs both under a vacuum and, not least, under high pressure for a while, during which time the boiling point rises to about 110 degrees C. “At such a high temperature, a chemical reaction occurs and the lactose and proteins in the whey are browned, until the curds are caramelised and acquire the desired colour and taste.

“Then the cheese is ready,” Jens states, “but it’s hot. It’s quickly cooled down to 80 degrees C, to become smooth and malleable, and then it’s poured into the packages and chilled further to become stable.”

teen years and gladly shows us the dairy’s range of finished cheeses.

“They’re the same cheese, just in different sizes and packages,” he tells us and points to some of the packages that are all red in colour.

The name on a small quarter-kilo pack of Gudbrandsdalsost shows that it is aimed at the English-speaking market: Ski Queen. 190 tonnes of it are exported, so you can find cheese from Lom in many locations around the world.

But even though the recipe for Gudbrandsdalsost is practically part of the culture, there’s also room for a certain amount of product development. Frode shows us a “Heidal Mørk”, which is boiled down more, giving it a darker colour and a stronger taste. A year ago production of yet another new kind started: Gudbrandsdalsost Millom.

“It doesn’t contain any goat’s milk, so it will be interesting to see what reception it gets,” says Jens.

We thank Frode for the tour and accompany Jens back to the break room. It’s easy to see that the dairy manager is proud of the business and the people here, a workplace that is carrying on Gudbrandsdalen’s cheese-making tradition.

“Our employees have many years of experience and know the product and the production inside and out. And it’s fun to work with the whole, long value chain, from stall to table, while also managing to deliver top quality. And we do that, actually. Our cheeses maintain a stable, good quality.”

We finish by asking the dairy manager whether he eats Gudbrandsdalsost himself.

“Yes, I eat it often, on bread. And occasionally when I’m cooking, for example in gravies to accompany wild game.” www.tine.no

New varieties

One of those who work at the cheese kettles is Frode Aurmo. He’s worked here for a good four-

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Dairy manager Jens Erik Hagen at Tine Meieriet Lom & Skjåk is proud of Gudbrandsdalsost, a product with several hundred years of tradition behind it, that is enjoyed far beyond Gudbrandsdalen itself.

“ 17 March 2011 was a day of celebration. That’s when we got word that we would be staying open.

This action also demonstrated the power that consumers have, so it was exciting!”

– Jens Erik Hagen, Tine Meieriet Lom & Skjåk

Frode Aurmo has worked at the dairy for a good fourteen years and assists at the closed kettles when the curds are browned.

There are many names for those we love.

Gudbrandsdalsost is a type of brown cheese, called raudost (“red cheese”) here in Lom. More specifically, it’s called G35, a dairy term in which G stands for the goat’s milk content and 35 for the fat percentage.

If you want to make sure that it’s the handcrafted cheese from Tine Meieriet Lom & Skjåk, check the dairy number in fine print on the package: M164.

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Norway ’ s be s t bre a d s top It has the reputation of being the best bakery in Norway, its unique concept attracting people from far and wide. In the summertime, in addition to selling bread and cakes, the bakery features a generous outdoor seating area, where hungry, quality-conscious visitors can enjoy a pizza, hamburger or delicious sandwich. For us, a meeting with Morten Schakenda at Bakeriet i Lom (the Bakery in Lom) is a not-to-be-missed stop on our culinary journey.

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orten Schakenda is the man who gave up the gourmet restaurants of the capital to start a bakery in Lom. Now the concept stands just as firmly as its riverside premises, and its reputation has spread far beyond its mountain home.

It is a boiling hot summer afternoon, and we are sitting at one of the outdoor tables with a cup of coffee and the genial baker. What is the secret to his success, we wonder.

“There’s no secret,” Morten says. “Being innovative can also mean going backwards.”

“Uh huh?”

“Use proper ingredients. What you bake is always a mixture, the difference comes from what you put in the mixture. There’s a huge difference in taste between margarine and butter, or from using less yeast and leaving it to prove for longer.”

Many people come here solely for the bread, and although the bakery has already been open for hours, there’s still a queue stretching through the door. It doesn’t slow down until September.

“People know about us, and that’s great, but the bakery isn’t just a tourist gimmick,” Morten insists. “We have to be a plus factor for the people of Lom; everyone should be able to buy healthy bread and cakes here all year round. That’s why we don’t charge exorbitant prices. Perhaps we’re a little too inexpensive? At any rate, we’re generous.”

Tempting fast-food

But in the summertime, like now, it is not just bread, cinnamon whirls, currant buns and other cakes that tempt the visitor. Morten also runs a popular outdoor café during the high season.

Beyond the terrace tumbles the fast-flowing river that cuts through Lom. And all around us guests are tucking into hamburgers, pizzas and sandwiches: quality fast-food indeed.

The delicious smell of baking stretches all the way out to the car park, and when Morten returns to his work, we approach the counter to order our own food. Here, according to the lady pizza chef, you can have pizza with crème fraiche instead of tomato sauce, chopped ham, oregano, grated lemon zest, cheese and ‘lots of love’. We watch as the two pizza chefs prepare our pizzas.

When they are done, we take them back to our table in the shade to enjoy with a cold beer. The

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“Use proper ingredients. What you bake is always a mixture, the difference comes from what you put in the mixture.”

Morten Schakenda, the Bakery in Lom

white pizza is our favourite, but the hamburger is a big hit, too.

Schakenda the author

Before we leave Lom we pop into the bakery to buy some bread. Inside, the air is just as hot and the aromas emanating from the ovens even more intense. Books signed by Morten Schakenda stand on a shelf. One of his recipe books has managed to sell 30,000 copies. But, as he explains, writing a book was not something he’d planned to do.

“I had a brochure and thought it was really nice. However, a friend of mine who works in the profession didn’t agree. He wanted to help me make a new one. It became, not a brochure, but an entire book.”

Visiting the bakery is supposed to be ‘a positive, and somewhat surprising, experience ’, writes Morten. Behind the counter you can see the bakers who are making dough and kneading buns. And even though the baskets are bulging with baked goods, there’s no guarantee you will get your favourite. Someone may have already beaten you to it.

“Oh yes, we do sometimes sell out. I don’t mind that at all. It’s great to see that people like what we make.”

In August 2011, Morten was diagnosed with cancer, which has led to a change in his ambitious lifestyle. But he is positive about the future.

There’s been less night-work and more focus on training staff who can keep the company going when it’s at its most hectic.

While we are waiting in line to buy our bread we gaze with curiosity at the large painting of Lom at night that hangs above the counter. We

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have heard that a hidden projector transmits a film with the same scene onto the picture, making it spring to life. A shadowy shape traverses a pedestrian crossing on the painting. The boy in front of us in the queue stares at it wide-eyed and tugs at his father’s sleeve. But when dad looks up the scene is once again quite still.

Beside us the logistics of the bakery business goes on uninterrupted. Trays of loaves are carried to and from the ovens in an endless stream. And tonight the bakers will be back at work mixing new batches of dough before the hungry customers return. For one thing is certain, whatever is baked here disappears in a trice. Everyone in Lom visits the bakery – and they usually come back for more. www.bakerietilom.no

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Authe n t i c p l e a s ure s In the opinion of Ole Henrik Walaker, the Walaker Hotel represents the best of what inner Sogn has to offer It is a claim that’s hard to reject.

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”Our guests have either planned to come here, or simply got lost,” Ole Henrik says with a laugh. In that case, many people must have lost their way on this June evening, because the hotel in peaceful Solvorn is packed.

back home and thinking about what was the best thing on the trip, we’ll be at the top of the list. Because most people have everything these days, but a good experience may be in short supply. That’s what Walaker is. Being the host here is a labour of love.”

No need for embellishment You may have heard of Walaker, the oldest hotel in Norway, in one context or another. The yellow building at the water’s edge has been handed down for many centuries. Ole Henrik is a ninth-generation hotelier, and in a few years his son, Theodor, may be the tenth. If he wants to. In many ways Walaker Hotel represents the best of what inner Sogn has to offer, in Ole Henrik’s opinion. ”We have so much that’s authentic, that we don’t need to embellish it. There isn’t any mass tourism here, this is about experiencing something pristine.”

From the heart A special rhythm prevails among the mountains of Luster. There is more to life here than merely rushing from A to Z, endless routine or hustle and bustle. ”What I like is when guests stay a while, so that we can get to know them a bit, and I see that they sit back and catch their breath,” Ole Henrik acknowledges and continues: ”And when they’re

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Traditions in the walls In the evening, after dinner, you can stroll over to the gallery in the old barn. In the basement there is a display showing the history of the hotel and the village. Then Ole Henrik takes out a bunch of keys and unlocks the door to Galleri Walaker 300.

The barn is built of materials salvaged from the old village church. In fact you can still see traces of traditional Norwegian rose painting decorating the rafters, the work of the artist Nils Painter.

The hotel literally has tradition coming out of the walls. While the guests wander around and look at the exhibition, Ole Henrik takes a break. An old model of a schooner stands on a table alongside him. ”The third and fourth generations of my family used this as a plaything. After that, no one was allowed to launch it again. Not my father, not me. It would have been really fun to try, but I don’t think we will now,” he says and smiles.

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“What I like best is when guests stay a while, so that we can get to know them a bit, and I see that they sit back and catch their breath.”

– Ole Henrik Nitter Walaker, Walaker Hotel

That’s exactly how it is with Walaker as well, and Solvorn – which has one street, one shop, one café, one hotel. ”We don’t want a lot of change. We take things one step at a time, and hold onto what we have.

Life is good here, pure and simple.”

On the other hand, if something untraditional takes place, it’s generally for the better. ”Did you know that we were the first no-smoking hotel in Norway?”, asks Ole Henrik. ”It happened after my brother and I decided to act tough and secretly lit up once, many years ago. Ha ha.”

Everything for the guests Someone applauds from the loft in the old barn.

Ole Henrik’s piano is up there. ”Having the guests come here, being able to answer their questions, and play a little music is wonderful. I want to do what I can to ensure my guests have the best possible time.”

Ole Henrik keeps going almost around the clock, but now and then he has to have a break. ”Tomorrow I’ve promised Astrid and Theodor a boat trip, so I’ve set aside two minutes. Ha ha.

No, actually two hours,” he says and grins.

The best?

In Ole Henrik’s opinion, the best way to experience Solvorn and Walaker is when most other people are snuggled up under a down quilt. The summer evening is still blue when he locks the door to the gallery with the big bunch of keys.

”Get up early on a sunny day. Listen to the stillness, look at the fjord and smell the aroma of bacon in the kitchen. Glorious!”

Where good food comes from Each evening expectant guests gather round the white linen-clad tables at Walaker Hotel. ”On the menu tomorrow? Well, first we’ll see what we have available,” says Steffen Lundli, the chef at Walaker. ”Then I’ll go out and pick some red currants from the garden. They’ll go into the dessert.”

Today’s main ingredients come from the fjord.

Steffen juggles frying pan and saucepans, cuts vegetables with a sharp knife, turns and adjusts the gas on the stove. In no time the pan he’s set over the blue flame is sizzling. As if he’s playing a grand piano, quick fingers fly over wolffish, langoustines, tomatoes, and carrots. Soon we’re staring down at two white plates, our mouths starting to water. On one some langoustines steamed in white wine, with petit pois (puréed green peas, explains Steffen), fresh cabbage, baked tomatoes and lemongrass butter, on the other, wolffish poached in milk, with puréed pumpkin, summer salad and butter-steamed carrots. ”And there you have it!” Chef Lundli says, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. ”Hope it tastes good.” www.walaker.com

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“The pure, the simple, that’s how it is at Nes Gard.”

Mari Månum, Nes Gard

The good atmosphere

in towards a green valley. We’ve arrived at the Liane mountain farm. It’s time for lunch. ”Being a guide for such hikers is a privilege,” Asbjørn says and stretches out contently in the sun.

Nes Gard is the perfect starting point for exploring the mountains in the inner part of Sogn, and just as perfect a place to come back to afterwards.

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”Hikers are nice people, wherever they come from,” Asbjørn Månum says and squints towards the sun. Today he’s taking a group of British tourists with him up into the mountains. The tour starts from Skjolden, at the innermost point of Sognefjorden, and goes up towards Breheimen.

Now, at midday, we’ve stopped at an old summer farm known as a ”sæter”. Beyond the stone wall, the cows are chewing slowly in the heat of the sun.

A hidden pearl

”The valley we’re heading for now must be one of Norway’s finest. A hidden gem that is not easy to find unless you’re in the know,” Asbjørn says and shows on the map where we are. Then he gets up and shoulders his rucksack. The rest is over, from here we will be climbing up along a waterfall. ”Come on, everybody!”

The Brits are quickly on their feet, ready for the last stage before lunch. ”It’s absolutely beautiful,” says Anne from Manchester. ”I live in the Lake District. It’s nice, but this ... this is something totally different,” says another of our companions on the tour.

The path leads us up along a waterfall and farther

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A special charm

Nes Gard is actually a fruit farm. Down towards the fjord stand rows of apple trees, plums and cherries. The lilacs are blooming in the garden, beside which stands the farmhouse, originally built in the Empire Style, but with Swiss chalet style additions. Before Asbjørn and his wife, Mari, began to take in guests, they completely renovated the place. ”I am so proud of what we have accomplished,” she says and sees to it that everything is tidy and clean. ”This is something I put my heart and soul into.”

Each building and room has its own name, its own style, designed and put together by Mari herself. ”The pure, the simple, that’s how it is at Nes Gard,” she says.

A place to come together

After a day in the mountains, the food tastes especially good. At Nes Gard, they serve robust farmhouse food, often made with local ingredients, particularly fruit, which makes the meal even more tasty. ”At our place, the three most important ingredients are people, food and atmosphere,” says Asbjørn. ”Gathering everyone for dinner in the evening creates good company and makes it enjoyable to be here. Because so many pleasant people come here.” www.nesgard.no

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Thyme-roasted goat kid is at the heart of this sandwich, along with grated pear, sugar-snaps and slices of hard goat cheese, topped off with a lingonberry dressing. Enjoy every bite at CaféOlé and Olebuda.

along National Tourist Routes T ext: M a r i t S i g ur d s o n P hoto : T i n a Sta fr é n

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Grotli Høyfjellshotell serves a juicy elk burger in a whole-wheat bun, with a compote of butter-fried onions and mushrooms, and a sharp lingonberry dressing.

The innkeepers along the Norwegian National Tourist Routes have turned established preconceptions about fast food on their head. Check out some fantastic examples that were launched at the Mathallen Vulkan food emporium in Oslo earlier this year. And best of all, you will find them on the menu this summer!

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Brimi Saeter makes a lovely pork and root vegetable soup.

The slow-cooked meat comes from pigs raised on the farm and fed on the surplus whey from cheese production.

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Melchiorgarden offers grilled focaccia with its popular farm-raised goat kid, creamy goat cheese and a fresh raspberry jelly made from home-grown fruits.

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Jord baerstova offers a delightfully fresh “lefse� (f latbread wrap), with their own lamb roll, soft goat cheese, crunchy pickles, red onions and capers, topped with beets. Tender, fresh and strong in a wonderful blend.

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A fish burger made from Atlantic wolffish and served with fennel, remoulade sauce and grilled almond potatoes. A f lirt with the sea from Gud brandsjuvet Kafe, Trollstigen Kafe, Trollstigen Camping & Gjestegard.

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A ‘lefse’ is the much-loved, traditional Norwegian equivalent of a wrap. At Westeras Gard they spread the ‘lefse’ with soft goat cheese and top it with delicious smoked salmon from Sunnmøre, pine kernels, red onion and crispy lettuce.

A hot tip at Vassbakkens Kro og Camping is the venison burger, made from locally sourced meat, served with roasted almond potatoes from the fields round about and a sharp lingonberry dressing.

At Skjeid Kro loin of pork from free-range pigs is turned into an extravagant schnitzel, filled with ham and mature Norvegia (Goudastyle) cheese. Served with a blue cheese sauce and grilled potatoes.

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Herb bread with sausage made from local goat kid, chives, spring onions, rosemary and a creamy goat cheese – some of the ingredients in Norsk Fjordsenter’s super-sandwich.

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Hotel Union butter-fries a burger made of locally produced lamb, and serves it with coleslaw, bacon, ridder cheese, lettuce and baked almond potatoes.

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Valbjør Gard’s Brie-style cheese is made from their own goats’ milk. It is spread on a slice of delicious bread with a dollop of rich blackcurrant jam.

Fossheim Hotell makes a grilled focaccia with local ham, sundried tomatoes, grilled pineapple and a favourite cheese from the district.

Served with fried almond potatoes.

Norddal Turistsenter’s luxury kebab: elk shank is cut into thin slices and grilled, before being stuffed into the bread with, among other things, thyme, red onion and tomato, and a wonderfully spicy dressing.

SHARE your Fast Slow Food experience!

- get a free bread at the Bakery in Lom.

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1: Trollstigen Camping & Gjestegård Trollstigen Kafe 2: Jordbærstova Gudbrandsjuvet Kafe 3: Melchiorgarden 4: Hotel Union Norsk Fjordsenter Olebuda/CaféOlé Westerås Gard 5: Grotli Høyfjellshotell 6: Fossheim Hotell Nordal Turistsenter Bakeriet i Lom Skeid Kro 7: Valbjør gard 8: Brimi Sæter 9: Vassbakken

FAST FOOD SLOW

LOOK FOR THIS SYMBOL in THE GUIDE oN P. 164 TA S T E O F N AT I O N A L T O U R I S T R O U T E S

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As tourists in a mountain district, our journey has a history even before it’s begun. Those who travelled between Grotli and Hjelle long before us – and not least those who built the road have invested their strength, will and patience in each demanding metre up here. Twenty-seven thousand metres, to be exact.

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PHOTO: TINA STAFRÉN

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Where east meets west The journey over the Strynefjell Mountains used to be so arduous that travellers would have to stop for the night at Grotli. We check in here for entirely different reasons, to enjoy the surroundings and soak up the traditional atmosphere. And to sample some of the district’s culinary traditions.

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Over 150 years ago, work began on construction of a road over the Strynefjell Mountains, the great barrier between eastern and western Norway. The road wasn’t completed until thirty years later. In the meantime, the government built a mountain lodge at Grotli to provide accommodation for those crossing the mountains. The current hotel was built when traffic increased in the early 1900s. Grotli became the hub for all communication between east and west in these parts.

The mountain lodge that became a hotel ”My great-great-grandfather was a lodge keeper up here, the first way station provided for those who had to travel over the mountains,” says Are Bergeheim, whose family have been hosts at Grotli for five generations, and who now runs the hotel together with his wife Berit. The mountain lodge of his great-great-grandfather’s day is still there, some few metres farther east. It’s still no joke to stay in the Strynefjell Mountains in the winter. As recently as 2005, the snow banks along the main Riksvei15 road were up to thirteen metres high. ”Previously you were isolated up here in the mountains from October onwards,” Are tells us. ”The road didn’t open until May or June, and it was cleared by hand all the way up until 1950.”

On the hotel’s walls hang photos that tell the story of Grotli through the last hundred years. One event stands out in particular. In 2011, the film ‘Into the White’ was shot here. The film is based on a real incident that occurred during the invasion of Norway in WW2. It is the story of what happened when the crews of a German and a British aircraft shot each other down over Grotli, and how the survivors from both sides were forced to cooperate in order to survive. Together they sought shelter in a hunting lodge nearby.

Culinary heritage It’s more than a hundred years since anyone stopped at Grotli out of necessity. Nowadays people come because it is a beautiful place to relax, or as a starting point for roaming the mountains. But staying here is also a cultural experience in itself. Local traditions from Skjåk, Stryn and Geiranger meet here, and especially on the dining table. Traditional local dishes and ingredients are important at Grotli. ”We source much of the food we serve directly from local farmers here in Skjåk, but also from the surrounding areas – spices from Aukrustgarden, cheese from Dovre, smoked sausages from over to the east, berries from the west, and the lingon berries have travelled the shortest distance possible, because we pick those here in the Strynefjell Mountains,” explains Are. ”And then we have the world’s best flat bread, which is baked here in Skjåk.”

You can carry on enjoying the local delicacies even when you leave Grotli.

The shelves are filled with produce you won’t find elsewhere. ”I’m glad to be able to serve and sell locally-produced food,” Are says proudly. ”It’s a good memory to take with you from Grotli.” www.grotli.no

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Lakeside e n ch a n tme n t At the eastern end of the Strynsvatnet lake, beneath the looming mountains, lies the small, quiet community of Hjelle. The hotel by the quayside has been providing food and accommodation to travellers for more than a hundred years, and has been run by four generations of the same family. Today the atmosphere has been given a romantic touch, and it’s difficult not to fall completely in love. lov e with it.

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“At ten o’clock in the evening, it’s completely quiet and peaceful here. And it’s always been that way.”

– Lorentz HjellE

e can already see the glittering waters of the Strynsvatnet lake before the sun breaks through the swath of clouds above us on the way down from the mountains.

The road winds its way down through the narrow valley in a series of hairpin bends, beside the torrent of water cutting its way through the birch forest. We’ve made the slow drive along the Old Strynefjell Road, and when we reach the apple orchards, the chirping of the birds and the warmth down at Hjelle feel as if we have arrived from the mountains on foot, at a tempo in which the views have had time to take hold.

By the time we have parked by the quay in front of Hjelle Hotel, we are already hopelessly enchanted. Clouds of steam rise up from the grass after the day’s rain, and red currants shine in the shrubbery that has been planted along the rocky lake shore. The well-kept grounds that stretch along the entire point create a spacious atmosphere that contrasts with the steep mountain cliffs pressing in on the other side of the lake. We get out of the car and try to take in yet another overwhelming view, which this time reaches upwards.

A shop on the dock When the Old Strynefjell Road was built in 1894, it started right here at the quayside. A young man by the name of Thor Hjelle had started a general store there twelve years earlier, in the building that today is called Gamlebutikken (the Old Store). Thor was an enterprising merchant, who travelled between the district’s farms to buy goods that he then traded for sugar, salt and other goods in Bergen – goods which sold well back home in Hjelle.

In those days trading operations were legally obliged to offer travellers food and accommodation. Initially, this had very little impact on Thor, since Hjelle was at the end of the road and had few, if any, passers-by. But once the Old Strynefjell Road was finished, the situation changed: Hjelle became a town which travellers passed

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through on their way to and from Grotli and the other towns to the east. Thor had foreseen the tourist boom and also had the courage to make the required investment. So, in 1896, Hjelle Hotel opened its doors.

Beautifully frayed 116 years later, the hotel is still under the direction of the Hjelle family. We head up towards the beautiful wooden building, its oldest parts constructed in the Swiss chalet style like many other wood-built hotels in Western Norway from the same era.

The hotel’s interior is like a journey back in time: large rooms with old mullioned windows facing the lake, and parlours with carved furniture, brass lamps and thick fabrics. Four generations of hospitality have carefully preserved the beautifully frayed interior.

We seat ourselves in the cool light of the glasswalled veranda before dinner for a chat with the current hosts: Lorentz Hjelle and his English wife Emma.

“We’ve consciously chosen not to modernise the hotel or commercialise our product. And since we’re only open in the summer, we have no need to adapt the rooms to accommodate courses and conferences.”

Alluring tranquility Initially, most tourists came from the upper strata of society, as tourism was a privilege enjoyed by the few. Those who came were the early mountaineering pioneers, royalty and, not least, longdistance cruise passengers who passed Hjelle on their way overland from Stryn to Grotli. Even though the route has changed somewhat with the years, the tradition of accommodating cruise guests in the area lives on.

“Each summer about 50,000 people take one of the tour operators’ organised round trips,” explains Lorentz.

Today the tourist population is therefore considerably broader, and according to Lorentz, it’s

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Lorentz’s mother Oddny has met many guests here in Hjelle, and still helps to serve breakfast.

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Emma came here from England as a coach tour guide, and stayed.

Now they have a son and run the family hotel together.

the tranquility and natural environment that guests appreciate most, and the chance to go down to the boatyard.

“The vast majority of those who come here stay for several days. They go hiking, fishing or drive out on excursions during the day and then come back to eat a good dinner and just take it easy. At ten o’clock in the evening, it’s completely quiet and peaceful here,” laughs Lorentz. “And it’s always been that way.”

We remain seated in the conservatory until dinner, when we are served a Mediterranean roulade of grilled aubergine (eggplant) and paprika with pesto and olive tapenade as an appetiser.

“We have an international menu that varies all the time, depending on the ingredients we have available. And we make everything from scratch,” Lorentz emphasises. “For the main course we always offer a choice between meat and fish,” he continues.

We choose fish: juicy cod with celery cream and spinach, and for dessert we have a divine chocolate mousse with tart raspberries.

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A love story

Emma, speaking in the local Stryn dialect with a charming accent . “And in 2005 we were married.”

Through a fantastic coincidence, Emma has also discovered another, historic tie to Hjelle.

“Right at the beginning of the 2000s, there was an excavation above here. An old Viking-era tingstead (a place where people gathered to settle disputes and make decisions on political matters) was discovered. It is believed to have been an meeting point for Vikings from the east and west.

They found a great many objects in the ground, but what was most interesting to me was a coin from about the year 800 – from a peninsula right near my home town in Northumberland!”

“The Vikings had probably met here and then travelled to the coast where they set sail for England,” explains Emma.

“Now when I travel home to England, I feel I have to drive out to that peninsula. It’s becoming more and more important for me, and the atmosphere is very special there.”

The couple now have a son, aged two, Thor Robson, who carries on the name tradition from both sides of the family.

The hotel markets itself as ‘romantic’, and the label fits perfectly. After dinner Emma recounts her and Lorentz’s own love story. It began when she came here as a guide for English tour groups nearly ten years ago.

“The coach would stop here for coffee and pastries every Wednesday. Lorentz would be here, too, and we would always have a little chat,” says

We go out to Gamlebutikken, where old Thor started his business many years ago. Now Emma runs the shop, which sells handicrafts and kitchenware. And there is a café, where you can eat home-baked pastries and drink tea from English porcelain, practically at the water’s edge.

War, roses and English porcelain

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“It turned out that many people were interested in buying the porcelain,” explains Emma, “but the pieces were family heirlooms that I didn’t want to sell. So I started buying English porcelain for the shop as well, and that’s actually what we sell the most of these days.”

The beautiful light in the garden keeps us outside a while longer. Fruit trees thrive here, mostly apples, but also pears and plums. And in the rose garden petals shimmer in various shades, both on the bushes and on the ground. Near a pale pink rosebush we meet Lorentz’s mother Oddny, who came here from Trøndelag in 1957.

“My husband’s grandfather, the Thor who built the hotel, loved the garden. And in those days it was much larger,” she tells us, and worries about how the roses will manage through the winter.

Oddny has met many guests over the years, including Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was here many times. But Hjelle hasn’t always been a holiday resort. Oddny’s husband lived here during the Second World War, when the tourists disappeared and the hotel had other guests.

“Then this place was full of families, mostly from Bergen, and some would stay for the whole summer. I imagine it was terribly difficult to find food. So they were served a lot of meatballs to make the meat go further. And my husband recalled that when they had had breakfast, they would head off to all the nearby farms to buy food. But that was where the food for the hotel was supposed to come from, so they were competing with the hotel for the food,” Oddny says and laughs at the irony.

It’s difficult to think of war and all the worries of the world this evening. We go up to our room, where elegant fabrics surround the windows and the bed canopy reinforces the feeling of romance.

From the balcony we look down and see that the lake has turned yet another shade of turquoise.

Spending one’s honeymoon here would be no bad idea, if one was thinking of marriage, that is. Or is this the place to come to fall in love? In that case the atmosphere here would certainly put you in the right frame of mind. Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?.

Between 1891 and 1939, the steamboat “Fridtjof Nansen” chugged from the quay here in Hjelle to the other end of the Strynsvatnet lake.

www.hjelle.com

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VAL DRES F LY E It’s autumn when we drive up onto the Valdresflye mountain plateau for the first time. This stretch of road is not particularly long but it surprises us with a panorama of taste experiences. And the out-of-the-way spots in the wilderness are like precious secrets, which none of us can keep quiet about later. We return several times for more.

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PHOTO: TINA STAFRÉN

Valdresf lye

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A j our n ey i n t i me If you drive past Vågåvatn lake, make sure you head over to the sunny side, and follow the crooked road up to the charming medieval ambience at Valbjør. When we checked in at the farm for a day, we were met by a knowledgeable host and inquisitive goats, and enjoyed some excellent traditional food.

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Little Sara plays on the wide planked floor of the dining room, while her parents potter in the kitchen. With us at the long dining table sits her grandfather, Kai Valbjør, who, along with his wife Live Hosar, is the host here at Valbjør.

The dining room is a journey back to a Norway that was rich in everything that the earth had to offer. Indeed, the whole farm is like a small medieval village, with footpaths threading between the greying log walls. The farm has a number of old buildings, the oldest actually dating from the Middle Ages.

Kai grew up here on the farm, just like his mother and generations before her. How far back the family goes, no one knows, but the farm is mentioned in the written records as early as the 1280s.

Goat’s milk and farm tourism At Valbjør, both sheep and goats are farmed organically. The largest source of income is goat’s milk, which is sold to Tine, the largest Norwegian dairy co-operative, for further processing.

“There have been goats on the farms hereabouts for a long time, but not on such a large scale as we have now. It was my father who began it all. He came here to the farm as a young suitor in the 1940s, intending to stay for a fortnight. He was here for seventy years! He lacked an agricultural background and had some unconventional notions, including the idea of keeping goats. But,

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of course, Norway is made for goats,” smiles Kai. In addition to the livestock business, the family takes in tourists and has furnished some of the buildings as guest cabins. Initially, Kai was a little doubtful about how guests would react to the realities of farm life.

“But soon I realised that it’s a part of the authenticity that I think people appreciate. If you live on a working farm, this is what it’s like,” declares Kai.

Genuine setting The family feel a great sense of stewardship and take every opportunity to bring to life some longforgotten aspect of cultural history. A couple of years ago, while Kai’s father was still alive, they restored an old mill, which resulted in a lot of research into milling processes. In all there are seventeen buildings at Valbjør, fourteen of which are extremely old. To have so many buildings on a farm, each with its particular purpose, was not uncommon in the past.

“No, there used to be twice as many buildings here at the farm, but then they fell out of use.

The whole concept of restoration is a relatively new phenomenon,” Kai tells us. Previously they would simply be left to rot away.

“But now the old buildings are perhaps the farm’s principal resource, so seen that way, it would have been as well if the former buildings had remained. But at the same time, it feels okay

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that we only have seventeen buildings to take care of,” Kai adds, smiling.

The temptations on the farm Live also works as a nurse to supplement the family income, and will soon be on her way to a night shift. Nevertheless, she takes the time to present the menu to us before she has to leave.

“This is Brie from goat’s milk that Dovre Ysteri produces for us,” she says and serves gratinéed “Fjellgeit Valbjør” (“Valbjør Mountain Goat”), with locally produced honey and walnuts.

“White-rinded cheese is actually not typical of Norwegian cheeses, but people like it,” explains Kai. “You just have to taste your way to the age you prefer. This one is two months old.”

For the main course, we’re served goat kid, roasted at a low temperature for a long time.

“The idea of slow roasting has come in the wake of Arne Brimi’s enthusiasm for old food traditions,” says Kai. “It resembles the way they prepared the meat in the days when they used cooking pits.”

With uninhibited enjoyment we devour the meat together with a cream sauce made from the meat juices, self-picked mushrooms (of a type known in English as false saffron milk-cap), almond potatoes from Vågå and root vegetables from Skjåk. To drink we are served Arne Brimi’s wine for wild game, a Côte du Rhône from 2009.

What we’re eating is the leg, but Kai tells us that Arne has a good recipe in which he uses both the shoulder and neck from a kid – and, of course, lashings of cream.

“We serve mostly goat kid to our guests. But otherwise, there’s a lot of wild game. We have elk, red deer and reindeer just above the farm. I hunt a little myself, but otherwise we buy meat from local hunters. And then we serve mutton from the farm’s own Old Norwegian Short Tail Sheep.

We sit in front of the fireplace after an especially delicious plum dessert and coffee with homebaked Christmas cookies. The discussion centres on traditional and modern values, and the fact that food culture has been one of the district’s strongest attractions. According to Kai, the creation of a robust network of the local food producers provided good development conditions.

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“But now the old buildings are perhaps the farm’s principal resource, so seen that way, it would have been as well if the former buildings had remained. But at the same time, it feels okay that we only have seventeen buildings to take care of.” – Kaj Valbjør locally, so why not co-operate,” says Kai. “And it’s better to let others do what we ourselves cannot.

We make dried and cured meats ourselves, but to the requirements for sausage and cheese production, for example, are completely different.”

Goat dance The farm lies slumbering under the stars, and, fully rested, we gather again in the dining room for a sumptuous breakfast that includes (among other things) whitefish from Espedalsvatn lake, local eggs, farm cheeses, cured goat meats, and Live’s excellent crispbread, baked with locally grown grain, ground in their own mill.

Good preparation before we let the goats come and “dance”, as Kai puts it.

Perhaps we are a distraction in the dance, for outside the barn they gather eagerly around us, with endearing curiosity. But their sharp horns mean that the close contact occurs with a certain caution on our part, as they tug greedily at every single loose clothing detail, a shoe lace, a jacket belt or zip loop.

We continue our tour of the farm, breathe in the atmosphere in the old loft, stop by the granary that now houses a pub, the cosily furnished farmhands’ quarters and the tool shed. Many of the old tools have us asking questions, and Kai is keen to share his knowledge.

“There’s so much to talk about. And many of the people who come here are reminded of surroundings and objects from their childhood, and have a lot to talk about themselves. But it’s also fun to talk with those who don’t know anything about agriculture. Sometimes they ask the strangest questions,” he smiles. www.valbjør.no

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During the summertime, the Valbjør goats go to pastures up on the Valdresflye. Here, in the idyllic mountains, lives shepherd Silje Ă˜yen while she takes care of the chores associated with caring for the animals, including calling them twice a day for milking.

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B R I M ILAND We leave the Vågåvatnet lake behind us and drive four kilometres up the Valdresflye National Tourist Route, before taking a right turn heading up into the Jotunheimen Mountains. Here lies one of Norway’s most tasteful backwaters: Brimiland. Various members of the Brimi clan have joined forces to provide guests with charming accommodation, fabulous food, opportunities to hike in the mountains and challenges for all ages in the climbing park. Whether you are staying for a weekend or longer, welcome to Vianvang, Brimi Fjellstugu and Brimi Sæter!

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Advocate for Norwegian food culture It’s difficult to experience the diversity of good Norwegian food without coming in contact with the name Arne Brimi. The chef from Vågå, with his broad dialect and fondness for culinary creativity, became a very popular personality with the TV programme “Gutta på tur” (“The Boys On Tour”), which also featured Norwegian national crosscountry skiing heroes Vegard Ulvang and Bjørn Dæhlie. In addition, Arne Brimi has written a good fifteen cookbooks, including A taste of Norwegian nature: Along a waterway, which was translated into English.

Arne Brimi’s innovative food philosophy centres on Norwegian culinary culture and local raw materials, which have put his homeland on the international gastronomic map. In the last few years, like-minded innkeepers in the region have joined together and founded Brimi-Kjøken, a partnership for training apprentice chefs in the spirit of Arne Brimi. The scheme aims to ensure that new generations of Norwegian chefs understand the connection between food, nature and health, and how to combine those elements in exciting and delicious ways.

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“Meals are too standardised nowadays, the individual is being forgotten. People don’t just want to sit down, get a menu and eat a concept.

People want to own their meal.”

– Arne Brimi, Vianvang

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A celebration of fine food We’re in Brimiland, driving up the small gravel lane to Vianvang, celebrity chef Arne Brimi’s dream come true. It’s a place that is hard to define, which is just how he wants it: “People are tired of being squeezed into a concept,” says Arne Brimi, and offers an entirely distinctive food experience.

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Paraffin lamps along the way let us know we’re on the right road. Vegard Brimi, who is our chauffeur, stops a few hundred metres below the cluster of buildings. It’s a matter of principle.

“We have two rules here,” Arne tells us when he comes out into the courtyard to welcome us and the evening’s other guests.” “One is that you arrive here on foot, and the other is that soft drinks are never drunk.”

A social experience We are a group of fifty guests who stand together around the large fireplace in the rock wall. With his broad dialect and dry humour, Arne knows the art of warming up his listeners. His desire to preserve the district’s original manner of speaking is reflected in the name, Vianvang, which means “mountain bride” in the local dialect. We drink a toast of welcome, and are served the first titbits from the evening’s menu, before the darkness descends over the Jotunheim Mountains and we go inside.

The candlelit restaurant is built in several sections of round notched logs.

Straight ahead, the large panorama windows facing the undulating forest landscape give us a feeling of floating on air. Where the room opens up, the rustic plank table is already laid, but it will be some time before we will be able to sit down. At the two open kitchen spaces, the chefs present small tasty morsels that we gladly go back for again and again. Duck breast with red cabbage and raisins, tender pork with puréed swede, pepper-cured salmon with roe, Norwegian sour cream and red onions … The guests gather around the chefs, asking eager questions about ingredients and about how the food is made.

Already this meal stands out from other restaurant experiences: when taste guides our steps, something magical happens. Each dish leads to new conversations among the guests, activates the taste buds and warms our mood – and

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“I’m curious about everything, and for the

most part have a favourite in most things.

It’s a hard life.”

– Arne Brimi, Vianvang

when the company is mixed and food is the focus, it becomes a very social experience. Arne circulates and expounds his food philosophy.

“Meals are too standardised nowadays, the individual is being forgotten.

People don’t just want to sit down, get a menu and eat a concept. People want to own their meal,” he declares.

It’s in the sauce The relationship between food and drink is crucial, according to Arne, and an evening at Vianvang is an aromatic journey for wine lovers.

“A lot more things go together than don’t go together. It’s the sauce that makes the difference,” Arne says, as he shows off his wine cellar to those who are interested.

“To be a wine connoisseur, you have to drink a lot of wine,” asserts Arne, who tastes at least 5,000 wines a year. “And you have to go for quality, not quantity.

“Get four people together, buy NOK 1,000 worth of wine and learn everything you can about it. Then you’re guaranteed to have a good wine experience,” promises Arne.

A guest asks whether he is also interested in beverages other than wine.

Whisky? Liqueurs? Coffee?

“I’m curious about everything, and for the most part have a favourite in most things. It’s a hard life,” Arne adds with a crooked smile.

After two appetisers, a main course and a heavenly dessert buffet, we’re feeling mellow and ready to meet the moonlight. Arne, who has been with us the whole evening, also seems pleased. And why shouldn’t he be? With his dream, Vianvang, he has shown us what luxury in the restaurant world should really be about. Not fine china or the idiosyncratic creations of a celebrity chef. It’s when people get together to share a meal, in an environment where everyone feels at home, that the tastes are elevated to their highest potential. It becomes a celebration of food – with the individual at the centre. www.brimiland.no

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Here everyone is greeted in the same way, whether you’re a cabinet minister or a plumber.

Valdresflye har eit velkjent andlet; Turid Berge har vore her i 19 sesongar.

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Arne Brimi s

17 things you should never do when cooking: 1.

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Use margarine instead of butter Think things have to be complicated and elaborate Believe other people can do it better than you Try to be someone other than yourself Use a stock cube instead of real stock Get stressed out Use low-fat sour cream instead of full-fat sour cream Let fish cook for another minute, just to be on the safe side Use a microwave Decorate the plate with cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce Marinate fine meat, particularly game Use a great many ingredients Use more than 3-4 elements in each dish Add a dash of wine to the finished sauce, in the hope of turning it into a nice wine sauce.

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Brimi Fjellstugu We check in at Brimi Fjellstugu (mountain hut) one fine, windless autumn weekend. But across the Rondane Mountains, Old Man Winter has drizzled icing sugar over the autumn colours to remind us of the coming season. Vegard takes us hiking in the mountains, which he often does with his guests. And it’s as true here as elsewhere: food really does taste better outdoors.

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V A L D R E S F LY E VEGARD BRIMI: OWNER AND GUIDE AT BRIMIFJELLSTUGU

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W e l come to the s æ ter For as long as anyone can remember, they have been grazing cattle, milking cows and making cheese at the Brimi Sæter summer dairy farm.

Today Ola Tangvik and Hans Brimi carry on the tradition, and welcome summer guests to stay, eat and enjoy the beautiful life on the traditional upland farm known as a sæter.

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s some guests come through the gate, Tatri, the unassuming farm dog, lifts her head slightly and displays her lack of watchdog capabilities by rolling onto her back. We laugh when her ploy works, and the guests bend down to rub her belly.

We’re sitting around a table, eating breakfast at the sun-warmed farm together with Hans Brimi, who runs the sæter along with his partner Ola Tangvik. A while ago Tatri ran around the cows’ legs when they left the barn and the morning’s milking. Now a milk truck is rattling along the old farm road down towards us and the group of greying buildings that make up Brimi Sæter.

We hear the clinking of cow bells a short distance away in the wide valley of close-cropped late summer grass. The cows are allowed to roam freely on the mountain all day until they’re brought in again for the afternoon milking. But in between there’s a lot happening at the sæter, at the cheese factory and in the barn.

“Being at a sæter in the summer is an adventure,” smiles Hans, who has spent his summers here since childhood.

Inherited knowledge Brimi Sæter has been in operation for as long as anyone can remember, and it is one of the few sæters where milk and cheese production was kept alive even during the tough decades for agriculture at the end of the 1900s. That’s thanks to Embjørg, a relative of Hans, who right up until the age of 70 worked here at the sæter. It was she who passed on the old knowledge and traditions to Hans and Ola when they took over in 2004.

“We were here for two whole summers with Embjørg, so we’ve learned how to make cheese the traditional way,” Hans tells us. “Of course, she had already developed a market for the cheese, with regular customers from the village, so we’ve tried to integrate what she did with today’s requirements for food handling.”

Our visit at Brimi Sæter is like stepping into a time long past, when hay making, the milk from the cows and the hens’ eggs constituted one’s livelihood. But it’s considerably more comfortable than before, where we’re sitting against the wall of the small house, enjoying the charming

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breakfast: still-warm milk straight from the cow, home-baked bread, freshly gathered eggs, farm cheeses and cured meats from the local area. In the café, home-made dairy products such as sour cream (rømme), butter and cheeses are also sold.

A big seller is something called “pultost”, a gritty, spreadable mixture that tastes salty and fresh on my open-faced breakfast sandwich.

“This cheese,” Hans says, looking knowingly at my sandwich, “is pure health food. It doesn’t contain any fat at all.”

“Pultost is actually a cheese from Hedemarken,” he continues, “and much more salt is used there than here. It’s actually sometimes called ‘saltost’ (‘salt cheese’) there. But our pultost is made at lower temperatures, and with only a little salt, so it has a shelf life of only a few weeks.”

Tatri has lain down again but looks up when the milk truck jolts its way back along the farm road, on the way to the Tine dairy co-operative’s milk processing plant.

“Every third day we deliver to Tine, mostly to be able to use their system for analysing milk quality. But the rest of the milk stays here at the sæter and is used in the cheese factory. We process 30,000 litres of cow’s milk per summer. Of that, about 1.5 tonnes becomes our sæter cheese, 1 tonne is turned into sour cream (rømme) and 1 tonne pultost.”

Smiling troll caramels Ola is the one in charge of the small cheese factory at the sæter. We look into the fine new factory where he is busy processing milk for the light yellow, hard and sliceable cheese that they call sæterost (“sæter cheese”). I ask how long it takes to make the sæterost.

“I start here in the cheese factory at 8:30 and I’m done around 12:30,” Ola says. “But then when the cheeses are lying in the cheese cellar I have to turn them every day and rub them in brine to promote the milk mould and to get rid of any undesirable fungi.

“But we don’t count the hours,” he adds, “because we’ve created a lifestyle for ourselves here.

And happiness in life is doing what you want to do. You could say this is a hobby that we’ve managed to turn into a living. And now we have too

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Here you’ll find a local version of the Swiss cheese dish raclette, made with the sæter’s own cheese.

“I think it’s when I come down into the cheese cellar and get to close the door behind me, and look at all these great big troll caramels that are smiling at me. That’s when I have an awfully wonderful feeling!”

– Ola Tangvik, Brimi Sæter

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GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

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“.. when the people around here got together to really indulge in something special on an evening, they would put a piece of the cheese in the fireplace. Then, when it started to run, it was at its best!”

– Hans Brimi, Brimi Sæter

little cheese for the size of the demand, so that’s cool.”

During the afternoon, Ola has to make sour cream, butter and pultost, but before this he shows us his treasure chamber, the cheese cellar where the large round cheeses are stored for a total of between one and three years. It’s these hard sæter cheeses that are the big sellers and something of Brimi Sæter’s own niche.

“Not very many of the small cheese factories in Norway make hard cheeses, what’s called ‘cheese for real men’ in Switzerland,” Ola smiles. “Right from the start we were adamant that we wanted to make the cheese that was made here before. This is our cultural heritage in practice, you can say.

But we’ve also gone a little further and, among other things, made a Swiss cheese with holes in it. And then Embjørg told us that she sometimes spiced the cheese with cumin and cloves, so now we’ve done something like that as well.”

Ola trained under the Franco–Norwegian cheese technologist Pascale Baudonnel at a college in Sogn, and he’s passionate about the art of cheese making. We notice that this is far more than a hobby for him, and we ask which part of the cheese-making process he likes best.

“I think it’s when I come down into the cheese cellar and get to close the door behind me, and look at all these great big troll caramels that are smiling at me,” Ola says with an infectious smile.

“That’s when I have an awfully wonderful feeling!

To get to stand here and polish my cheeses and see how fine they are.”

“Skrapatå” For dinner we go up to what used to be the hayloft, above the barn where the cows are milked.

Directly beneath the roof ridge stands one of the longest dining tables we’ve ever seen. And you don’t have to go far to go to bed here: there are cosy built-in bunks along the walls under the sloping ceiling. We take our places at the long table along with the other guests, and soon Hans arrives with raclette grills filled with glowing coals, which he sets down on the table. We’re going to eat “Skrapatå”, Hans tells us, a variant of the Swiss dish known as raclette, whose name here at Brimi Sæter means ’scrape off ’ in the local dialect.

“When Embjørg taught us to make this sæterost, she explained that when the people around here got together to really indulge in something special on an evening, they would put a piece of the cheese in the fireplace. Then, when it started to run, it was at its best! They were eating raclette, of course, without actually knowing it.”

Several grills are set out on the table and we take turns scraping off the cheese as it melts. It is warming, wonderfully creamy in texture, salty and sharp against the tongue, and we enjoy it with locally made cured meats. The glowing charcoal spreads its heat to where we’re sitting in the evening light coming in from the gable windows.

After dinner we go for a stroll before bedtime.

Out in the yard, Tatri is being petted by a guest seated on a sofa by the café wall.

Tatri seems to know exactly how to get the best of every situation, and it feels as though it’s the prevailing wisdom here at Hans and Ola’s place.

Life at Brimi Sæter is an homage to the good life, to the small but important pleasures to be found in a quiet tempo, in a place where history connects with the present. www.brimiland.no

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In the kitchen at Bessheim Right beside the most spectacular hiking path in Norway, Besseggen, stands the Bessheim mountain hotel. The hotel is operated by young cousins Kari and Ragnhild, who provide good service and a fine ambience in both summer and winter. But here the restaurant is also a great attraction, offering delicious menus featuring the best from the local area. We pop into the kitchen for a chat with the chef, Bjørn Ekerbakke.

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thin morning fog is reflected in the Øvre Sjodalsvatnet lake beside the Valdresflye National Tourist Route. What could be called a ‘“morning rush’ prevails in the reception area at Bessheim, but with the pleasant slow pace that characterises the mountain districts around here. Some guests are in the process of checking out, while others study the map and check their rucksacks before the day’s outing begins. We pass through the crowd, continuing on through the restaurant where the breakfast buffet is just now being cleared away, and stick our heads around the kitchen door. A cheerful man in a white chef ’s uniform waves at us to come in.

Ptarmigan for a select few Guests have long been lured to Bessheim Fjellstue og Hytter because of the scenery, but after chef Bjørn Ekebakke came on scene a couple of years ago, the kitchen has become a reason to visit in its own right. We have previously visited the restaurant to dine, and now we’ve arranged to have a chat with Bjørn while he’s busy with the pots and pans. He takes us over to a pair of beautiful white ptarmigan lying on a kitchen worktop.

“I’m just about to pluck these,” he says, and we watch in fascination how the plumage comes off with a few quick tugs. The skin seems to be quite loosely attached, and the fine meat underneath glistens dramatically red and fresh against the white down.

“My favourite part is the breast,” says Bjørn, cutting the glossy meat out with a few delicate incisions and laying it aside. “There’s the heart,” he continues, and points to the dark red muscle that has been laid bare inside the bird. “It’s terrific to eat raw with a little aquavit,” he says, meeting our questioning glances with a smile.

Once Bjørn has cut the meat off the bird, the carcass goes into a saucepan with a large dollop of butter.

“Now the carcass will be browned in a lot of butter, and then be allowed to simmer to a stock along with spices and vegetables. It will make a good base for a ptarmigan sauce,” he says as he begins preparing a dish of reindeer meat.

Greater interest in quality The ptarmigan shooting season starts on 15 September, but even though the ptarmigan live wild

on the mountain outside the hotel, the bird is regarded as the most exclusive of ingredients, even here at Bessheim.

“We can’t have ptarmigan on an à la carte menu, we simply don’t have enough to go round.

This is for a small group that’s coming here this evening.”

But it’s the local ingredients, such as ptarmigan, reindeer and mountain trout, that Bjørn prefers to work with, and thanks to good contacts among the local hunters, he can also offer elk (known as moose in North America) and red deer (elk, in North America) on the menu.

Bessheim serves a regular three-course à la carte menu every evening, except during autumn weekends when there is a dinner buffet. During the peak season, up to 150 people may dine here each evening, so it’s a question of choosing ingredients that can meet the demand.

“I would really like to serve more locally sourced meat and fish, even during the peak season, but we’d also have to charge a higher price.

Although now the guests’ awareness of quality is growing, as is their willingness to pay for it. So that’s good,” Bjørn smiles.

Never boring Bessheim is a family-owned hotel, which has been operated since 2005 by two young women, Kari Lund and Ragnhild Sjurgard. Kari stands at the baking table and kneads the dough for the next morning’s breakfast loaves, while Ragnhild is busy out at the reception counter. I ask Kari what it’s like to run a hotel together with her cousin.

“It’s just horrible! Nah,” laughs Kari, “we knew each other very well when we took over, so for the most part it’s just fine.”

“Has it been like you imagined when you decided to take over the operation?” I wonder.

“Well, I think so. I don’t remember what I was thinking ...,” Kari smiles meditatively. “We both had summer jobs here from the time we were 1415 years old, so we knew what we were getting into. And I knew that I’d never be bored here.”

Apprentice chef Anette stands alongside Kari, mixing home-made vanilla ice cream with chopped “Treak”, a juniper berry candy made here in the area. Bessheim’s chef takes on a new apprentice every July and also offers internships to students attending cookery school. Anette is in

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Bjørn Ekerbakke prefers to work with local ingredients, and is grateful for his contacts among the area’s hunters.

her second year as an apprentice, and will take her final exam in the summer. Desserts are her greatest passion, and she lets us sample the ice cream along with strawberries, lemon balm and homemade chocolate biscuits. Over the ice cream she drizzles a caramel sauce made with Gudbrandsdalsost, a sweet-tasting, fudge-like cheese first made by a farmer’s wife in the Gudbrandsdal valley 150 years ago. Terrific!

Lyrical in the winter Bessheim is ideally situated for one of Norway’s absolutely most popular outings in the summer: the hike along the narrow Besseggen ridge. In brochures, we’ve seen vertiginous views down to blue-green lakes in a dramatic mountain landscape.

“You can go straight up to Besseggen from here,” Kari informs us. “It’s a little farther but it takes about the same amount of time, and that way you can walk more peacefully. The vast majority of people take the boat from the Gjendesheim quay to Memurubu and walk from there. Some days they carry more than a thousand passengers, so at those times it can be pretty

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nice to start here. But it’s a great boat trip as well,” Kari smiles.

Bessheim closes in the middle of October and opens again as early as the middle of February, when the winter landscape provides new opportunities for outdoor experiences.

“There are many people who think it’s not possible to get here when the road over the Valdresflye plateau has closed, but it’s no problem to drive here from the east if you turn off the E6 highway at Sjoa,” Kari points out.

There’s a large selection of ski trails both in the forest and on the mountain, and a handful of 2,000-metre peaks within reach, if you don’t want to just take it easy in front of the fireplace.

“Winter is such a lovely time here at Bessheim.

There’s such fine light, and it’s quiet and lyrical.

And you have more time to be with each other than during the summer. But there’s something good about every season,” she continues. “I enjoy the fact it varies so much during the year, both the work here inside and the feeling outside.”

It’s in the sauce For Kari there aren’t very many trips into the mountains, however, because she’s usually fully occupied at the hotel. But when she does have a chance, she loves to go fishing.

“There’s a tradition of fishing with a net here in the area. The season is from 1 August to 15 September, and during that time we’re busy with guests here. Although I do try to get out, and if we catch a lot of fish it ends up on the menu,” she smiles.

The aromas emanating from the kitchen smell good, and Bjørn offers us a taste of the exclusive ptarmigan breast with a few potatoes on the side, with the ptarmigan sauce drizzled over the top.

The meat is full-flavoured, dark and elegant, but the secret behind the taste experience, well, it’s certainly in the sauce. www.bessheim.no

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Bessheim opens for the season as early as mid-February. That’s when you take the road from Sjoa and have the chance to experience a lyrical ambience in the midst of the snow-clad landscape.

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On special occasions the kitchen offers ptarmigan.

The birds live in the mountainous areas round Bessheim, but are regarded even here as an exclusive ingredient.

RICH PTARMIGAN SAUCE Brown the ptarmigan carcass in butter in a saucepan, along with the rinsed giblets. Add chopped shallot, leek, celery and carrot. Salt to taste, add cold water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, skim off any foam that bubbles up. Add crushed juniper berries, pepper and thyme, and let it simmer for 1 ½ hours. Then strain off all the bones and vegetables, and reduce the stock by half. Add cream and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Add sour cream, salt, pepper and perhaps a little Gudbrandsdalsost to taste. Cut the liver and heart into small pieces and add to the sauce 5 minutes before serving.

Brown the ptarmigan breast at medium heat in a lot of butter. Add salt and pepper and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then finish it in oven at 180 degrees C for 3–4 minutes. Serve with autumn vegetables, almond potatoes, lingon berries and the ptarmigan sauce. Eat slowly and with pleasure.

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With a passion for home-made food On the way over the Valdresflye plateau we stopped at Lemonsjø Fjellstue and were surprised by a clever and ambitious chef – a gastronomic timeout showcasing tastes from the local area.

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We park beside the main Riksvei 51 road, and go into the large dining room, featuring light wood panelling on the walls, rustic furniture in English red, and panorama windows looking out on Lake Lemonsjø. And in case you’re wondering, neither the lake nor the mountain lodge has anything to do with lemons.

“From what we’ve managed to discover, the name relates to an ancient fishing technique,” says the chef, Tor Ivar Furuseter. “The Old Norse word for the beam that was used to dam the brook when the fish went up to spawn was ‘lemmur’.”

There are a few weeks left until Christmas, and the young chef has laid out a mouth-watering Christmas buffet. Tor Ivar introduces the local hand-crafted foods. Here are juniper berry-spiced charcuteries from Aukrust in Lom, a savoury cream sauce from Avdem Gårdsysteri in Lesja in Gudbrandsdalen, and reindeer and elk-meat sausages from a small speciality meat producer in Vågå, Tor Ivar tells us, before going on to describe his home-made delicacies.

Local profile The meal is delicious. We take some trout cured in juniper berries and aquavit, that has been smoked in their own smoke house. Then there’s

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home-made beef roll, lamb roll and headcheese.

And then home-baked flat bread and butter.

Although we’d heard that Lemonsjø attracts hordes of holiday tourists who want to indulge themselves, we still expected “roadside restaurant food”. Instead, it was obvious that this place is a gastronomic highlight along the Valdresflye road.

Tor Ivar wants to put his mark on the food – that what is good is also out of the ordinary – and this explains the ambitious local menu.

“It would be really sad if you got exactly the same food in Lindesnes on the southern tip of Norway as here, and at the North Cape. It’s rewarding to serve food that I know is of high quality and slightly unusual. And it makes it easier, of course, when the local food says something about the area.”

In the last few years, it has become easier to keep a local profile to the food, Tor Ivar tells us.

At least when it comes to some products. Logistics and access have become more reliable, something that is a prerequisite for a place like Lemonsjø – on a summer day there can be 200 lunch guests here.

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Tor Ivar notes an increasing interest in local food among some of the guests, not least from those who live in the area.

“When we started to serve roast elk from Breheimen in Sjåk, a great many local people came and ordered it. I enjoy something like that, of course. People have become more aware of what we serve, at any rate some of them.”

Thirty years in the mountains Twenty-seven year old Tor Ivar has managed to train as a chef, be an apprentice in Oslo and run Lemonsjø together with his mother since 2005, but the place has belonged to the family since 1978.

“Now it’s over thirty years since we took over, so it’s sort of enjoyable that we’ve kept at it so long.”

The main building and the associated cabins can easily accommodate eighty guests – something that’s needed in the summer when demand is great. They’re also collaborating with an event organiser in the area, so it’s easy for guests to work up an appetite between meals. In the winter sea-

son tourists can make use of 150 kilometres of prepared ski trails, and in the summer you can go mountain hiking, fishing, rafting and engage in all forms of cycling.

While we are tempted to help ourselves from the Christmas buffet for a second time, Tor Ivar goes out to the kitchen to prepare his favourite dish to be photographed. It’s char, pan-fried with plenty of butter, a sour cream sauce, cucumber salad and almond potatoes from Vågå.

“I’m extremely happy to be able to serve Arctic char, it’s completely fantastic. And this is how I usually serve it,” says Tor Ivar.

And once the fish has been captured on camera, we can tuck in ourselves. Now it’s true that food, other than in pictures, is something very perishable. But perhaps that’s also why it can taste so unbelievably good. www.lemonsjoe.no

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Hospitality as in times past Hindsæter Fjellhotell is located on the lip of the Sjodalen valley, along the Valdresflye National Tourist Route. André Sundero and Karola Wenzel greet their guests here with the same hospitality as when the upland farmers used to welcome mountain travellers seeking food and lodging.

Reindeer meat is often served for dinner, in keeping with the simple philosophy of preparing food in ways that allow the quality and origin of the ingredients to shine through.

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rom the shelter of the timber wall outside the entrance to Hindsæter Fjellhotell, we enjoy the view over Sjodalen and the mountain beyond in Jotunheimen National Park. Here you feel closer to the mountain plateau and the mountains than the road we came by, even though it runs past just down the hill. We’re enjoying the last warmth of the afternoon on the sun terrace when a group of German guests arrive from a guided hiking tour in the mountains.

Karola Wenzel, who operates the hotel along with her husband André Sundero, was the group’s guide today. We step forward to greet her and wonder how the hike went.

“It was a fine day with wonderful weather. Yesterday the group did Besseggen and were pretty tired, so we just went slowly and enjoyed the walk.”

Hindsæter also collaborates with other guides in the area and can offer guests trips in both summer and winter. In addition to Besseggen, the German group has also had time to make the other of Norway’s two most popular hikes – the one to the highest mountain in the country: Galdhøpiggen.

Beautiful wood Hindsæter Fjellhotell was built in 1898. As the name reveals, this was previously a sæter, in other words a place where the farmers moved their animals for grazing during the summer months. The sæters played an important role in early mountain tourism, as adventurers sought food and lodging in the cabins – and were often welcomed in.

The demand for lodging and services increased with the growth in tourism. Finally the owner at Hindsæter, Otto Østrem, couldn’t take in any more guests – unless he built a proper hotel.

We go into the old part of the hotel, where the tables have been set and the preparations before dinner are well under way. The furnishings are in pale-grey wood that looks beautiful in the light from the old mullioned windows. White-washed rustic wall-cupboards and tapestries adorn the walls, and around the tables stand upholstered chairs. The tasteful furnishings are thanks to André and Karola, who began a big renovation job when they took over the hotel in 2004.

“When we arrived, the place was full of 70s stuff, and everything was painted blue,” says André who takes a break from the food preparation

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and comes out of the kitchen for a chat. “These cabinets are something we bought.”

Quality for apprentices One of Hindsæter’s apprentices comes by with a generous basket of bread. Hindsæter Fjellhotell is part of the network of restaurants which aim to train chefs in Arne Brimi’s culinary philosophy.

As a kitchen for apprentices, Hindsæter is in good company, other kitchens in the network include Brimi Fjellstugu, Bessheim Fjellstue, Lemonsjø Fjellstue, Bakeriet i Lom and, of course, Arne Brimi’s own restaurant Vianvang.

“It’s good for the business to have apprentices, because we have to stay sharp in what we’re doing and do everything correctly. That’s why I, too, got my trade certificate in cooking last autumn.

I’ve been a self-taught cook for fifteen years, but now I have a certificate to prove it,” André laughs good-naturedly.

Karola rings the dinner bell and the German group enters the dining room and greets her with big smiles when they take their places at the table.

She then goes round and presents the evening’s menu. Going on a hike with the mistress of the house herself and then seeing her again as a server at dinner comes as a surprise to many guests.

“We aim to offer pure, unadulterated hospitality,” André explains, “the kind you had in the past when people came to the sæter. The kind in which people were regarded as guests and received with open arms. Nowadays, this industry has a commercial hospitality role that’s based on entirely different principles.”

A bæta is the peak of happiness We take our places at a rustic wooden table in Gammel Stugu, which is the smaller of the two dining rooms, and André, who is the head chef at Hindsæter, comes out with an aperitif.

“We always serve a bæta (“bit”) here at Hindsæter before the dinner. It’s traditional food and a fun way for us to serve the products that we make ourselves in the kitchen.”

A bæta consists of flatbread (a thin, crisp-bread baked from potatoes, flour and salt) with a topping. Tonight the topping is a delicious goat kid roulade of tenderloin and flank meat, with finelychopped thyme and rosemary. The kid comes from Valbjør farm.

“When I was a child, it was the peak of happi-

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A beautiful evening stroll through the silent conifer forest leads to the cliffs at Stuttgongfossen.

“We want to offer pure, unadulterated hospitality,” Andre explains, “the kind that was offered in the past when people came to the saeter.”

– André Sundero, Hindsæter Mountain Hotel

Hindsæter Fjellhotell is perfectly situated in an area that lures mountain lovers both summer and winter.

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ness to sit at the kitchen table and eat a bæta with butter and a tasty topping. I could sit and eat it for an entire evening,” André smiles.

We understand what he means, but the menu carries us on to the appetiser: salt-cured salmon and trout from a mountain lake in the Jotunheim Mountains and potato salad. Exceedingly good with a German Riesling.

Focus on reindeer Hindsæter has a set dinner menu, and the hosts put great emphasis on explaining the dishes and the origins of the ingredients.

“We have twenty-two local suppliers, and we’re very pleased about that,” André says. “But we’re emphasising reindeer more and more, which seems like a natural choice for us here in the mountains.”

“Yes, Vågå’s domesticated reindeer graze there and Lom’s domesticated reindeer graze there,” Karola indicates, and points out the directions through the window in Gammel Stugu. “Reindeer is the most environmentally-friendly thing you can eat here. And at the same time, it’s very good, of course.”

“And historically, reindeer meat was the first meat that we ate here in Norway,” André points out. “The reindeer wandered northward from Europe at the end of the last ice age, and then came the people. The elk (moose) came later. It has a different diet and is more dependent on grass, trees and bushes.”

This evening we’re served three different tastes of reindeer: sirloin, smoked leg and a lighter-coloured piece of meat that turns out to be reindeer tongue.

“With the meat we have a game sauce, potatoes, mushrooms, red onion compote and sugar-snap peas,” Karola continues, placing a deliciously fragrant plate in front of me. “And for a beverage we’ve found an Amarone from 2009, which I think goes very well with reindeer. It’s not very sweet or strong, but still fruity.”

At most restaurants only the fillet is usually served, but Hindsæter’s “Nose-to-tail” philosophy makes it clear that many other parts of the reindeer can provide a wonderful taste experience, if you take the time to prepare them in the right way. André, who has kept us company at the table, describes a dish which is returning here for a trial period: reindeer heart, cut into small

cubes and browned with almond potato gnocchi, puréed green peas and lingonberries. He has also learned from a Sámi how to prepare the marrowbone.

“It’s like a teaspoon of flavour from the innermost part of the reindeer. So you could say you’re experiencing the innermost part of Norway. But, when I served it, many people weren’t sure whether they dared taste it. It’s all about challenging the guests a little, though not too much, of course,” André says with a glint in his eye.

“Have you had a chance to taste brunost ice cream before?” asks André when he carries in the dessert a bit later.

We’ve tried the brown slices of Gudbrandsdalsost on open-faced sandwiches, but the ice cream is new to us. Just like the well-known whey cheese, it has a rough sweetness that balances the blueberry ice cream and a “trollkrem” (“troll cream”) of lingonberries, egg white and sugar.

The art of enjoying oneself André has always liked cooking, but his interest in it has developed exponentially since taking over the kitchen at Hindsæter Fjellhotell.

“I work here fifteen hours every day, so my interest has intensified, no doubt about that. It’s exciting to work with food, and we live in the middle of an area with an unbelievable number of good restaurants.”

André and Karola’s ambition is to serve the food that they themselves prefer when they’re out travelling.

“There’s no hocus-pocus, it’s just a matter of taking a good ingredient and presenting it in a nice way.”

Treating others as they wish themselves to be treated seems to permeate André and Karola’s hospitality. And, just as with the food, their strategy for carrying on year after year springs from a desire to live well themselves.

“The goal for us is to operate the business so that we ourselves will be able to live a good life here. Because if you want this occupation, then you have to enjoy it more than just tolerably well, seeing that there’s so much work. But if we are enjoying ourselves to the full, we can create a nice spot for our guests as well.” www.hindseter.no

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Lingon Berry Twist – OR BISCOTTI HINDSÆTER STYLE

These Italian biscuits get a Nordic twist from lingon berries when André Sundero is at the baking table at Hindsæter Mountain Hotel. Would you like to try one before having a go at baking them? Take a drive along the Valdresflye National Tourist Route and head up to André and Karola’s place. These biscotti are almost always served with evening coffee at Hindsæter!

1 dl = 100 ml = 6 tablespoons

5 dl sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 5 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla sugar 3–4 dl finely-chopped hazelnuts or almonds Approximately 14 dl plain white flour 2 dl frozen lingon berries

Stir together 10 dl of the flour with sugar, baking powder, vanilla sugar and salt. Separate the white from one of the eggs and save it for brushing on.

Then beat the egg yolk with the remaining four eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir together. Knead the dough with your hands until it becomes firm. Knead in the nuts and the lingon berries. The lingon berries will become watery, so more flour must be added to prevent the dough from becoming too sticky. Add small amounts of flour at a time as needed.

Use flour on the baker’s table and on your hands.

Divide the dough into five parts and form into rolls about 5 cm in diameter. Place the rolls on a greased baking tray and brush with the egg white. Bake at 180 degrees C for 40 minutes. Allow to cool a little before you cut the rolls diagonally into slices. Place the slices on a tray and bake for approximately 10 minutes more.

Since Biscotti are hard they are best dunked in coffee or tea before being eaten.

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In reindeer land

Valdresflye National Tourist Route passes along the eastern flank of the Jotunheim Mountains and cuts right through a reindeer grazing area.

We took the opportunity to participate in the most intensive period of the reindeer herding year, when the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative rounded up its herd for the autumn slaughter.

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“Now I’m going to take out the tenderloin first,” Kent Aril Molldal says and leans forward to get inside the backbone more easily.

We stand in Nortura’s slaughterhouse in Otta, in sterile uniforms from top to toe, and watch while Kent butchers a reindeer calf from the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative with quick and meticulous strokes.

It is heavy work, although we know that it is mostly beef cattle that are butchered here, weighing far more than this 23-kilo reindeer calf.

“But you don’t actually need to be big and strong to be able to butcher,” claims Kent, whose arms are as thick as telephone poles, “if you have good technique.”

In less than 20 minutes, he has cut all the meat off the reindeer and divided into steaks, roasts, meat for mincing, haunches and fillets. Two of the cuts of reindeer meat on the table are to be packaged and sold as premium products at Nortura: “Sirloin from the Jotunheim Mountains”.

Valdresflye in autumn We wind back the clock, to when the reindeer was still alive, and move up to the Valdresflye plateau. The mountaintops to the south disappear in a grey storm cloud, and shortly thereafter snowflakes start drifting in while we struggle forward in the crosswind.

“What’s our strategy?” I ask and speed up to keep pace with reindeer herder Ola Vaagaasarøygard.

“When we see the herd, we’ll hide behind a rock so that we don’t frighten them,” he answers, and sweeps the valley with his binoculars at regular intervals.

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We get a glimpse of the helicopter far away through the blizzard, and I strain my eyes to distinguish the reindeer in the speckled grey, stony landscape. After a few minutes I see them, grey backs that billow forward in a tight flock. A haze of steam rises from them. They’ve been running, and have worked up a sweat, just like us.

It’s the middle of September, and with the helicopter Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative has maximised its resources for the last stage of the process, when the reindeer are driven into the slaughtering field. But Ola and the other reindeer herders have already done the hard work when they rounded up the herd a bit further to the east.

An intensive job that has taken just over three weeks.

A life in the mountains In addition to Sami reindeer herding, which takes place all the way from the far north of the country down to Hedmark County, there are four domestic reindeer co-operatives in southern Norway. The Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative is the newest of them, and the company was incorporated by the area’s farmers in 1942.

In summer they have at most 4,000 animals.

After the autumn slaughter and the winter slaughter in December, there are some 2,300 animals left. Of these, about 1,800 calve during the spring, replenishing the herd numbers.

To manage the reindeer up in the mountains, the company has hired reindeer herders, four fulltime and a couple extra in the summer. Ola is one of those who works up here year round, which he’s done since he was 18. The best life there is, according to him.

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“What does the work involve, practically speaking?” I ask.

“In the summer it’s mostly about seeing that the herd stays within the grazing land that we lease. It’s no easy task, and it can cause conflict if the reindeer start to compete with other grazing animals in the valleys, or go into elk (moose) territory and irritate the hunters.”

“But how do you actually go about getting a reindeer herd to move?” I wonder, and try to imagine Ola and his two dogs up on the enormous mountain plateau.

“You start at one edge and drive them in the direction you want them to go. But in the summer it’s difficult. Say that you have a thousand reindeer that you’re driving over the mountains, and then thirty reindeer take off. In that case, you don’t go after the thirty reindeer, you continue with the rest. And you hope for good winds.’

Reindeer prefer to move into the wind, Ola explains, because it gives them the greatest chance of sensing danger. “Of course, here in the Jotunheim Mountains the reindeer don’t have many enemies,” he continues. “It’s only wolverines and golden eagles that can be a threat in some cases.”

In the wintertime, the reindeer herders work more efficiently, using snowmobiles, and thus have a better chance of saving and keeping the herd together. They can also keep in better contact with the reindeer with the help of salt blocks and concentrated feed supplements.

“That’s when we try to tame the reindeer,” Ola explains. “While they’re eating the concentrated feed, we take the opportunity to put a halter on them and get them used to us leading them. And we take the opportunity to train the dogs.”

We’ve crouched down behind a large rock and wait for the herd to pass. Ola’s Border Collie lies at my feet. This is his most important tool next to the binoculars.

“It’s completely useless to go up into the mountains without a dog. Because the reindeer will run quickly past you, laughing. Completely useless,” Ola says and shakes his head.

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But the most effective reindeer herder hovers in the air just ahead of us, and the herd is driven forward and past, directly north of us.

Keeping pace from the saddle We emerge from our hiding place to meet the rear guard of reindeer herders and hired help that has been mustered to help with the autumn’s slaughter. Herding dogs run in circles around the group of ten people that work to set up a barrier behind the reindeer herd. There are also two horses here, and their owners Ole Kristian Lien and William Björn have just climbed out of the saddle to let the animals rest a while. I learn that it was these two who were the first to use horses to herd reindeer for the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative.

“Yes,” Ole Kristian confirms, “but horses started to be used in this way many thousands of years ago, so I suppose we in the co-operative were late arrivals,” he laughs. “We should have started using horses a long, long time ago. It’s both laboursaving and enjoyable.”

“I come from Iceland, where animals have always been driven from horseback, and so for me it was natural,” William explains, and pats his ‘Mimir’ appreciatively.

Initially, many in the reindeer co-operative doubted that the terrain would be suitable for horses, William explains. Pretty quickly, though, it was realized that the horses were an effective means of transport for the reindeer herders.

“But these days we’re just decoration, it’s the helicopter that does the job,” laughs Ole Kristian.

Favourites in the herd Yet another frisky horse appears out of the fog a bit further away, and I go over for a chat with the rider. Lillian Anita Jacobsson has been involved in reindeer herding since childhood, and now works as a temporary herder in the summers while she studies to become a teacher. Neither she nor the horse appear to be the least tired after an entire morning’s ride. With ‘Blesi’ she can sometimes travel up to fifty kilometres in a day, she explains.

“It’s something entirely different than walking,” she says, gathering up the reins. “You have a chance to keep up with the herd.”

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deer herd in the beautiful mountain scenery. A dream job in the eyes of many, I would imagine.

But being a reindeer herder is not just about appreciating nature and the outdoor life, Lillian says. Caring for the reindeer, the horse and the dogs is the biggest part of the job. You have to like being with animals, she declares.

“As a herder, do you have any favourite reindeer?” I wonder.

“Yes, you have certain reindeer that you know better than others,” Lillian responds. “Of course you care about them and want them to do well.

So in fact this part, the slaughter, is not very pleasant. But on the other hand, that’s the reason we have them.”

And despite the fact that Lillian has grown up on reindeer meat, she hasn’t tired of it.

“Reindeer meat is the best meat. And the best of all is boiled tongue. I’ve always had that as a sandwich topping.”

“All the yearling calves are weighed, and which of them is to be slaughtered is decided by the weight. It pays to be heavy,” laughs Ola. The heavy animals are deemed to be good meat producers. Approximately 600 big calves, both males and females, get a plastic washer in the ear and are released into the mountains for another ten years on the grazing grounds.

The reindeer for slaughter are also tested for radioactivity. It’s just over 25 years since the accident in Chernobyl, but the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative expects the impact of the emission cloud will continue to affect their reindeer for several years to come. In 2010, they were forced to release 30 per cent of the reindeer they had intended to slaughter because of excessive Becquerel (a measure of radioactivity) levels.

“But this year thankfully we don’t have a problem with it,” says Ola.

It depends on the weight

During the next two days, the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative slaughters more than 1,000 animals, most are six-month-old calves.

When I see them running around in the filter with wide-open eyes, it sends a shiver through my heart. But then I remind myself that these animals have had the chance to live a life far more dignified than most farmed livestock. And death occurs mercifully and efficiently: they are led one by one into a fold to the small slaughter shed, where they are quickly dispatched with a wellplaced shot to the head from a bolt gun.

A large lorry stands parked alongside the slaughter shed, a mobile slaughterhouse where the reindeer are quickly and efficiently bled, taken out and skinned by competent butchers, including some from Nortura. Tor Wang, a vet from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, is on hand to supervise the process. His task is partly to check the quality of the meat handling but also to ensure the welfare of the reindeer before they are slaughtered.

“The rounding up and sorting of the reindeer involves a certain amount of stress. So the objective is that the reindeer should be inside the fence for the shortest possible time. An efficient slaughtering process must be set up with as low a stress level as possible.”

Everyone involved in the slaughter has a duty

Supervised process We walk with the group of people, horses and dogs back to the slaughtering field, where the reindeer have now been gathered together. If the reindeer co-operative has been successful with the roundup, 3,500 animals will have been brought in. Approximately 500 are reckoned to still be out in the mountains. In the period just before the winter slaughter, when snowmobiles can be used and tracking is possible, it is easier to round up all the animals. Lillian explains their method for moving the reindeer in the wintertime, which I would very much like to see.

“That’s when we reindeer herders ski in front ringing small cowbells, and some of the reindeer follow along. And it’s actually not those that are the most tame but rather the wildest,” laughs Lillian. “Then the rest of the reindeer come after in a long, long file, with the snowmobiles bringing up the rear.”

Our group scatters when we arrive at the large slaughtering field, and I position myself to watch through the gaps in the boards. The reindeer trot around and around and around. Perhaps they sense what is happening. In the afternoon they are to be sorted into smaller fields, so-called filters, where their future will be decided. I go into one of the filters and again find Ola in the middle of the reindeer.

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to safeguard the animals’ welfare, Tor continues.

“We usually start the day by getting everyone together to remind them about the need to focus on the animals’ welfare. Then there are always some details that you have to see to, for example, that the fence and filters are designed so the reindeer don’t injure themselves. If things go badly out in the reindeer yard, then we will also see it during the slaughter in the form of bleeding and fractures. But that said, everything is taking place satisfactorily here.”

The majority of the meat is sold to Nortura’s butchering operation in Otta, where it is cut into pieces, packed and resold. But during the slaughter people also come from the local area to buy reindeer meat directly from the co-operative.

Many of them are restaurant operators in Vågå and on the Valdresflye plateau, who want to serve reindeer meat in their restaurants.

Enjoyable teamwork The Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative has been around for seventy years, but it’s a young company compared with the reindeer herding of the Sami people. Before we leave the autumn slaughter and Valdresflye, I find the time to exchange a few words with Pål Grev, who chairs the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative’s board of directors. I take care to ask whether he has noticed any differences between the way they manage their reindeer and how the Sami do it.

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“No, actually not,” he says after a moment’s thought. “We operate the business according to the same criteria, with the same regulations to abide by, even though we have a different type of organisation.”

For the people we’ve met here during the autumn slaughter, the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Cooperative seems to be an enjoyable form of joint ownership and teamwork. I wonder aloud how difficult it would be to start one’s own reindeer co-operative. Pål goes along with my cogitations.

“It’s certainly possible, but there are a lot of conditions to be met. You have to have good grazing grounds, with both alpine and sub-alpine terrain, and then you have to have permission from the Agriculture Ministry … So I don’t know how easy it would be today,” he laughs.

We say goodbye to the Vågå Domestic Reindeer Co-operative and leave the slaughter field and the reindeer. In future when we’re served reindeer meat from the Jotunheim Mountains, it will feel very special. We’ve been able to see the movement of the reindeer over the mountains, towards slaughtering for some of them and another year of freedom for others. And we’ve been able to take part in the collaborative effort required to produce a highly valued meat, from an animal that is treated with respect. Food production at its most beautiful.

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Granberg tannery T ext: E i r i k D a n k e l P hoto : E s pe n M i l l s

Take a little detour from the National Tourist Route, more specifically to the village of Ølensvåg, where one can find Norway’s only surviving tannery with the production of decorative furs and leather: Granberg tannery. Here leather from all over the country comes to be tanned, including reindeer from the Vågå herding district. The actual tanning process is time consuming, but the result is exquisite fur and leather of the finest quality. Recently, Granberg opened a new factory outlet in a brand new facility, with Norway’s largest selection of fur and leather – a detour well worth the trip.

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Grou n d e d i n be a uty Vision and energy don’t always go hand in hand. But Hege and Helge at Glittersjå Fjellgård not only have what it takes to make their dreams come true, they’ve found a fantastic place to do it.

And the result? You won’t want to miss it.

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rooster is crowing in the blue light of dawn, and the bell on Ragga the goat can be heard somewhere in the stable, otherwise it’s quiet in Murudalen. Inside the kitchen of Hege Thorson and Helge Nordskar, we’re offered fruit juice and crunchy carrots, a vitamin injection before we go out to the barn and feed the animals. In the hen house, turkeys, ducks and chickens have laid eggs during the night, and are now on their way out into the yard, which they will share with the cows and the goats.

Here on the cliff above the lake, with an unobstructed view right into the Jotunheim Mountains, Hege and Helge found the place they were looking for. They’ve already accomplished more in life than most people, but they show no signs of wanting to slow down, quite the contrary.

They’re at the start of realising their dream. ”We’re not completely finished yet,” Helge says, and opens the gate so that we can go in to the animals. ”But our goal is to have a place that provides everything you need, so visitors can understand the context and participate in it in a natural way. It’s also a matter of the buildings remaining where they are,” says Hege.

The old ”seter” or summer farm had long stood undisturbed and was in poor condition when the couple purchased it. Four years later, in the summer of 2011, they had moved in and could welcome the first guests to stay at their beautifully renovated farm.

Close contact The animal husbandry at Glittersjå is the complete opposite of industrial food production.

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Instead it is the foundation of an ideology held

by Hege and Helge. Here there are a few animals of every kind, which can all range freely, and develop at a comfortable pace nourished by nature’s bounty. ”We keep animal breeds that have lived here for hundreds of years, and have learned to adapt to the conditions here. All our animals have horns and everything else they’re equipped with by nature,” Helge tells us.

When Hege sets out the bins of food, it’s the goats that are the kings of the yard. They only need to wave their horns to get a large brown Scottish Highland cow to move aside. The animals are social and safe to be around, both for people and each other. Smitten, we stand in their midst and feel the excitement of being so close to the animals. ”It’s magical when people come here and get close to these animals that are, in reality, quite ordinary. And the children come with a lot of questions and ideas. An eight-year-old was here with his grandmother, and while I’m explaining about the chickens and turkeys, he says: ’Hey, look at that turkey with the skin that’s hanging! That’s exactly the kind of skin Grandma has under her arms,’” quotes Helge, laughing.

Spanish horses Hege is passionate about horses, and in addition to three ponies there are three Andalusian horses on the farm. An exotic element in the typically Norwegian scene. ”I felt that everything was so down to earth and proper. I wanted to break with that a little and

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“…Everything that can be used of the animal shall be used.”

– Hege Thorson, Glittersjå Fjellgård

decided to get a Spanish stallion,” Hege laughs. ”That was five years ago, and now he stands here with two mares that we’re hoping will foal in the spring.”

The elegant and graceful horses arrived completely wild from the Spanish highlands, but it looks like Hege has enjoyed the challenge, even though she’s broken a bone now and then.

“The horses are spirited and I think I’m young, you know,” laughs Hege and radiates anything but diminishing energy. ”But my plan is to get the stallion in such good shape that I can ride to our fine trout lake. Then next year I’ll offer self-caught trout that have been carried home on horseback.” ”When the horses have been properly broken in, guests will also be able to experience what it is to sit astride these majestic animals,” Helge tells us.

Food that hasn’t travelled The food is an important part of what the farm is all about. We’ve moved down into the old cellar, which has been converted to a small dining room, like a medieval tavern.

Dinner is a journey through the seasons at Glittersjå. Self-picked lovage and honey season the soup that is made from the autumn’s beetroot and marrow stock from their own Highland cattle.

Hege also puts out newly-churned butter and a loaf of bread she has baked from buttermilk.

For the main course, we have pork that has foraged at the edge of the forest beyond the yard, with root vegetables and chilli with raspberry sauce. And to reflect the Spanish theme, Helge serves organic Spanish red wine.

When the main course has had time to settle,

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Hege takes out a frame from one of the beehives and invites us to break off a bit of the golden, glimmering cake for dessert. We enjoy the summer confection while we marvel at tales of swarms, queens and drones.

Both Hege and Helge see a challenge in making from the most out of nature. They get logs, plants, berries and fish from the surrounding area, and their animals provide the basis for various kinds of products. ”Yes, that’s what’s so interesting, everything that can be used of the animal shall be used,” Hege says and displays fine woollen blankets that she has made. “The sheep provide wool and the bees provide honey, and the beeswax provides light. I make soap from tallow, the cows give milk, cheese and butter, and so forth.”

Glittersjå stays open for guests the whole summer, from June to September. In the autumn and winter, you can come to attend courses in plant dyeing, candle making, felting and traditional baking. ”Groups can also hold their own courses or meetings here, with us providing the hospitality and atmosphere,” explains Helge.

When we close the gates behind us to go over to the car park, the curious goats Ragga and Ronja come running, just as they did when we arrived.

Having found a hidden gem here in Murudalen, we feel a bit sad to be leaving. Ragga and Ronja and all the others at Glittersjå are lucky to be able to live here all year round. www.glittersja.no

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Photo: Tina Stafrén

The road crests the ridge, and with windows wound down we roll downhill. Until we find a chance to park and walk over to the viewing point, to take in nature’s fragrances and the dizzying murmur of space between mountain and sea. We have long wanted to come here, to experience the tastes of the sea and meet the people who live here, under a small piece of the sky at its most beautiful.

De l uxe f j or d l i fe Geiranger wouldn’t be what it is today without the Hotel Union.

As the fourth generation to do so, Sindre Mjelva runs the hotel with his wife Monja. A modern couple who take care of the best traditions, not least when it comes to food. We arrive one May weekend, and adjust our senses to luxury.

each year – by sea alone. A further 200,000 come by land. The Ørnevegen road, which brought us here from the north, is open year-round, and is the lifeline for those who remain here in the winter.

The road that zigzags up from the fjord’s southern shore was completed in 1889, and opened the way eastward towards Skjåk. At that time, the first cruise ships had already steamed into the Geirangerfjord, with passengers enjoying several excursion opportunities, starting with a breath-taking journey from the verdant valley floor to the snow-covered mountains. Even today, the road is only open in the summer.

Geiranger’s epicentre T ext: M a r i t S i g ur d s o n P hoto : T i n a Sta fr é n

We’re standing at Ørnesvingen, Johan, Tina and I, along with all the others who have stepped out of their cars and ventured out onto the viewing platform. Tourists poised in accidental fellowship here at the edge, in the dizzying void between fjord and sky. Our gazes are drawn far below, to a cruise ship gliding over a smooth mirror.

Geiranger may be a small dot on the map, and from our location at Ørnesvingen the town could be no more than an isolated huddle, sandwiched between mountains, at the innermost reaches of one of Storfjorden’s many arms. But the enormous cruise ship belies that illusion. Geiranger is an international meeting place in the fjord region, whose world-renowned scenery is a magnet for visitors from every corner of the globe. And that’s how it’s been for a long time.

Nearly 500,000 tourists come to Geiranger

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A couple of years after the completion of the Geiranger road, the Hotel Union opened. Since then, the hotel, perched on the hillside above the village, has been the epicentre for tourism, and Geiranger wouldn’t be what it is today without it. Not least because it is by far the community’s largest employer.

For slightly more than a hundred years, the Mjelva family has owned the hotel, and today it is Sindre, the fourth generation, and his wife Monja who run the business. We step into the lobby, where one of the hotel’s polished vintage vehicles embodies the service afforded to the travellers of yesteryear: Geiranger’s coach company. But at the same time, the hotel is in sync with today’s ideas about tourism, and Sindre and Monja personify professional and welcoming hospitality.

“Both my wife and I knew that if we were going to run this place, we were going to do it right,” explains Sindre, when he comes by for a chat over dinner. “The volume of tourists may be high around here, but we want to give each guest

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“This is intended to be an oasis of peace and quiet. In our stressful everyday lives, we need to rediscover ourselves and come back down to earth.”

– Monja Mjelva, Hotel Union

an individual experience, and that doesn’t happen by itself.”

One objective is to be a modern hotel, but at the same time connect on different levels to the history and the traditions of the local area. The vintage vehicles are one example of this, Sindre points out. The menus are another.

“But we don’t use old recipes slavishly. We always give them a little twist.”

The trump card We’re sitting in the large restaurant, with a view over the village and the fjord. There is seating for 400 guests and a buffet containing a sought-after selection of home-made cured meats, preserves, fish dishes and delicacies – made from locally grown and caught ingredients.

Seafood from Norway’s icy waters is a big hit with many tourist groups, Sindre informs us. And one suspects that Union’s kitchen has no little part to play in the matter. Many of the region’s chefs have learned their trade here, through the county’s largest apprenticeship scheme. With a kitchen staff of more than 20 employed in the summer, they succeed in maintaining a variety at the buffet that you don’t see in many other places.

And the quality of the fish is explained by short transport times from catch to table.

Fish and shellfish presentation is the Union chefs’ trump card, especially the smoked and brine-cured salmon, according to head chef Lars Helge Hanssen. We meet him out in the garden by the small smokehouse – with the emphasis on small. A tiny cabin built of grizzled wood and holding between 40-50 kilos of fish. Which

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doesn’t entirely cover the demand during high season, Lars Helge admits and gives us an insight into the process.

“First, our salmon is dry-salted for 16 hours, and we use plenty of salt. Then we rinse off the salt before we put it in a dryer for 2-3 days. Then we smoke it three times, and put it in the dryer for a further day. It’s taken a lot of trial and error, but now we’ve got the recipe just right.”

“Tomorrow you can try the Fjord Buffet,” he says with a knowing smile. “We always emphasise the local food, but we’re really proud of the buffet”.

The Fjord Buffet, which is served every Sunday in the summertime, is another flirtation with the past, inspired by the food that was served on cruise ships when they called into Geiranger a hundred years ago. The steamships came from Ålesund, stopping along the route at the coastal communities and purchasing food from the farms. And when they arrived at Geiranger, a lunch buffet of the local food was laid out.

“We managed to get in touch with someone who worked on one of the last steamers to come here,” explains Sindre, when we meet up with him a little later. “Almost like on the Orient Express, the passengers were divided between first and second class. And of course, the first-class passengers had the best food, served in large silver soup tureens and all that. So we found out what they had eaten, and put together a buffet based on that.”

Feng shui Besides the food and a good night’s sleep, we’re here for a little sensuous relaxation. Unusually,

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the hotel’s spa is located above ground. The evening light washes in through the huge windows, while the fragrance of meadow flowers picked nearby delights the senses.

“This is intended to be an oasis of peace and quiet. In our stressful everyday lives, we need to rediscover ourselves and come back down to earth,” Monja Mjelva says as she gives us a tour of the facility, before we go and change.

The spa has been constructed according to the principle of feng shui, and Monja explains how materials and forms were chosen in order to create positive energies.

“We had the idea that a person should be able to stay here from morning to evening, and be served good meals, without having to think about the clock. So you can sleep late and then come in here and get a healthy breakfast that provides extra energy for the body. And for lunch we have a salad buffet with small dishes of local appetisers and smoothies.”

on the mountains, and we’re grateful for our situation as we lie submerged in the outdoor hot tub.

More and more people have discovered the beauty of the fjord landscape in winter, Sindre informed us at dinner. Particularly Asian tourists who come to Norway to experience the exotic solitude here, I remember, and slide a little deeper under the surface of the water.

“For those of us who live here permanently, winter is a quiet and cosy time,” he’d said. “That’s when we have a lot of community celebrations, and in a way the tourists who come here become part of that atmosphere. And then you can experience the robust Norwegian food – supported by good, strong Italian wines. Then comes the fish in January, with the unbelievably good quality.”

I try to make out the Ørnevegen road where we drove earlier today, the lifeline to Geiranger and the experiences here. Tonight it’s not difficult to imagine this village garbed in winter: scenically beautiful, tranquil and – in any event, from here at Hotel Union – luxurious.

Winter dream Clouds heavy with snow scud across the greyish black starry sky. Winter has not yet loosened its grip

www.hotelunion.no

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Success at the post office

Kenneth Løken was formerly head chef at Hotel Union and has good contacts with the local food producers. A network that is put to good use at Brasserie Posten.

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Since the spring of 2012 Geiranger has acquired a great new eatery: Brasserie Posten. With a perfect feel for the ingredients, head chef Kenneth Løken focuses on a providing simple menu and local beers – and has met with great success.

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rasserie Posten’s Facebook page is bursting with wonderful culinary terms: cheesecake, chuck steak, fresh-baked bread, chanterelles, lamb sausage, Pale Ale, root vegetables... Autumn has arrived, and for those of us who visited the restaurant this summer 2012, the words are a siren call to return.

Kenneth Løken opened his brasserie last Easter. When Johan, Tina, Egil and I arrive there for the first time in May, there’s a small passenger ferry leaving impressions on the fjord in front of the sun terrace, and inside the premises the white-painted panels have barely finished drying.

A middle-aged couple from Japan are enjoying their lunch amid the light, Nordic furnishings – otherwise it’s pretty quiet.

“I don’t know what the summer will be like,” observes Kenneth, “so it’s exciting.”

Open to everyone The brasserie is located in what was Geiranger’s post office from 1930 until it moved in 2002.

“And this is my father-in-law when he was a boy.

He worked in the postal service,” Kenneth says and points out a plucky lad in a vast black and white image that adorns the entire wall leading in to the kitchen.

The most recent post office, which we’re standing in now, is from the 1990s, and Kenneth has spent many hours renovating the small white building – but with no ambitions of creating a gourmet restaurant. Brasserie Posten feels more like a modern café where you can simply go in and sit down for a chat or to read the newspaper.

The history of the premises certainly contributes to the feeling: anyone can walk through the door that bears the postal service’s horn emblem. It

doesn’t have to be a special occasion. That’s just how Kenneth wants it.

“People don’t have to come here to eat. I think it’s fine when someone comes in just to drink a glass of water and relax.”

But those who have tried the food once, find it hard to resist ordering something more. We’re served a light and creamy fish soup, with mussels and salmon, shrimp and fresh vegetables. Beautiful beads of wild garlic oil dot the surface.

“We make the base from one part fish and one part mussels. And then we use apple juice from Jordbærstova in Valldal and beer from Liabygda, instead of white wine,” explains Kenneth.

A refined concept Geiranger has experienced a boom in young enterprises moving in over the past few years. Kenneth believes that refining the concept is a prerequisite for survival. For his part, he is focusing on well-prepared dishes made from locally-produced ingredients.

“We have a simple menu, so that I have time to make everything from scratch – with ingredients that I like to work with. I’ll never let it get to the point where I buy semi-finished or frozen ingredients because I don’t have enough time. In that case I’d rather cut the menu down.”

Kenneth has worked as a chef for more than half his thirty-four years. For several of them he worked as head chef in the apprentice kitchen at Hotel Union, the large hotel of ancient lineage on the hillside above.

“I have a good relationship with the local producers and it’s incredibly valuable to me now.”

Kenneth goes out in the kitchen and comes back after a while with a wonderfully creamy pudding of clabbered milk from Røros Dairy and fresh

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Brasserie Posten maintains an assortment of 30 local and internationally known beers from Norwegian microbreweries.

berries. Peppermint from the mountainsides around the fjord adorns the pudding. We enjoy the dessert using small spoons with great pleasure.

“Peppermint grows wild here, and oregano as well. We use it for our home-made pizza, among other things. We have been thinking of letting hikers swap a little oregano collected along the way for a cup of coffee and a cake,” explains Kenneth.

Thirty flavours of beer We learn that the term brasserie originally comes from 18th century Belgium.

“In those days you made simple food in the cellar of the house where you lived, and washed it down with your own home-brewed beer. That’s how I want to imagine this place,” he says and glances out into the room. “Though we don’t have our own beer from the cellar yet.”

But Kenneth compensates for that by keeping 30 different kinds of locally brewed beer in the chiller cabinet. And the bottled beers are big sellers at the brasserie. Kenneth is actually a little concerned that he’s bought too much draught beer.

“But at the same time, it’s nice that people want quality. And you get a little slice of history when you buy a bottled beer.”

The first bottles that were put in the chiller cabinet come from the breweries closest to Geiranger, Kenneth explains, and shows us five types of unpasteurised and unfiltered beer from Kinn

Bryggeri in Florø.

“Kinn’s ‘Slåtteøl’ (‘Haymaker Beer’) is one of the best-selling brews, as is ‘Vestkyst’ (‘West Coast’), an India Pale Ale. But then we have beer from Ægir Bryggeri in Flåm, which is a more American-style beer. And ‘Slogen Pale Ale’ from Trollbryggeriet in Liabygden in Sunnmøre. That’s also a good beer, especially when drunk with food. We try to vary our assortment from the breweries, because we don’t have room for everything.”

Pioneering Norwegian microbreweries also have a place in the refrigerator, Nøgne Ø in Grimstad and HaandBryggeriet in Drammen.

Light beers and dark ones. Lagers and ales.

“Just listen to this, it’s a wonderful description,” Kenneth says and takes out Nøgne Ø’s “Gräsklipparöl” (“Lawnmower Beer”) in order to read the label: “...’this is the best you can wish for after mowing the grass on a hot summer day.

Thirst-quenching, fresh and fruity.’ Now that gets you longing for one!”

There’s also fruit juices in the cooler from Balholm in Sognefjord and Jordbærstova in Valldal,

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“I have a good relationship with the local producers in the area and it’s incredibly valuable to me now.”

– Kenneth Løken, Brasserie Posten

among others.

“Have you tried this one?” asks Kenneth, picking up the apple juice from Jordbærstova. “It’s absolutely fantastic! When you drink it, it’s like biting into a fresh apple. You just know the fruit has been ripening right up to this moment.”

Secret until this spring The next time that Johan, Tina and I visit Kenneth, Geiranger has entered a completely different phase: it’s August and peak season. Three enormous cruise ships lie at anchor in the fjord, and outside the brasserie, tourists bustle past each other in the summer heat. We’re lucky and find an empty table under the awning outside. After our previous visit, our expectations of the food are high. Tina and I are tempted by the pizza menu, but settle for the shrimp salad in the end.

We’re not in any way disappointed. It’s a flavourful composition of marinated shrimp on fresh herbs and lettuce, with thick sour cream to balance the saltiness. Johan soon forgets time and space when he tucks into his “Post burger”, for which the beef is ground at Ole Ringdal’s place in Hellesylt. The best hamburger that he’s eaten. An assertion that means of course that we too must have a taste.

Kenneth comes by our table to say hello. We ask for a quick summary of the Brasserie’s first summer. It’s gone better than expected. The majority of diners are tourists passing through and people from the local area. And he’s selling an incredible amount of bottled beer, he says, and appears to have stopped worrying about the draught beer.

“But be sure to come back in the spring,” adds Kenneth mysteriously. “That’s when we’ll announce some news, you see.”

Kenneth leaves us at the table intrigued. We travel home to Sweden to await the spring, and search with curiosity for clues among Brasserie Posten’s temptations on Facebook.

Brasserie Posten’s Fish Soup (4 p) 1 dl = 100 ml = 6 tablespoons 1 kg mussels 1 onion 1 carrot 1 fennel bulb 3 dl Slogen Pale Ale 2 dl milk 2 dl whipping cream 1 dl sour cream (Rørosrømme) 100 g salmon (Salma brand fresh salmon) Finely-chopped spring onions Fresh, finely-ground herbs

Wash and scrape the blue mussels carefully. Rinse and finely chop the vegetables and sauté them in butter. Add the mussels and Slogen Pale Ale (or beer of your choice). Cover the pan and simmer until the mussels open, approximately 3–4 minutes. Lift out the mussels and remove the meat, discarding any that have not opened. Strain the liquid, and add the cream and milk. Bring to the boil and simmer until the desired taste is achieved. Add the sour cream and blitz the soup in a blender, or using a hand-blender. Reheat to boiling point, then add fresh-ground pepper to taste. Put the mussels and thin slices of raw salmon in a soup plate with the fresh herbs and spring onions, and pour over the piping-hot soup. Serve with hunks of fresh bread and butter.

www.brasserieposten.no

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Chocolate with a view For those of us who love everything that involves chocolate, making a stop at Norway’s most picturesque chocolate factory is a must. A stone’s throw from the shore of the Geiranger Fjord, Swede Bengt Dahlberg refines southern sweetness into morsels with local flavours. Do we even need to say that chocolate is considered very wholesome?

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Bengt Dahlberg’s chocolate factory is located in the basement of an old waterfront warehouse, on the small pedestrian street in Geiranger. From street level we enter the café and meet Bengt behind the counter. People queue up to buy chocolate ice cream cones, and this is where Norway’s best ice cream, from Kulinaris in Kolbotn, is also sold, alongside waffles with chocolate and blueberries, piping hot cocoa and tea cakes.

When it’s our turn, Bengt asks our opinion of his new recipe for cloudberry truffles. “Amazing,” we say and take another sample.

“I’ve been a chocoholic ever since I was a child,” admits Bengt, “so it was actually quite natural for me to start working with chocolate.”

Experimental Some of Bengt’s truffle flavours we’ve never heard of before: brown goat cheese, raw marzipan and Gammel Opland aquavit, single malt from Islay, olive oil ...

“My mother was a home economics teacher and approved of experimenting in the kitchen.

I must have inherited that,” Bengt says. “But I don’t experiment with the raw chocolate itself.

I came across it after many taste tests. I haven’t found any better so far, but it’s a pleasant job to continue searching.”

Having originally pursued a career in healthcare, Bengt learned the art of chocolate-making in Stockholm. But he doesn’t consider starting a chocolate factory to be that big of a leap. “Work-

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ing with the world’s most wholesome raw ingredient feels like a natural extension,” he says.

Natural pleasure The landscape surrounding the chocolate factory is probably one of the world’s most beautiful. The fjord lies as smooth as a mirror outside, and from the shore you can peek through large windows into the production room. In the evenings and at night, the windows are illuminated whenever Bengt devotes himself to his craft. Squares of truffles with wonderfully lustrous chocolate are drawn along a conveyor belt to be decorated and chilled to 16 degrees C before they’re packed in cones.

“Now and then someone peeks in through the window. It’s nice. I get a kick out of showing how the chocolate is produced – that I make it entirely from scratch, that it’s as natural as it can be.

“You’re not afraid of causing cavities in people’s teeth?”

“No, if you’re going to eat sweets then it has to be chocolate.”

“Do you get tired of chocolate?”

“No, it’s fabulous!”

We agree and buy pralines for the journey onward from the fjord and up into the mountains.

Perhaps we’ll succeed in rationing it so there is enough left for the trip, in any case until tomorrow. www.geirangersjokolade.no

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Delicious diversity in Stranda Matbuda lies a stone’s throw from the ferry quay in Stranda. Vebjørn Skog opened his delicatessen here in September last year, to meet a steadily growing demand for high-quality, local craft foods.

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successful business concept is often based on insight into the market.

As the former cultural affairs director of Stranda Municipality, Vebjørn Skog realised the region’s food production had great potential for development.

“We’re a large food municipality, but there was nowhere to buy what was being produced, other than directly from the individual producers. So the idea started to take shape.”

Having organised the food for some large local events in 2010, along with his wife and son, he was encouraged to let the idea develop in several directions.

“The shop is the catalyst for the entire business, but we realised right from the outset that we would have to have a number of legs to stand on.”

Steep learning curve When we visit Vebjørn, slightly more than six months after the September 2011 opening, Matbuda has established itself as a strong force in the community, which benefits both the food producers and the tourism industry.

Half the shop is furnished to accommodate private parties, who can relax in a pleasant setting and enjoy unique food. The catering and commercial business is finding its form.

“When we started, the learning curve was like this,” Vebjørn says and slants his hand upward. “And then came Christmas, and it went like this,” he laughs, pointing straight up at the ceiling. “We had put together a package with hand-crafted foods that we sold as Christmas gifts, and we sold lots of them. Much more than expected.”

But Vebjørn doesn’t have a problem with things happening. On the contrary, he is rarely satisfied with the same old routine.

“But if you’re going to succeed I think it’s important to be humble, to understand that there are others here who are more capable than you. If you take the best from everyone around, everything will be all right.”

Local is good We fill our baskets from the shelves of delicacies: Jegergelé (Hunter’s Jelly) from Romstad Gård, Gode Greier’s wild garlic oil, Kvikne home-baked flatbread, smoked sausage from Øre Vilt, beer from well-reputed microbreweries and so forth.

Initially, Vebjørn sold craft foods from his own municipality and the county of Møre og Romsdal, but now he also markets products from the bordering counties. We wonder what exactly is Møre og Romsdal’s strong suit when it comes to food delicacies.

“There are a lot of good cured meats here (in which salting and air-drying are used) and fish products, for example, salt-cured salmon and smoked salmon. And many are good at fruit cordials and preserves, those are quality products,” states Vebjørn.

“But I find new products all the time, often by recommendation or because my customers ask for them. The importance of local food will just keep growing. What we’re seeing now is just the beginning, I’m entirely certain of that.” www.matbuda.no

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Summer temptations by the sea In what used to be the general store, on Geiranger’s charming pedestrian street, Ragnhild Frøysa runs the CaféOlé coffee bar at street level, while at Restaurang Olebuda one floor up she offers a well-composed menu of summer temptations.

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We turn right past the yellow Ferguson tractor in Geiranger’s small pedestrian street and join strolling cruise ship passengers. The huge vessel lies at anchor out in the fjord. In a stylish white, splitlevel house a little farther up the street, we find CaféOlé, a modern coffee bar with home-made cakes and pastries, and a small gift shop selling products from the village. Outside the entrance we meet the owner of the house, Ragnhild Kristin Ljøen Frøysa.

“This was an old general store,” she says, showing us in through the doors. “So it seemed obvious that we should also have a small shop here,” says Ragnhild with a glint in her eye.

Unexpected family ties The former general store is supposedly the oldest commercial building in Geiranger – and before it came here, it had a previous life in Tafjord.

“When we were getting the café ready here, we saw that the planks were marked with numbers,” she explains. “The whole building was moved here during the 1880s.”

Ragnhild gives us the rest of the building’s his-

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tory – which is also Geiranger’s history, from the time that construction started on the road over the mountains to the south-east and the community and then the cruise ship traffic started to expand.

The building’s history then begins to weave itself together with that of her own family, which comes from another fjord arm. As a general store, the building was a meeting point for those who came from the sea, not least from the many fjord arms in the surrounding area.

“After I bought the building, I discovered that I have several different family ties going back to the man who first started the general store here in 1882. We have the same ancestors, from Hellesylt, which is my home district. It was fun to discover, because now I feel more personally attached to the building, and I’m a little prouder of it,” Ragnhild says.

Delicacies from the district Together we go back out onto the street, round the side and up to the spacious terrace, where some fruit trees provide shade from the blazing

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Home-made cured salmon and dry-cured ham on flavourful pumpernickel.

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hot sunshine, right under the steep slope of Westeråsfjellet. Here we find the entrance to the restaurant: Restaurang Olebuda. Inside we’re met by stylish drawing-rooms with beautiful textiles and glittering chandeliers. A little like a saloon for the wealthy citizens in olden times.

“We restored these chairs,” Ragnhild tells us when we admire the furniture in the inner dining room, “and we changed both the cushions and fabric. “So these are the most expensive chairs we have,” she laughs.

The people who come to Restaurang Olebuda are those who want to indulge themselves, and who treasure a quiet, slightly more adult setting.

Those who dine here can stay for the entire evening, Ragnhild tells us.

Outdoors, the afternoon heat is wonderful, and Ragnhild sets a table for us on the terrace.

We have fresh cod from the fjord on crisplybaked puff pastry, with fennel purée, candied red onions and pomegranate. A healthy summer dish that tastes delicious.

“We prefer to use the local fish from the fjord,” Ragnhild explains. “Cod is a common fish here, and saithe (pollock) which we catch the most.

On the other hand, we don’t serve elk (moose) or pork, for example, because they aren’t associated with this area. So instead we focus on beef, lamb or goat which we find among the farmers here. So it’s traditional ingredients, but usually prepared in a new way.”

Doesn’t have the time to be tired The passenger ferry is about to depart the quay a short distance away, and the loudspeaker is reverberating between the small shops along the pedestrian street. Much has happened from the time

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Ragnhild started working at Naustkroa here until 1991. At that time, there was just the one restaurant on the pedestrian street, and fewer tourists.

Today Ragnhild runs Naustkroa, the café and the restaurant – all with different specialisations for visitors interested in food. You might think that there’s a little too much to do, but Ragnhild seems to like the fast tempo.

“When I was single I worked round the clock, there was nothing stopping me then. But now I have to accommodate my family and set limits for work,” smiles Ragnhild, who lives with her husband and her two daughters in a house higher up on the mountainside.

Geiranger has a population of 250, and as a young person Ragnhild couldn’t have imagined living here. It just felt too small and restricted, she tells us. But now she sees things differently.

“We have tourism here and that makes a difference. It means three or four hectic months and then a quieter period. And it’s the same for everyone who lives here. So in the summer we don’t care what the neighbours are doing, we don’t have time for that. Then, in the winter, it’s nice to be able to get together again and have time for being sociable. It also means we don’t get tired of each other,” Ragnhild laughs.

A gull shrieks at the clear blue sky above the grass-covered roofs down towards the fjord. It’s an enjoyable spot out here under the trees.

“And of course, we have a chance to get away over the winter, but we don’t do that,” she concludes. “We’re happy just with being here.” www.olebuda.no

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Rooms with a view Amid some of Norway’s most beautiful scenery lies an architect-designed hotel that has been acclaimed in the Norwegian and international media in the last few years. Just like many others, we embark on a pilgrimage along the Geiranger - Trollstigen Tourist Route to our destination: Gudbrandsjuvet.

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From the old farm in Valldal, we take the path down to the riverbank. Seven self-contained hotel rooms lie nestling in the forest around us, each individually placed among the broadleaf trees. We accompany Knut Slinning, who shows us inside one of them. Vast floor-toceiling windows keeps the damp spring air out and muffle the rush of the stream. We’re surrounded by nature, while tucked up indoors. ”They’re like a windscreen, though admittedly with a little more comfort,” smiles Knut Slinning who conceived the hotel and now runs it.

– Knut Slinning, Juvet Landscape Hotel

The long table

the mountains or you can join a fishing trip on the fjord. We choose instead to enjoy the views from the pool, topped off with a dip in Juvet’s natural bathing area: the stream and the icy water which recently lay as snow under the skis of Knut and his guests.

Dusk is starting to fall as we walk up towards the old timbered farm for dinner. We enter the inviting, warmly lit room that used to house the livestock. Here we’re invited to join the other hotel guests at a long refectory table. ”The inside has to go with the outside. We make the food here from high-quality ingredients, traditional and simple – we are in a cowshed, after all,” Knut says and smiles.

The menu varies according to the season, but for the most part it includes things that you wouldn’t find in a French kitchen: red deer (elk, in North America), reindeer, wild salmon … Tonight we’re offered clipfish, the salted and dried cod that for hundreds of years has been exported from the Norwegian coast to kitchens in Brazil, Portugal and Spain, where under the name bacalao it has always been regarded as a delicacy.

These days, more and more Norwegians are realising what a treasure trove of taste they have at hand, and Knut is one of them.

When everyone is seated at the table, Knut serves the fish dish from a large cast-iron cauldron. The beautifully cooked fish falls to pieces along the grain when I put the fork in and sample the rich tomato-flavoured bacalao stew. Knut sits at the head of the table, which gives us the feeling of being guests at a dinner party in his home. The mood is good and during the dinner the conversation is buoyant and varied. ”There are often lively conversations across the table,” Knut agrees. ”Many of our guests are widely-travelled people, who find they have much in common. You know, it’s largely up to ourselves to create a good atmosphere and have a good time.”

At Juvet, you can sit in a chair and gaze out of the windows for hours on end, you can take off over

www.juvet.com

The hotel is the destination Countless blogs and articles have encouraged us to visit Juvet, designed by the architects Jensen and Skodvin. It’s Europe’s first landscape hotel, and many people come here out of pure curiosity.

It’s nature that gives Juvet its pulling power, and it was also nature that dictated the terms when the hotel was built. All the rooms have been adapted to the terrain: a tree or a rock has meant a change in the layout or an adjusted angle. ”I’ve invested a lot of time and resources to bring this to fruition. But the end result is so special that the hotel has become a destination in itself. People come from all over the world to stay here.”

On a shelf in the riverbank, halfway down to the stream, is the hotel spa. Large panorama windows face out onto the sun terrace, outdoor pool and the cascading river from a relaxation area equipped with showers and a sauna. ”There are three wow factors here at Juvet,” explains Knut. ”The first is when you arrive, walk down towards the riverbank and see the river.

The second is when you come into your room and see the design, the large windows that invite nature to be a part of the decor. It doesn’t matter if the weather changes, it just adds something extra to the room. The third wow is the spa, where you can relax in a sauna or steam bath. Or just sit in the hot water outside and listen to the rushing of the river.”

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“I’ve invested a lot of time and resources to bring this to fruition. But the end result is so special that the hotel has become a destination in itself. People come from all over the world to stay here.”

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SOGNEFJELLET

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Bacalao by Dybvik Clipfish (dried and salted cod) has long been one of Norway’s highly appreciated export products, not least in Portugal and Brazil, where under the name bacalao it is a staple ingredient in the kitchen. Now this traditional seafood has awakened interest at home, not least thanks to the huge variety of ways it can be prepared. We visit the brothers at Dybvik AS outside Ålesund to see how clipfish is made.

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cross the steel-blue water, a ferry is arriving in Ålesund. We stand on the roof of the white-painted Dybvik AS clipfish factory, enjoying the late summer breeze with the brothers Sindre, Jakob and Jan-Petter. They make up the third generation to carry on the family firm.

Twice preserved In the process of turning fish into clipfish, two traditional preservation methods are combined: salting and drying. First the fish – often cod – is dried on the racks along the barren Norwegian coast. It is from this process that the Norwegian name “klippfisk” (“cliff fish”) derives.

Though clipfish has been made for centuries up and down the Norwegian coast, in many areas of the country it has remained unknown. And when industrial processing arrived, the focus was on the export market. Today the Norwegian clipfish industry exports approximately 100,000 tonnes per year, to upwards of 60 different nations, the largest markets being Brazil, Spain, Italy – and above all others Portugal, where the inhabitants eat on average 7 kilos of clipfish per year!

Nevertheless, over the last 10-15 years, interest in clipfish has increased strongly at home.

“These days our finest products go to the domestic market. It wasn’t that way before,” says Jakob.

Before it can be used, the clipfish must be soaked in water to obtain the right level of saltiness. Only then can it be grilled, fried, boiled, or used as the base for hundreds of different recipes.

The dishes are collectively called bacalao, which is also the Spanish word for “cod”.

“In Portugal bacalao is a separate product category, just like meat,” explains Jakob, who often visits his customers in southern Europe. “So there aren’t really any limits to the number of different dishes that can be made.”

The Spanish “Bacalao a la Vizcaina”, with clipfish, potatoes, onions and tomatoes, has previously been synonymous with bacalao in Norway, but now the fish is being served in an increasing number of variations in restaurants and at home in the Nordic kitchen.

The salt is critical Dressed in overalls, sterile caps and shoe covers, we are shown round by Sindre and Jakob. It’s also how they prefer to explain about the clipfish: not until you understand the preparation process can you fully appreciate a good bacalao.

At Dybvik clipfish is made exclusively from cod, which is considered to be the finest type of fish for the purpose. The fish is cut into pieces and de-boned mechanically, after which most of the work is done by hand. We pass a man who is sprinkling large quantities of salt over fish in an enormous plastic vat. The fish will lie in brine for two weeks until it is completely saturated, before being cut into smaller pieces. Approximately 0.5

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“To make a good clipfish, you have to put time into the process. Salt it properly and dry and store it in the right way. It sounds simple, but it is difficult.”

– Sindre Dybvik

Dybvik’s Gran Reserva is salted and dried cod from the Norwegian Sea - Cod Gadus Morhua

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kilo of salt per fish is needed, explains Jakob. And the salt is a critical factor.

“There’s a difference between various types of salt, and which bacteria the salt carries with it.

We use only the purest salt, a rock salt that is extracted in Germany from the large salt vein that runs through Europe.”

laughs Sindre.

Here at the factory, about 15 different products are made from clipfish. A small share of the finished clipfish is soaked and sold as a ready-to-cook frozen product. The brothers also engage in product development, with a test kitchen, and sell ready-to-eat dishes of bacalao.

Norway’s Gran Reserva

Seasonal recipes

The factory here in Dybvik started in 1923. Since then, the clipfish industry in Norway, like the rest of the food industry, has placed increasing emphasis on efficient production. But at Dybvik AS, a deliberate step back has been taken, away from the volume segment, in order to preserve the old methods and the qualities that result from the process.

“For us, it’s not how many kilos we produce a day that’s important. It’s a craft, and what we do is exclusive. So it’s actually better the less we produce,” Sindre explains.

An example of the quality aspect is that the cod is divided into different portions, which is a great advantage for the consumer, who can choose a cut based on what he or she wants to prepare.

Our tour continues to the drying room where the pieces of fish lie in a dryer for two to six days, depending on their size. The salted and dried fish then keeps for a long time, thanks to its low fat content. And the way it is stored at the factory, at the right temperature and humidity, is also the last but critical step for the final product’s quality. Exactly like a good cheese, the fish develops its taste during storage – assuming that the raw product is handled properly right from the beginning.

“To make a good clipfish, you have to put time into the process. Salt it properly and dry and store it in the right way. It sounds simple, but it is difficult,” Sindre says.

Inside the warehouse, we find a pallet with Dybvik’s premium product, “Gran Reserva”. The name is a play on the Spanish designation for quality wine, and refers to the finest part of the cod: the loin. It is stored for two years, and during that time it acquires a more yellow tone and a somewhat sharper taste. But there is, of course, a turning point when a longer storage time doesn’t result in a more palatable product.

“I’ve eaten clipfish that had been stored for 10 years. But it was a little strong in the taste,”

We come away with some packs of Gran Reserva and Loins Extra, which consists of cod fillet.

We are keen to introduce this Norwegian delicacy to family and friends back home in Sweden. Jakob explains the importance of soaking the fish for long enough to get the right salt content before preparing. The special soaking table is a good guide here, he says.

“But the safest thing is always to taste the fish. Try a piece in the middle, which is the last to be leached. If there’s a mild, good taste of salt, then it’s ready.”

The brothers Dybvik have been able to try many dishes while growing up with clipfish, but they will always appreciate a good bacalao.

The possibilities for variation have also increased over the years, as new ingredients have come onto Norway’s supermarket shelves.

“When we were children, we mostly ate clipfish with potatoes and onion butter, or with a white sauce, bacon and carrots,” explains Jakob. “It was the traditional way to prepare it.

But on really special occasions we would have the Spanish variety, with tomato sauce, if you could get hold of olive oil.”

Favourite recipes vary according to the season, but Jakob tips us that it’s very good to grill. “And the cod itself is lean, so it also goes together very well with bacon or high-fat charcuteries.”

In the small kitchen beside the office suite, we sample clipfish Carpaccio of Gran Reserva.

Served on toast with wild garlic oil. The meat from the sea comes across as salty and tender against the palate, perfect against the crispy toast and the smooth oil. At Dybvik AS, clipfish is seen as Norway’s equivalent to Italy’s prosciutto or Spain’s jamón serrano.

We agree. This is rich in flavour, rich in tradition and exclusive. www.dybvik.no

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Red, sweet and summery

We pass the field of red berries and search out Åse at Jordbærstova. There we are served what is perhaps Norway’s best strawberry gateau.

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The Valldal valley stretches from Storfjorden in Sunnmøre to the Trollstigen road, a flat landscape with a climate made for strawberry cultivation. Now in summertime, red fields lie around us in all directions. It’s here, of course, that we come upon Jordbærstova.

The taste of summer “Senga Sengana, Honeoye, Corona … There are many kinds of strawberries,” explains Åse Erstad when we arrive. “My favourite is Polka. It has a deep red colour and I use it in the sauce for my strawberry gateau.”

Strawberries and strawberry gateaux are for many of us the very essence of summer, which Åse knows only too well.

“This cake seems to have quite a reputation,” she says while yet another of the steady stream of gateau slices disappear through the kitchen door. “We bake every day, but it still isn’t usually enough.”

We sit down at a table, and with lustful concentration each devour a generous portion of luscious cake; every spoonful a mixture of creamy and light, fresh and sweet.

Wandering in the land of strawberries Here visitors can gorge themselves on summer flavours, and at the same time acquire a little strawberry knowledge, Åse tells us.

“Here in Valldal we cultivate many types of strawberries, with various flavours and uses. Those who wish can take a tasting tour out in the fields where we explain the history of our berries.”

A strawberry is obviously not just a strawberry, we realize, satisfied after the summer’s best gateau feast. www.jordbarstova.no

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12 slices of delicious cake, with each spoonful tasting of summer.

During the peak season, Åse Erstad can serve up to 150 portions per day at Jordbærstova.

Gateau from Jordbærstova (12 pieces) 6 eggs 180 g sugar 120 g wheat flour 30 g potato flour 1 tsp baking powder 9 dl* whipping cream (6 dl in the cake layers and 3 dl on top) 0.5 litre strawberries for decoration

Strawberry filling: 1 litre strawberries 100 g sugar *) 1 dl = 100 ml = 6 tablespoons

Beat eggs and sugar for at least 10 minutes. Mix wheat flour, potato flour and baking powder and fold it carefully into the batter so that it doesn’t collapse. Pour the batter into a spring form pan (28 cm diameter) and bake at 160 degrees C for 45 minutes. Turn the cake over and let it cool completely before you cut it horizontally into three parts.

To make the strawberry filling slice the berries, pour the sugar over and stir together. Mix with 6 dl whipped cream.

Divide the filling between two cake layers and stack them together. Top with the final layer of cake.

Cover the cake with the rest of the whipped cream. Mix 4–5 strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar into a sauce and drizzle down the sides of the gateau.

Place strawberry halves on the top for decoration.

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Among raspberries and goats On the east side of the river in Norddal lies Melchiorgarden farm. Petter Melchior operates a goat farm there, combined with raspberry cultivation. We get together with him in the midst of the berry harvest, and then accompany him to the summer pasture to feed goat kids that are fond of good food.

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he Scottish Glenn Ampel raspberries nod heavily on the tall bushes in Norddal. We go in along the rows and sample some red, firm berries.

“Last year it was hot and humid, which gave us a few problems. But now it’s looking better,” says Petter Melchior. “Now we’re picking about 350400 kilos each day.”

During a good summer nine tonnes of raspberries are harvested here. They’re picked and put in boxes, then carried directly into a refrigerator or freezer, from where they’re later sold or used in the farm’s industrial kitchen.

“We make cordial (juice, in North America), preserves and jelly from the raspberries, and we also supply others. For example, our berries are used in chocolates made by Bengt at Geiranger Sjokolade,” Petter tells us.

The raw materials from the goats are also processed here at Melchiorgarden.

“We produce dried and salted kid shoulder, barbecue cuts, sausages, etc. We also make caramels from goat’s milk,” Petter says and brings out a jar of brown, sweet pieces of candy for tasting.

Melchiorgarden’s products are on sale in the farm store, which is also a café, housed in the former goat barn. We also find products here from other producers in the area.

“We’re part of a marketing organisation for producers in Norddal called Happy End. The village numbers 130 residents and we have an amazing 15 business enterprises here.”

Stay at the farm Melchiorgarden is one of the last two goat farms that is still operating in Norddal, and also provides accommodation in one of the farm buildings, alongside a blooming orchard. Living on a goat farm is no longer a common experience, and in addition to the café, Petrines Gjestgiveri is close at hand for eating well during your stay.

From the farmyard we look across to the large

white house on the other side of the river. The tender goat kid that is served there comes from Melchiorgarden.

“Petrine’s goat kid is certainly the shortest-travelled food you can eat,” smiles Petter, “because I can deliver at a minute’s notice. It’s not unheard of for me to ride over there with some product on my bicycle.”

Eager kids Kid and raspberries are important parts of the business here at Melchiorgarden, but the greatest income comes from the production of goat’s milk. We enter the bright, fresh barn which has just been renovated to house 200 milking goats in the wintertime. The milk is processed at Tine dairies into the popular goat’s cheese Snøfrisk, Petter tells us.

But today not many kids can be heard on the farm. In the summertime the goats and kids are found on pasture up at the Herdalsetra summer farm.

“Some of the kids are grazing just three kilometres from here. I’m headed there to feed them soon. You can come along if you want.”

Snuggling up with the goat kids is hard to resist, and we follow with curiosity in our car up along the small gravel road, parking along a fastflowing stream, with the grazing pastures on the other side. As we cross the bridge, the kids are already shoving each other by the gate, bleating with mounting intensity, so Petter pushes his way through them before the pressure eases and we can follow. Jogging along with the feed pans, Petter quickly doles out the food to avoid being squeezed to a standstill in the onrush of young animals. A really comical mealtime experience, goatwise. www.melchiorgarden.no

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A jewel at the mercy of the elements The farm clings almost defiantly to the mountainside, three hundred metres above the fjord. Here at Westerås Farm, you can relax your shoulders, just live in the moment and experience all that is good in Geiranger.

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Avalanches have swept away all or part of the farm several times over the years, nonetheless the people of Westerås haven’t thought to abandon this mountainside idyll. There’s something charming and genuine that greets you when you climb the narrow road. The log house that stands here today was built after the avalanche in 1907.

Since then, they’ve been left in peace from the ravages of winter.

“Since the slide a hundred years ago, the farm has been closed in the winter,” says Arnfinn West-

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erås, who runs the place today. “But in the summer, this is where we have to be.”

Entrance to the World Heritage Area The farm is still in operation during the summer months – sheep, goats and some llamas graze here.

But the animals have to put up with sharing the farm with guests. You can spend the night at Iris and Arnfinn’s place, and the farm is a wonderful starting point for trips, including to Tafjordfjellene and the Reinheimen National Park. A short distance from the farm is Storseterfossen waterfall, which has an opening behind large enough for visitors to enter. The way there is safe, and from that vantage point you can see Ørnevegen zigzagging down to the fjord, and look down on life in the village.

The taste of Geiranger When your legs are tired, your eyes full, but your stomach empty, you find your way to the barn at Westerås. Livestock stalls have been exchanged for tables. The food on the plate is just as Norwegian as the view, and for the most part obtained from within a radius of twenty kilometres. Some of the ingredients also come from the farm itself, such as meat from their cashmere goats or mountain trout from their own fish pond. The menu changes according to the season’s bounty.

“We use the ingredients that are to hand,” explains Iris. “Today I have rhubarb available, among other things, so I’ve made rhubarb soup.”

On charity In Geiranger there is a tradition of taking good care of those who come to visit, and many people make the trip up to Iris and Arnfinn’s place in the course of the summer to enjoy the good life in the midst of the World Heritage Area. It might be more important than usual to live in the moment when you’re at Westerås Farm, for no one knows whether it will all still be standing after the coming winter.

“We have this only by the grace of the elements,” says Arnfinn. “When there’s bad weather in the winter, I feel the anxiety bite. Will the farm make it through until next year this time, too?

That makes it quite special.” www.geiranger.no/westeras/

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RONDANE We drive along the wide foot of yet another mountain, brooding in the evening light. Soon the colours are extinguished by a starry sky, but by then we’ve arrived at our destination for the night and are met by a warm handshake. The trip through the majestic Rondane Mountains is our first culinary journey – and the start of a love affair with down-to-earth farm life that reposes just as securely under the sky as the mountains themselves.

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ŠFoto: Helge Stikbakke / Statens vegvesen

Rondane

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L i ebe & Lebe n Curious about some remarkable roof decorations, we check in at Rondane Gjestegård in beautiful Sollia. It turns out to be a fantastic farm experience, with our hosts, Christoph and Cecilie, finding their way straight into our hearts.

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he sun reflects sharply off the lichen-covered mountainside in Rondane. In the Sollia valley below lies Rondane Gjestegård, with its large, red-painted farmhouse and brown, grassroofed log cabins – one of which is embellished with a bright pink bedstead! We discover similarly colourful bedsteads in the nearby meadows. ”A very warm welcome to you,” says Christoph with a German accent and a broad smile when he greets us on the farmhouse steps.

We’re shown inside, and immediately begin to relax after the drive. The cosy reception area is furnished in traditional, warm, earthy colours, with the emphasis on ochre and English red.

Christoph’s wife, Cecilie, emerges from behind the massive reception desk and takes us in hand.

She is Norwegian but lived for 30 years in Germany, which is where she also met Christoph.

Dream for sale Six years ago the couple moved to Southern Norway, but after a few years they started to look for something different. They had almost given up on finding a place like this, when they drove past Rondane on a car trip. ”It was sheer luck that we stopped here,”

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Christoph tells us. ”We were out driving in our camper van and just stopped to get ourselves a cup of coffee.” ”Yes,” chimes in Cecilie. ”We met a man who was working out on the farm, and I said to him: ‘You’re so lucky to be able to work in a place like this. It certainly must be a dream!’”

The man answered that truth be told, the dream could be theirs: the farm was for sale.

They stayed a week, met the owner, and ”took in the fragrance of the valley,” as Christoph puts it. The deal was settled by the end of the week, and some months later, at the beginning of 2009, they moved in.

Rondane Gjestegård has been providing overnight accommodation for over a hundred years.

But long tradition is not enough to keep the business going, and from the very outset the couple have worked hard to put the farm in order, attract guests to stay, and keep them coming back. ”We run the place with our souls. The two of us do a lot ’by gut instinct’,” explains Christoph.

”Enjoyable food” We’re shown around the cosy sitting room, the very heart of the house, with thick plank walls,

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“It was sheer luck that we stopped here,” Christoph tells us. “We were out driving in our camper and just stopped to get ourselves a cup of coffee.” ­—Christoph Bjercke Habert, Rondane Gjestegård

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“We wanted to do something that was a little provocative. And we managed to do that, for now people understand that you can sleep here!” ­—Christoph Bjercke Habert, Rondane Gjestegård

home-crafted textiles and a crackling fire in the grate. We sit around the big wooden table and note that the surroundings are gloriously free of TV and radio noise. Instead, a welcome stillness forms the backdrop to our dinner conversation.

Driving down from the north, we had bad weather over the Dovrefjell Mountains, which made us arrive much later than planned. But here, thank goodness, the kitchen hours are flexible and it’s still open past twilight. Cecilie has made beef with red wine sauce and potatoes.

Christoph serves local Atna Øl beer.

Coming from densely-populated Germany, the couple are well accustomed to having good access to local produce. ”In Norway, people spend a lot of time outdoors,” declares Cecilie. ”But they don’t really know how to make the best use of nature’s abundance.”

In the kitchen, local ingredients are much appreciated, and the couple are committed to serving fine food and preserving distinctive culinary traditions. ”It’s homey, and the most important thing is to create a good atmosphere. We don’t want haute cuisine here.” ”We want to serve ’enjoyable food’, not fashionable food,” Christoph says with conviction.

“Both of us like home-cooked food, and Cecilie makes everything from scratch. We buy wild game locally, get lingon berries from an elderly couple in the area, and buy trout and Arctic char that are fished here in lake Atnasjøen.”

Cecilie’s elk Carpaccio with a home-made

blend of herbs, grated Parmesan, capers, lingon berries, balsamic vinegar, pine nuts and olive oil is something of a speciality at the farm. However, the most popular dish for passing travellers is rømmegraut (traditional Norwegian sour cream porridge), served with sugar and cinnamon, and accompanied by flat bread and cured meats from Annis Pølsemakeri in Ringebu.

The walls of the dining room are hung with artworks, and the couple stages a new exhibition by local artists every year. ”We see that many families that come here don’t have much to say to each other, so the art becomes something to talk about,” says Christoph. ”Next year we’re hoping that we can get in touch with someone who makes sculptures, so that we can have an exhibition outdoors as well.”

Cecilie and Christoph like to lure people out into the countryside, and during the summer months they offer activities such as ”Wild Game Safari” and ”Safari in Beaver Country”. ”Others come here to go fly fishing for trout, a sport that isn’t exactly easy in the crystal-clear water,” Christoph tells us. ”The ones who camouflage themselves in natural colours are most successful; those wearing colourful clothes never get a bite.”

And while we’re on the subject, what is it with the colourful beds? ”Well, at the start people didn’t dare drive in here,” explains Christoph, ” because they thought this was private property. We wanted to do something that was a little provocative. And we managed to do that, for now people understand that you can sleep here! www.rondanegjestegaard.no

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Home-made, rustic food from local ingredients is spelled “enjoyable food” at Rondane Gjestegård.

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Another world At the Kvebergsøya farm in Folldal, the horses and sheep are at the centre of things. Eris Davids and Martin Kjønsberg offer the chance to experience farm life as it was before, with rustic food and charming lodgings. Welcome to a living museum, where most of the exhibits are still in use.

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on’t be fooled by the name: Kvebergsøya is not on an island, ”øya” means a ”large grass plain” and describes the wide valley floor surrounded by stunted pine forest and mountains. The pasture is currently being grazed by a group of horses and a flock of some 70 sheep.

The farm was a ”sæter” or summer dairy farm, and was first mentioned in 1667. When Eris Davids and Martin Kjønsberg bought the place and began to restore it in 1999, the buildings were completely dilapidated. When we arrive here on a shimmering evening, the polished, brown log buildings with white-painted window frames and corners have been completely rejuvenated. The sun sweeps over the grass-clad roof before continuing on its journey to the mountains on the other side of the valley. ”Eris did the biggest job when she cleaned over 400 window panes,” Martin says while he leads us through the entrance hall.

We step into the cosy, firelit room where meals are served, and can only gaze in wide-eyed won-

der as the tour continues to the best parlour and up to the first floor. It’s like travelling back in time. ”I’ve tried to keep to the colours that were here originally,” Eris tells us when we praise the restoration work. The colours, which have been mixed by hand, are partly sooty and partly sun-bleached.

Nostalgia for farming romantics Martin grew up with livestock and husbandry on another farm in the area. He remembers his childhood with fondness, something he is reliving in many ways now. ”And so I am, of course, a national romantic and farming romantic by inclination,” says Martin with a warm smile.

There’s a lot to learn at Kvebergsøya. Eris and Martin welcome both children and adults to life and work on the farm. And if you’re fascinated by old objects, the farm is a paradise. ”We’re a living museum,” says Eris. ”We have antiquities, but they’re articles for daily use, not

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“I’ve tried to describe this place to people who haven’t been here before, but it’s almost impossible.”

– Eris Davids, Kvebergsøya

just to look at.”

Some of the equipment was found on the farm, but Martin has also collected old tools for a long time.

There are five horses on the farm: three Norwegian fjord ponies and two large warmblood mares from Germany, and the latter is no coincidence.

Eris, who comes from Heidelberg in Germany, has ridden since she was eleven years old, and Martin has worked with horses his entire life.

Now Eris rides out with the guests, and Martin holds courses in draft-horse driving, among other things. ”The railway never got here, so the tradition of driving a horse and sleigh lived on right up until the car arrived,” Martin tells us.

Food with history Eris has made a divine spinach soup, which is the appetiser, before we continue with the main course: Pinnekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs that are then slowly steamed), mashed swede (rutabaga) and mutton sausages. Eris gladly talks about the dishes she serves. Most have roots in Norwegian farming culture, and the ingredients come from the neighbouring area. We sit satisfied in the reclining chairs at the fireplace, each with a bowl of fig and plum compote with pearl barley and cream. We’re also offered German Christmas cookies such as cinnamon stars, fruitcakes, ginger

biscuits and vanilla rolls.

December, when Christmas cheer envelops the log buildings amid a blue-toned, frosty landscape, is a favourite season for guests, but Kvebergsøya is open pretty much all year round. ”Haymaking is an interesting time to come here, because you can help out as the grass is cut with a horse-drawn mower,” Eris tells us when we’re out taking care of the horses for the night.

The farm has room for only ten guests, and that feels appropriate. It allows those who come to enjoy the peace and quiet here. ”I’ve tried to describe this place to people who haven’t been here before, but it’s almost impossible. To live here compared to Germany, for example, is like two completely different worlds,” says Eris.

Different values underpin life here, Martin tries to explain when we’re sitting again in front of the fireplace. He and Eris must certainly take finances into account, but other concerns dominate farm life: taking care of the animals, and maintaining buildings and machines. But also carving something beautiful now and then, making a feast or showing a child how a forge works.

We catch our breath at Kvebergsøya, smell curious sheep, look for shooting stars and sleep deeply in the midwinter night. So absolutely another world. And in a way more real. www.kvebergsoeya.com

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Tasty micro trend While the large beer producers are struggling to make headway or find themselves bought up by Danish companies, more and more small microbreweries are gaining ground in the Norwegian market. We visited Atna Ă˜l and met, among others, the youngest certified head brewer in the country.

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fter having been served Atna Øl at many locations around Norway, we wanted to visit the place where this fine beverage is produced. We drive to the small community of Atna, with its 250 inhabitants and single industrial firm, Atna Øl AS, located practically in the centre of the village. How is it that a brewery was started in just this spot?

“It’s a long story, but it started with a group of friends who liked to go fishing together, plus a little something good to drink,” explains Sverre Oskar Øverby, who has been involved from the beginning, and is general manager of the firm. “And making beer is more fun than making nails, for example.

There is indeed a good atmosphere and some pleasant conversations about the product.”

Previously this was a bread factory. The front room is now filled with large tanks, and behind that, inside the brewery itself, the process is well underway. Brewer Oskar Stenbakken is emptying dark malt from a large pail. He’s from Atna, and like Sverre, has been involved from the beginning. He’s also trained at the Scandinavian School of Brewing in Copenhagen, capital of the Nordic region’s foremost beer-producing country, and at 26 is Norway’s youngest head brewer.

“In order to make good beer, good ingredients and rigorous cleaning are necessary,” explains Oskar.

In the same way as for whiskey, it’s the locality that determines the taste of the ingredients. Oskar brings home different malt and hop types from the whole world, and there’s a big difference between the various combinations, so it’s a matter of feeling your way to the taste you want.

“You can be lucky with the first attempt, but there’s a lot that can be adjusted, so it can take anywhere from six weeks to six months.”

Popular skinny dipping At the entrance, many of the brewery’s beer types are on display, elegant labels adorning the bottles. There’s “Rype” (“Grouse”) for warm summer days, which is a German-inspired beer from the Cologne area, and the dark ale “Atna Brun” (“Atna Brown”), a beer which currently on sale at the stateowned Vinmonopolet shops. “Nakenbad” (“Skinny Dipping”) is the only organic bottled beer in Norway. It’s a light lager, and is Atna Øl’s best-selling product. Several of the beer types have been praised by the beer critics, so the future looks bright for the young head brewer and Atna Øl.

The microbrewery currently produces well over 120,000 bottles per year, though the facility has the capacity to brew even more, says Sverre. The local market is the largest, of course, but Atna Øl is sold all over the country.

If you want to enjoy Atna Øl at the place where it’s made, we recommend Glopheim Kafé in Atna, the best-preserved 50s-era café in Norway. Here you can play The Platters on the jukebox, lean back and admire the original painting on the ceiling, old advertising signs and the first black-and-white TV set. Talk about a good atmosphere! www.atnaol.no

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”…Making beer is more fun than making nails, for example. There is indeed a good atmosphere and some pleasant conversations about the product.”

– Sverre Oskar Øverby, Atna Øl

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TRAVELLERS GUIDE TO NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTES 165. SOGNEFJELL 174. GAMLE STRYNEFJELLSVEGEN 176. VALDRESFLYE 187. GEIRANGER - TROLLSTIGEN 198. RONDANE

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE

SOGNEFJELL Skjak

7 VÅGÅVATTNET

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Lom GLITTERTIND

RV55

Skjolden

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Gaupne Hafslo Solvorn 4 5

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1. ANDVORD GARD BAKERIET I LOM FOSSHEIM HOTEL AKTIV I LOM NATUROPPLEVINGAR NORDAL TURISTCENTER FOSSBERG HOTEL NORSK FJELLMUSEUM 2. TURTAGRØ HOTELL 3. NES GARD EIDE BESØKSGARD 4. WALAKER HOTELL 5. BESTEBAKKEN 6. AUKRUST GARD & URTERI 7. SKEID KRO 8. LUSTRABUI

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – SOGNEFJELL

Andvord Gard Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Solsidevegen 73, 2686 LOM +47 982 203 75 www.andvordgard.no All year

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Prestfossen 2686 Lom +47 930 616 26 www.bakerietilom.no All year

We are very proud and pleased to wish guests a warm welcome to the Andvord farm in Lom, a property dating back to Viking times, and used from the 1600s until the Second World War as a courthouse.

Here, we can offer visitors an atmosphere with a distinct aura of history in magnificent surroundings. The buildings from the 1700s are beautifully restored to offer a glimpse of the quality of their time.

The food that is served on the farm is homemade and prepared mostly from ingredients originating in the neighboring area.

Our guests are usually groups, but we are also periodically open for normal hotel operations.

Bakeriet i Lom Lom

The owner and founder of this famous bakery and café, Morten Schakenda, gave up his career as a chef employed by the best restaurants in Oslo to start a stone-oven bakery in rural Lom. His special concept has found its way into the hearts of Norwegians, and nowadays, people come a long way to buy bread and other delicious baked goods here. The concept is anchored just as well as the rock-bound building, which is beautifully situated by a waterfall, and the reputation for first class quality has spread far beyond its own mountain area.

The café serves good meals that both adults and children will enjoy.

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Fossheim Hotell Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Bergomsvegen 32, LOM +47 612 195 00 www.fossheimhotel.no March to January

Visiting Fossheim should be like coming home. In the splendid timber buildings, built in accordance with good building traditions, art and antiques help create a wonderfully relaxing atmosphere, but the true star here is the food. We’re proud to say that our kitchen is one of the best in the country, thanks to head chef Kristoffer Hovland and his staff. Our chefs serve everything from superb buffets to eightcourse meals. You can even learn some tricks on our cookery courses. We’re proud of our traditions and keen to present them authentically, just as the Garmo family has done all the years Fossheim has been a hotel.

Your hosts (now in their third and fourth generation) extend a warm welcome to Fossheim!

Aktiv i Lom Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2687 Bøverdalen +47 612 127 99 www.aktivilom.no All year

Aktiv i Lom offers a wide range of activities for the whole family, along with accommodation in Sami tents. The main attraction is the climbing park located en route to Galdhøpiggen. This facility comprises over 70 obstacles, with the biggest challenge rising 12 metres above the ground. This is an excellent facility for children and young people; all about having fun and testing your limits in safe surroundings. Everyone receives basic safety training before the climbing begins. We also offer a range of guided tours, including summit tours, glacier walks, caving and so on. We’re happy to put together special programmes for groups and organisations.

All the food served on our activities is sourced from local suppliers.

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NaturOpplevingar Norsk Fjellmuseum, Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Brubakken 2, 2686 Lom +47 61 21 11 55 www.naturopplevingar.no All year

Since Naturopplevingar (Nature Experiences) was established in 1993 we have built up a great deal of experience in arranging activities and events. Our ambition has always been to provide participants with high-quality, memorable experiences using the resources at our disposal.

-For businesses and organisations we arrange events and activities in connection with group processes, relationship-building, seminars, courses, conferences, incentive schemes and projects.

-For private parties and individuals we arrange trips, courses and group events.

Staging activities with a low participantto-guide ratio is extremely important for us, since this facilitates dialogue, safety and flexibility. We organise a variety of activities

nationwide, in which communicating the local culture and character forms an integral part of the overall package. We focus on high-quality culinary experiences, distinctive accommodation and guided tours and activities. We can offer glacier crossings, caving, mountain hiking and walking trips, mountain climbing, gorge walking, rafting, snowshoe hiking, glacier and avalanche safety courses, and more besides.

Nordal Turistsenter Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Live the good life in the centre of Lom, with the mighty Lomseggen rising steeply behind, and Lom Stave Church from 1170 as your nearest neighbour. Enjoy excellent, home-made food and let the Bøvra river lull you to sleep after a day packed with memorable experiences.

A former place of rest for carters hauling goods up the valley by horse-drawn wagon, Nordal Turistsenter today offers cosy hotel

rooms, a 4-star campsite with a steam bath and sauna, cabins of various categories and prices, a cafe and Nordalsfjoset Pub. It is a short distance to the best stoneoven bakery in Norway, swimming pool and fitness centre, Fossheim Steinsenter, Norsk Fjellmuseum, fishing, glacier crossing, climbing wall, trampolines, as well as post office, bank, chemist, wine and spirits retailer, supermarkets and sports shops.

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Bergomsvegen 15, 2686 Lom +47 612 193 00 www.nordalturistsenter.no May to October

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We have a playroom in the cafeteria, with building bricks and films to watch. At the campsite there is a playground with a variety of play equipment. We also have a sandvolleyball court which everyone can enjoy.

In addition to all this, you will find places to bathe, fish, climb and enjoy a variety of other activities not far away. Simply ask at reception.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – SOGNEFJELL

Fossberg Hotell Lom

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Bergomsvegen 40, LOM +47 612 122 50 www.fossberg.no All year

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Brubakken 2, 2686 Lom +47 612 116 00 www.fjell.museum.no All year

This hotel combines the traditional with the modern in the centre of Lom, where the valley gives way to the mighty Lomseggen mountain, and the Bøvra river spills white and wild over the Prestfossen falls. We can offer comfortable hotel rooms and good food served in a cosy dining room, where we can also cater for parties of all kinds. A varied menu is also available in our cafe.

All our food is based on local seasonal ingredients. In the summer there is plenty of space outdoors where you can enjoy food and drink in pleasant surroundings. And if the temperature gets a bit chilly, you can relax in front of the open fire in our fully licensed bar. Other facilities include a fitness and wellness centre, with swimming pool, children’s pool, hot tub, solarium, gym and squash court.

Nasjonalparksenteret Norsk Fjellmuseum Lom Norsk Fjellmuseum is the country’s only museum focusing on man’s relationship with the mountains. We are located in Lom in Gudbrandsdalen, and are an authorised national park centre for Jotunheimen, Reinheimen and Breheimen national parks. The museum is also a competence centre, bringing together the expertise of 11 companies. We can offer the following exhibitions, films and activities: -Exhibition on Jotunheimen’s natural geography.

-Film about finds made in the glaciers and Mimisbrunnr Klimapark 2469.

-Decentralised information displays on Reineheimen and Breheimen at Coop Marked Bruvoll at Dønfoss in Skjåk (opened 19 September 2012).

-Archaeological exhibition about glacier

finds in the high mountains – Norway’s oldest shoe, tunic and bow.

-Educational schemes such as ‘Rugged Fun’ for Year 5 pupils and Mimisbrunnr Klimapark 2469 for Year 9 pupils.

-Nature trail at Presthaugen, rock cave, mammoth, stuffed animals in the Norwegian high-mountain environment.

In addition, we work with the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo and have a visitor centre with activities for schools.

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Our premises can be booked as a location for courses, meetings, conferences, etc. We also have a tourist information desk and a museum shop.

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Turtagrø Hotel Fortun

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6877 Fortun +47 954 730 59 www.turtagro.no March to October

Whether you’re staying in a hotel suite or a tent, Turtagrø Hotel in the west of Jotunheimen national park extends a warm welcome. With us, you are free to do as you please, because we create the perfect conditions for an adventure beyond the ordinary. At Turtagrø and Hurrungane you can test your limits while enjoying our very special landscape, culture and food. Explore spectacular mountain peaks with climbing and skiing, glacier walking or hiking, guided or alone. A welcome awaits you back here, with a great range of activities and events throughout the season to entertain adults and children alike. One of the high points is Smak av ord med mat i Hurrungane [A taste of Hurrungane], a fusion of talks, mountain excursions and exciting food emphasising local ingredients

and rustic flavours. Alongside jazz nights, yoga, photography and mountain sports courses, courses in sausage making, film evenings and sledding days, each autumn we also host a popular film festival. Our kitchen works hard to source local produce,

Nes Gard

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Høyheimsvik

6875 Høyheimsvik +47 952 326 94 www.nesgard.no May to September

Nes Gard offers holidays in an exquisite rural hotel, beautifully situated down by Lusterfjorden. The hotel makes a great base for exploring the mountains of Inner Sogn.

In the mornings you can enjoy a large buffet breakfast of home-made bread and spreads, while in the evening we serve a three-course dinner. We focus on using local ingredients such as lamb, fruit and berries.

For a family day out, we recommend a stroll to our old summer farm, Navarsete, in Breheimen national park; about a 50-minute walk. Or maybe you’ll be tempted by the new water park in Gaupne?

For older children and youngsters, we hire out kayaks and bicycles and we offer glacier walking and bracing hikes in the surrounding peaks.

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preparing everything it serves from scratch.

Three-course dinners are served daily, so guests always eat well.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – SOGNEFJELL

Eide Besøksgard Skjolden

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Skjolden +47 951 096 43 www.eidebesoksgard.no May to August

Eide Gard is idyllically situated in Skjolden, at the head of Sognefjorden on the R55 highway over Sognefjellet, part of the mighty Jotunheimen mountain range. The farm has a unique history. Visitors stopping here can hear it told and experience fantastic views towards Fanaråken, Lustrafjorden and Mørkridsdalen. You can also enjoy a great meal, which we serve in the historic building we call the ‘hotel’, or on the terrace overlooking the fjord. We use our own ingredients, such as beef from Scottish highland cattle, berries and herbs. You can book ahead for lunch. We have a variety of animals on the farm, including horses (Døle draft horses, Norwegian Fjord horses and ponies), Scottish highland cattle, goats,

sheep, hens, rabbits and free-range pigs.

Pony rides for children are available by arrangement.

Walaker Hotell Solvorn

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Right by the fjord in the small village of Solvorn in Sogn, you will find the charming Walaker Hotel. The hotel dates from 1640, making it the oldest family-run hotel in Norway. Walaker Hotel stands in the rich food-producing area of Inner Sogn.

Visitors can enjoy crayfish from the fjord, venison from the red deer which inhabit the mountain forests, berries from bushes stretching for as far as the eye can see,

home-made cheese, home-made apple juice, raspberry cordial and many other delicacies made by small-scale producers. The hotel offers accommodation in three different houses, each decorated in a different style.

The main house is furnished with period wallpaper and antique furniture. Tingstova is decorated in a style of rustic romanticism, with furnishings from various eras, while Annekset has comfortable rooms in a

6879 Solvorn +47 576 820 80 www.walaker.com May to September

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contemporary style. The hotel has its own art gallery, featuring works by local and nationally known artists. There are also plenty of things to do and places to visit for people of all ages. You can go on a fjord safari by kayak or canoe, go cycling, walking/hiking or traverse a glacier. Just below the hotel there is also a very fine bathing beach.

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Bestebakken Hafslo

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Mobakken 11, 6869 Hafslo +47 906 844 9 www.bestebakken.no All year

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Solsidevegen 449 2686 Lom +47 612 112 15 www.aukrust-nordgard.no March to November

Welcome to an experience for the senses!

BesteBakken is a distinct, soulful place where experiences, culture and good food are the main focus. BesteBakken offers modern comfort in an atmosphere that is a traditional and cozy home.

Our goal is to stimulate the senses through a wealth of good experiences creativity and development, peace and quiet, food and drink, a good night’s sleep, health and exciting activities.

Our food is made from scratch with as many locally produced ingredients as possible, preferably with herbs from our own garden.

The yellow house is located in an idyllic setting on the mountainside above the small village of Hafslo in Luster, at the head of the Sognefjord.

Aukrust Gard og Urteri Bøverdalen

The farm stands south-facing and sunny in the Bøverdalen valley in Lom. Our aim is to offer visitors the chance to learn more about the cultivation and use of herbs, ecology and develop a love of beauty. We have a newly built ‘Herb House’ where we offer cultural programmes featuring local words and music, and tastes. Our starting point is always in the raw materials from our own farm, vegetables, herbs, flowers, cured

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sausages – supplemented by local cheeses and other delicacies. We can offer tasting sessions either indoors or out, depending on the season, where we share our knowledge of various edible plants to be found in the garden and growing wild – combined with a picnic along the way. If you like you can also help to care for our animals, and they won’t mind if you want to linger for a chat!

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – SOGNEFJELL

Skeid kro Skjåk

The inn at Skjåk Turistheim lies halfway between Lom, Stryn and Geiranger, and is therefore the perfect starting point for trips and activities. In no time at all you can reach Geiranger; Trollstigen; Stryn, with is national park and summer ski centres; the Briksdalsbreen glacier and Sognefjorden; Lom, with its stave church, mountain museum and stone centre; Galdhøpiggen; Skjåk central sports facility; and a myriad of hiking trails.

At Skeid Kro you can enjoy an excellent meal in a relaxing, friendly atmosphere.

We try to live up to the Skjåk district’s traditional rules of hospitality: ‘If guests come to visit, put the best on the table, and plenty of it’. At our place you will be served generous portions of good food at reasonable prices.

Lustrabui Luster

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2690 Skjåk +47 612 140 24 www.skeidkro.no All year

To preserve and further develop the Skjåk district’s rich culinary culture, we emphasise original, authentic and hearty rustic fare.

By buying in whole carcasses and process them further ourselves we can keep alive the culinary traditions that are characteristic of our area, at the same time as ensuring that the food maintains the quality we are seeking. We also offer delicious bread and cakes from our own bakery.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6872 Luster +47 576 814 99 /+47 469 488 45 www.lustrabui.no All year

Lustrabui is a family-run business based in a former general store in the innermost reaches of Sognefjorden. This wood-fired bakery produces delicious, popular breads and buns, in particular the famed cinnamon bun! Lustrabui has its own bakery shop as well as supplying other stores. No preservatives or artificial additives of any kind are used in our baked goods. We also have a 50-seat dining room where we’re proud to serve freshly prepared, home-made food from our own kitchen, often cooked in our wood-fired oven.

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GAMLE STRYNEFJELLSVEGEN Geiranger GEIRANGERFJORDEN

1

Grotli

STRYNEFJELLET

1. GROTLI Hﾃ郎FJELLSHOTELL 2. HJELLE HOTELL

2

Hjelle

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Grotli Høyfjellshotel Grotli

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2695 GROTLI +47 612 174 74 www.grotli.no Easter - 30.9.2013

The Grotli family welcomes you to their mountain resort, situated 900m above sea level!

You will find us on the Gamle Strynefjellsvegen National Tourist Route, halfway between the eastern and western parts of Norway.

In our view, it is not always the most expensive places that give you the best value for your money. Small details often make all the difference. We offer our guests a cozy atmosphere, meals with an emphasis on regional food and drink, tranquility, home comforts, consideration and care.

At Grotli we pay attention to every detail and we will do our utmost to make your stay as pleasant as possible. The 5th and 6th

generation look forward to welcoming you to Grotli.

As family activities we recommend fishing and hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.

Hjelle Hotel

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Hjelle

Hjelle Hotel is a cosy, family-run hotel, which has been in the same family since 1896. Hjelle is situated at the eastern end of Strynsvatnet lake, halfway between the village of Stryn (27 km) and the Stryn summer ski centre (20 km). Extensive grounds along the lakefront belong to the hotel. Here you will find peace and quiet, magnificent scenery and a traditional farming community atmosphere. Our guests can enjoy a three-course evening meal in fabulous surroundings. The food we serve is made from scratch, and is inspired by both Norwegian and international culinary traditions. The cafe, located in what used to be the old general store, is open during the day and serves a proper Afternoon Tea. For children and teens we can recommend the Stryn summer ski centre. Hjelle Hotel stands beside a large lake, where visitors can

Hjelle +47 578 727 50 www.hjelle.com May to September

bathe, fish or take a trip in a rowing boat. It also has extensive lawns, which can be used for ball games.

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Randsverk

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Beitostolen 11

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1. VALBJØR GARD 2. BRIMI SÆTER VIANVANG BRIMISKOGEN BRIMI FJELLSTUGU 3. LEMONSJØ FJELLSTUE OG HYTTEGEREND 4. RANDSVERK 5. GLITTERSJÅ FJELLGÅRD 6. HINDSÆTER FJELLHOTELL 7. BESSHEIM FJELLSTUE 8. BYGDINGSTØGA 9. SØRRE HEMSING 10.BITIBUA BEITO YSTERI 11.Nythun Høyfjellstue Moahaugen Gård Munkekroen Noraker Gård Valdres Mathus Kafe og Spiseri Herangtunet Boutique Hotel

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – VALDRESFLYE

Valbjør gard Vågå

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

øvR. nordheradsv. 472, 2680 Vågå +47 996 938 25 www.valbjoer.no All year

Valbjør is a working farm, whose history stretches back to the Viking age. The farm is run according to organic principles, and keeps sheep and goats. Most of the food we serve is made from home-grown ingredients, like kid, lamb and vegetables, or locally sourced game and freshwater fish. Guests can experience the tranquility of sun-baked log houses from the 17th and 18th centuries, relax and enjoy the views over the green waters of the Vågåvatnet lake and the Jotunheimen mountains. You can go for walks in the local countryside, while not far away are six of Norway’s national parks, including Besseggen and Galdhøpiggen peaks. We can offer plenty of activities for people of all ages: guided walks in the countryside, looking after the animals, practising a variety of handicrafts

and traditional cooking techniques, as well as dancing and outdoor skills courses.

Brimi Sæter

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Vågå

Brimi Sæter is a traditional dairy farm with plenty of animals. 25 dairy cows, including old Norwegian breeds, are milked twice a day and we process almost all the milk in our own dairy. You can follow the whole process through large windows. In the farm shop we sell our own products, other local food from Gudbrandsdalen and a range of handicrafts.

Authentic dairy-farm fare and dinners based on our own produce are served daily in high season, from around 1 July to 15 August.

Our speciality “Skråppå tå”, a kind of local raclette with all the great flavours of Gudbrandsdalen, must be ordered in advance and we serve this special menu from April to December. We can seat around 50 diners in the barn.

2685 Garmo +47 911 375 58 www.brimi-seter.no April to December

We have 6-7 double rooms in various buildings with shared bathroom\toilet facilities. There are also nine beds in the barn for those who want a different kind of stay – ideal for small groups or companies where people know each other well.

We have various animals on the farm and guests old and young are welcome to lend a hand looking after them! We also offer a tour of the dairy and an introduction to the cheesemaking process.

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Vianvang Brimiland

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2683 Tessanden +47 419 311 11 www.brimiland.no Feb. to Jun. and Aug. to Nov.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2680 Vågå +47 915 666 63 www.brimiland.no February to December

Vianvang is Arne Brimi’s restaurant, and is located at Brimiland, 4 km from Tesse lake.

For many years Arne Brimi has been one of Norway’s most influential chefs, and has received many awards for both his culinary artistry and his tireless efforts to promote Norwegian food and culinary traditions.

An evening at Vianvang will therefore be well worth the trip. For food enthusiasts it will be an experience never to be forgotten.

Arne composes a menu for the evening that offers plenty of delicious tastes: some bold, some restrained. You will see how the dishes are made, and can ask the chef as many questions as you like along the way. Arne takes just as much care with the choice of wines to ensure they complement the food perfectly. Vianvang is not open every day, so you must book ahead.

BrimiSkogen Brimiland

At one time or another most of us have dreamed of being Tarzan. At Brimiskogen, that dream can become a reality! We have constructed 60 aerial platforms at heights ranging from 1-10 m in the surrounding trees. Safely harnessed by wire you make your way along a predetermined route, overcoming obstacles and challenges as you progress. We have five routes, of varying degrees of difficulty. The activity takes around three hours. There is also a special children’s route. To attempt the green and blue routes you must be at least 110 cm in height, while for the red and black routes you must be 140 cm or taller.

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Brimi Fjellstugu Brimiland

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Tessvegen 420, 2680 Vågå +47 612 398 12 www.brimi-fjellstugu.no Feb. to Apr. and May to Dec.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Fjellvegen 1570, 2680 Vågå +47 612 387 22 www.lemonsjoe.no Feb. to Apr. and Jun. to Oct.

Brimi Fjellstugu is situated on the mountain plateau, just above the tree-line, surrounded by high, proud peaks. The scenery is magnificent, and with Jotunheimen as its closest neighbour, it offers a wealth of opportunities for hiking and skiing trips all year round. This is a small, familyoperated establishment, providing friendly service and overnight accommodation of hotel standard. Fjellstugu’s evening menus bring you the taste of the mountains, and feature dishes made of mountain trout, reindeer and grouse. Arne Brimi has been our culinary inspiration, and our kitchen is run in accordance with his philosophy.

BrimiSkogen Klatrepark and Brimi Sæter are close by, and offer excitement and memorable experiences for the whole family.

Lemonsjø Fjellstue og Hyttegrend Vågå Lemonsjø Fjellstue is a family business serving home-made food using local ingredients. We are particularly proud of our roast trout with sour cream sauce. During the season, we welcome guests all day long, so whether you are just passing through or staying overnight, you are warmly invited to Lemonsjøen for coffee and cake, lunch or dinner. We also have plenty of space for groups wanting a true mountain adventure.

In summer, the area offers a wide variety of mountain tours, dairy farm visits, fishing or simply opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. In winter, 150 kilometres of ski trails are just waiting to be explored locally.

Lemonsjøen is also well placed when it comes to activities for children and young people, such as the climbing park, rafting,

canyoning, horse riding and dairy farm visits. Most of our dishes are also available as children’s portions.

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Randsverk

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Randsverk is a natural mountain stopoff, serving breakfast with fresh bread and baguettes, plus a delicious salad bar. The dinner menu includes sautéed reindeer with salad and mashed potato, local elk patties, salmon with potatoes and salad, garlic marinated chicken, and smaller dishes such as home-made “rømmegraut” with elk, reindeer and goat sausages, cured ham or a beef burger sandwich. We also have homemade pizzas and our renowned burger served with tomato, shallots and a special dressing, famed across Norway.

Then there’s our sour cream waffles with home-made jam, goat cheese or ice cream. Come autumn, we serve our popular “fårikål”, a Norwegian mutton and cabbage stew.

The cake counter offers treats such as home-baked pastries and various sandwiches to enjoy with freshly made coffee.

Many of our dishes use ingredients from local producers. The mountain store also sells a wide range of these products, particularly cured reindeer, elk, goat and venison salamis, plus other cold meats and a wonderful selection of cheeses. We have plenty of parking, a large sun terrace and useful information boards covering the local area. We also offer all grades of accommodation.

For residents, we offer horse riding, ball games and a playground with a trampoline.

Glittersjå Fjellgård

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Heidal

Fjellvegen 1972 +47 928 872 86 www.randsverk.no Easter and May to October

Sjolivegen 2336, 2676 Heidal +47 612 301 00 www.glittersja.no June to September

Glittersjå is a working mountain farm with old and new timber buildings and fantastic views of Glittertind and Jotunheimen from the farmyard. The farm is also home to

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various old Norwegian livestock breeds, with the more exotic addition of some majestic Andalusian horses. We serve traditional and, as far as possible, local food in our old brewhouse with a wood-fired oven and cheesemaking pan.

Generally, we take on the challenge of using as much as possible of what nature provides.

The farm is open to guests from June to September. The new guest house, built using round logs in the traditional “lafting” technique, has five double rooms with sleeping lofts and en-suite bathrooms. Each day, we have a presentation with feeding of the animals and rides for children. There are also plenty of other activities for all ages, with space to run around in the yard and farm.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – VALDRESFLYE

Hindsæter Fjellhotell Vågå

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2680 Vågå +47 612 389 16 www.hindseter.no June to Oct. Feb. to Apr.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Sjodalsvegen 2977, 2680 VÅGÅ +47 612 389 13 www.bessheim.no February to October

Hindsæter is a lovely hotel, housed in a timber building from 1898, with panoramic views of the river Sjoa, Sjodalen and Jotunheimen, and situated on the Valdresflye tourist route, 950 metres above sea level. In both summer and winter, the area has numerous paths and trails for short and longer excursions, and the hotel is a great place to stay if you want to explore the Besseggen ridge just 15 km away. The kitchen at Hindsæter was awarded the Norwegian Foodprints quality award in 2010, and in addition to delicious food, the hotel’s owners Karola and André serve up great stories and the historic atmosphere of the old dairy farm.

Bessheim Fjellstue Vågå

Bessheim Fjellstue og Hytter is located in Jotunheimen, on the Valdresflye National Tourist Route. We offer rooms, apartments and cabins as well as a campsite. We’re just a five-minute drive from Gjendeosen quay, where the ferry crosses to the Besseggen ridge. The food we serve is traditional, home-cooked Norwegian fare. We often have Vågå Tamreinlag reindeer (grazed on the Valdresflye plateau), venison, elk, fish from the mountain waters and home-made caramel pudding on the menu. A threecourse dinner is served each evening.

We work with Glittersjå heritage farm and highly recommend a family day out there. We also keep rabbits and hire out family canoes.

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Bygdinstøga Bygdin

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Bygdin +47 954 020 21 www.facebook.com/Bygdinstoga June to September

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Heensåsvn 90 2975 Vang i Valdres +47 613 672 70 www.sorrehemsing.no All year, prebook

We operate a small cafe with seating for about 70 people near the Valdresflye National Tourist Route. When preparing food in our kitchen we use ingredients from our own farm and the surrounding natural environment – and we urge you to come and taste! We also have an exhibition of local art for sale.

The area around us is particularly well suited for families with children who like to go hiking. For example, there is a quiet 3km walk on a gravel road along the lake to Bygdisheim. Otherwise, there are animals on the farm, as well as good trout fishing in Lake Bygdin.

Sørre Hemsing Vang

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FOTO: LISA MARIE HVRO

We are situated in a restored former farmyard with buildings dating from the 17th and 19th centuries. The site has eight buildings in all, and we have our own heritage trail.

Everything is just as it was in days gone by, but with modern comforts. Enjoy the peace and quiet amidst a stunning landscape. We serve traditional food from the Valdres area, all freshly prepared. We also use some of the ingredients we produce on the farm, plus fish caught on Vangsmjøsa. Sørre Hemsing has 16 beds and can accommodate up to 42 guests, with 32 people in Oppistøga and 10 in Gamlestøga. In winter we have 50 sheep and 15 goats, and in the summer we keep bottle-fed lambs and a few goats by the farm. Family activities include boat hire and good fishing on Vangsmjøsa.

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – VALDRESFLYE

BITIBUA Beitostølen

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2953 Beitostølen +47 971 815 45 www.facebook.com/bitibua All summer

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2953 Beitostølen +47 900 831 45 www.beitoysteri.no All year

Bitibua is a small outlet along road 51, 4 km north from Beitostølen. Since 1971, tourists and locals have stopped by to purchase goat cheese and cured sausages. We also have butter, sour cream, rakfisk, potato tortilla and flat bread, juniper candies,traditional pancakes, coffee and more. All products are made by local small scale producers. Bitibua is a great starting point for family hikes in a friendly but powerful nature. Opening hours: Every day in the summer season – «from the snow has melted and until the snow returns».

Beito ysteri Beitostølen

Beito cheeses are becoming more and more popular! We produce mature cheeses of the finest quality, based on milk from the Beito district’s local farms. In the summer we also use milk from dairy herds that have been sent to summer pastures at Vinsteren. Beito Ysteri is centrally located in Beitostølen, with a shop selling local food products, a microbrewery and an events department that provides catering services for individuals and groups. We also have an outdoor area for al fresco eating. Groups are requested to book ahead. Visitors can watch the cheese being made step by step through large windows, with explanations being relayed over loudspeakers.

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Nythun Høyfjellstue Fagernes

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

The privately-owned Nythun Høifjellsstue offers charming accommodation near Fagernes on the E16/RV51 Valdresflye road. In 2012, we took second place in a competition organised by Twining’s Best Breakfast to find the best hotel breakfast in Norway. The jury was particularly impressed with our home-made pâté,

“prim” (soft brown cheese spread), the selection of herring and home-baked bread.

We also serve an exquisite dinner every evening at 7 pm, with the menu dominated by local produce and fresh fish. All the food is home-made, combining food knowledge and enthusiasm with the best Norwegian culinary traditions and fresh ingredients.

Moahaugen Gård Heggenes

RV 204 Kruk, Fagernes +47 613 579 30 www.nythun.com June to April

Adress: 2940 Heggenes Phone: +47 995 360 04

Moahaugen Gård is a Valdres farm with production and processing of meat from lamb and sheep. The main products are cured sausages and salted and smoked ribs of mutton. The farm shop is open on Fridays and Saturdays. We take orders on Tel. (+47) 995 36 004. You are most welcome to Moahaugen Gård.

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The local landscape offers great walking and skiing and our accommodation is of a high standard, with everything spotlessly clean and comfortable. We care about our guests, encouraging everyone to make time for each other and enjoy the countryside and good food. We look forward to welcoming you!

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – VALDRESFLYE

Munkekroen Fagernes

Munkekroen is a small family run restaurant that can be found at the Valdres Folk Museum in Fagernes. Maria and Peter, a couple from Denmark, opened the restaurant in 2003. Maria is a trained pastry chef with over 20 years of experience, and Peter is a trained chef and hotel manager with over 30 years experience.

Munkekroen was originally an oldfashioned Danish tavern from Aurdal in Valdres. Today we run a modern Scandinavian restaurant. The food and drink offered here, reflects our love of people and gastronomy. We serve authentic homemade cuisine based on the Nordic food culture - all made from scratch. We strive to do our best to please our guests, but also to show respect for our creations.

We offer one of the finest banquet

Noraker Gård

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2910 Aurdal +47 613 601 77 www.munkekroen.com All year

premises in the region with a distinct charm and location.

In the shop, which is part of the Valdres Folk Museum, you can buy various gifts and

Aurdal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

At the Noraker farm we breed our own trout and process it into the local delicacy «rakfisk» (semi-fermentet trout). This summer we open a brand new farm store, with special local products from both

Valdres and neighboring regions, as well as a café. We also have banquet and conference facilities. During the summer season there will be guided tours of the farm. Visiting hours: Monday and Friday from January

other nice items. In the summer, there is a living farm at the museum with animals and many exciting events.

Noraker gård, 2910 Aurdal +47 613 623 64 www.noraker.no All year

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to June, Tuesday–Saturday in July and August. Daily from September–December.

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Valdres Mathus Kafe og Spiseri Bagn

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Valdrestunet, 2930 Bagn +47 613 464 85 www.valdresmathus.no All year

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Volbusvegen 17, 2940 Heggenes +47 613 416 65 www.herangtunet.no All year

We are a cafe/eatery with a focus on quality ingredients that are found locally and from Norway/Scandinavia. We serve a mix of local cuisine and modern cafe dishes that suit both our local and visiting guests.

We are particularly proud of our local meat and fish that comes from the region nearby. On the menu you will also find our local mountain boar.

Herangtunet Boutique Hotel Heggenes Herangtunet boutique hotel Norway in the Øystre Slidre area of Valdres is the first of its kind in Norway. The hotel and yard is situated on a small hill within a pine forest. Here, we aim to provide guests with a holistic experience through design, food and outdoor activities. We are proud to have transferred and raised a cultural heritage into an innovative new concept of local ownership as well as respect for building traditions and styles. At the same time, we are authentic and unique in our own way.

When meeting with our guests, we strive to provide a personal and friendly impression.

Inside, we have decorated five of the hotel rooms in styles from five different countries and four suites in four styles from famous cities around the world. The distinctive combination of old and new is bold, yet comprehensive and exciting.

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Herangtunet has a “green” profile and emphasizes the use of organic products.

Our cuisine uses as many local ingredients as possible and the menu is French inspired.

We cooperate closely with Beito Husky Tours and Beito Active and Fritid in Beitostølen, which can facilitate a variety of family activities such as dog sledding in the summer and winter, snowshoe tours, ice fishing, canoe trips, ski touring, rafting, snow rafting, air boarding, snowmobiling, rock climbing, high rope courses and games.

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE

GEIRANGERTROLLSTIGEN Andalsnes 5

Trollstigen Stranda

1

Valldal

4

3

6

2

Hellesylt

GEIRANGERFJORDEN

7

Geiranger Grotli

SERVES COFFEE

Accommodation

SERVES Breakfast

Possibility to accommodate +40p

SERVES LUNCH

SHOP

SERVES DINNER

LIVE ANIMALS

FAST SLOW FOOD

1. MATBUDA 2. GEIRANGER SKYSSLAG NAUSTKROA BRASSERIE POSTEN CAFÉOLÈ RESTAURANT OLEBUDA WESTERÅS GARD GEIRANGER SJOKOLADE HOTEL UNION NORSKT FJORDCENTER

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3. JORDBÆRSTOVA NORSK BÆRINDUSTRI 4. JUVET LANDSKAPSHOTELL GUDBRANDSJUVET KAFÈ 5. Trollstigen KAFÉ 6. Petrines Gjestgiveri Melchiorgarden 7. OLAGÅRDEN

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MATBUDA

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6200 STRANDA +47 924 292 22 www.matbuda.no All year

Geiranger

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 454 813 01 www.dalsnibba.no Ca: 20 May to 15 Oct

The road from the shore by Geiranger to Dalsnibba was The road from the shore by Geiranger to Dalsnibba was built on the initiative of Geiranger Skysslag and opened in 1939, 32 years after work began. The summit of Dalsnibba is 1500 meters above

sea level and offers the highest roadside fjord views in Europe. The viewing point provides a spectacular panorama of the stunning fjord and mountain landscape – an unforgettable experience – while the service building at the peak clings dramatically to

Stranda

Matbuda delicatessen is a family-run business located just a stone’s throw from the ferry terminal in Stranda. We sell and serve a wide variety of food, all locally produced to the highest standards. The interior of our shop is decorated in its very own style for a contemporary yet timeless feel. We offer an unusually wide range of goods, from processed fish, cured meats, juices, jams and jellies to herbs, beers and so on – the list is almost endless. Matbuda also runs a catering service, delivering good food for events of all sizes.

DALSNIBBA

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the rocks. The first keen guests came up by horse, then later by car and bus. Nowadays, buses leave several times a day during the summer, taking a round trip with stops at the worldfamous vantage points of Flydalsjuvet and Dalsnibba.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

Naustkroa Geiranger

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Geiranger Sentrum +47 70263230 www.olebuda.no May to September

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 930 449 14 www.brasserieposten.no March to December

Naustkroa is a well-established restaurant on the pedestrian street in Geiranger, making it particularly popular with families out and about. Our menu is a tempting mix of local and international dishes, including steamed salmon and stir-fried seafood.

We also serve children’s favourites such as meatballs, pizzas, burgers, sausages and soft ice cream. Our pizzas are said to be the best in town. Naustet offers an informal, relaxed atmosphere where everyone is welcome.

Our open kitchen lets you watch all the food preparation, or you might prefer to sit by the edge of the fjord and enjoy the superb mountain views to the sound of water lapping over pebbles.

Brasserie posten Geiranger

Brasserie Posten is situated next to the Tourist Information Office, in a whitepainted building which was formerly Geiranger’s post office. Run by experienced chef Kenneth Løken, the restaurant is like a modern café, where you are welcome to drop in for a chat or to read a newspaper. But you really shouldn’t leave without sampling the food. The creamy fish soup alone is well worth a trip to this brasserie. Working with local food producers, we always serve fresh, seasonal Norwegian produce and prepare all our food from scratch. We also carry a wide range of Norwegian beers – over 50 varieties from 15 different microbreweries. We’re open from Easter until Christmas, but our main season is from 1 May to 1 October.

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CaféOlé Geiranger

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Geiranger Sentrum +47 70263230 www.olebuda.no May to October

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Geiranger Sentrum +47 702 632 30 www.olebuda.no May to September

CaféOlé is best known for fresh espressobased coffees, served with our freshly baked “sveler”, a local speciality, or homemade cakes. We also serve simple lunches, using predominantly local ingredients. The café and shop both offer local drinks and foods for you to take away. Also on site is Geiranger’s oldest general store, where we have a pleasant gift and home furnishings business which can make a meal in the café even more enjoyable. We have all the modern comforts with things like internet access and yet you can still hear the whisper of bygone conversations from the bench that used to stand outside the store. Everything works in perfect harmony.

For children aged 1 to 10, we have a popular Lego table that is also used for drawing.

Restaurant Olebuda Geiranger

The home of the first owner of the general store and steamship office in Geiranger now houses the à la carte restaurant Olebuda.

The hostess Ragnhild Frøysa can trace her family all the way back to the first general storekeepers and is extremely proud to invite restaurant guests into their home.

Come and enjoy good food and wine in an intimate and historic setting. We serve tempting Norwegian dishes using the very finest ingredients, mostly sourced from our local culinary treasure trove. The most popular dishes are based on monkfish, lamb or red deer. We also have tables outside, set against the backdrop of Westeråsfjell mountain – perfect for fine summer days.

In the summer, Restaurant Olebuda is a popular place to relax with your choice of refreshments and enjoy the light summer

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evenings. The bar and restaurant indoors are fully licensed, with beer and wine served outdoors. The restaurant welcomes groups all year round, and is open daily from May to September.

Children’s portions of the same delicious, healthy adult menu are also available.

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NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

Westerås Gard Geiranger

The working farm sits on the mountainside deep into the fjord in the World Heritage area of Geiranger. Sheep, goats and llamas graze on the fertile landscape. In spring and summer, you can rent an apartment in the old farmhouse or stay in a cabin. Guests can enjoy the tranquillity and closeness to nature combined with traditional food from the local area. Most of our food is home-made with ingredients largely drawn from the immediate vicinity, not least the wonderful “Geiranger sausage” made from juniper-spiced meat of lamb and goat.

Why not enjoy a sausage with a local beer.

Lunch and dinner are served daily in the summer. Breakfast can be served to groups by arrangement, or we can put together a breakfast platter if required. During the summer season, guests can book a guided

Geiranger SjokoladE Geiranger

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 702 632 30 www.geiranger.no/westeras/ May to September

tour of the farm on set days. The town is also a great base for some superb walks.

Hazel walking sticks can be borrowed; useful for people of all ages. Many children are delighted by our animals, especially in the spring, when the kid goats and lambs are little and some of them require bottle feeding. Getting to run around the farm with the animals is a fantastic feeling.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 967 252 05 www.geirangersjokolade.no April to September

This is the world’s first chocolate factory situated in a boathouse. All our chocolate is freshly made without preservatives or other additives and is deliciously rich as it lingers on the tongue.

The chocolate factory is located in the cellar. To get a closer look at the chocolate production, feel free to peep through the windows on the fjord side of the boathouse.

We welcome guests by appointment who wish to see the production facility and how we make our chocolate, as well as groups wanting to delve deeper into the fantastic world of chocolate.

Our hand-crafted chocolate is filled as far as possible with local ingredients, but we also use exciting flavours from other countries. These treats are then dipped in wonderful, dark healthy chocolate.

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We have a street-level shop and café, where you can buy our boathouse chocolate as a souvenir of Geiranger or to savour whilst exploring the beautiful countryside. In our shop you will also find other local delicacies.

In the café you find home-made cakes, waffles and other confectionery with hot or cold drinks. On a cold day we recommend you to try our speciality, rich real hot chocolate, which comes in several versions.

And if the sun is out try our amazing ice cream, you won´t regret it.

Norwegian brown cheese chocolate is a bestseller that captures the hearts of Norwegian and foreign customers alike.

Bring home and share the unique flavours of Norway

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HOTEL UNION Geiranger

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 702 638 10 www.verdsarvfjord.no All year

In welcoming you to the Hotel Union, we are inviting you to share with us one of the most exceptionally beautiful landscapes in the world. The inscription of the Geirangerfjord on the UNESCO World Heritage List is relatively recent, but our magnificent natural surroundings have been an attractive destination for many generations of visitors, from far and near, who come not only to stay, but to experience something that is truly unique.

Experience the landscape and nature.

Hear the sound of rushing waterfalls.

Breathe in the clear, clean air. See the magnificent views across the Geirangerfjord.

The fjord and surrounding mountains form a unique and fabulous backdrop to your stay. In surroundings like these, your thoughts can take flight. Close proximity to

Norsk FjorDsenter Geiranger

The west Norwegian fjords have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Norsk Fjordsenter aims to provide visitors with greater insight into the region’s fjords and the people who live on their shores. We offer displays showing how the people of the fjords lived and worked in the past, information about the landscape and natural environment, a pictorial journey through the world heritage landscape, as well as other temporary exhibitions. The centre is open all year round. In addition to our role as an information centre, we also aim to be an enjoyable meeting place.

The shop and cafe place great emphasis on Norwegian culture, both with regard to

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Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6216 Geiranger +47 702 638 10 www.verdsarvfjord.no All year

design and taste. For the children we have developed a concept called ‘Fjordheimen’, which is built on the book Gaute Gneis får eit oppdrag. At the end of 2012 we had created costumes for five of the characters in the book, written three songs and created a dramatisation of the story.

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unspoiled nature helps the body and mind recharge with new energy. Our hope is that your stay with us will delight and refresh you. Many of our guests return again and again – we hope you will, too.

Food & Drink: Our philosophy is to present good Norwegian cuisine based on the very best ingredients and locally sourced produce.

We use local and regional producers of sought-after ingredients, such as kid, lamb, salmon, cheese, and traditionally cured and smoked fish and meats. From local farms, we source the best-quality lefser, fruit and berries. From this range of ingredients we create exciting taste combinations and a wealth of new recipes. All our food is freshly cooked, and many of our finest recipes have followed the hotel for generations.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

Jordbærstova Valldal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Valldal +47 702 576 58 www.jordbarstova.no May to October

Jordbærstova in Valldal is the perfect place to stop on the way from Geiranger to Åndalsnes. Our specialty lunch buffet, featuring home-made traditional dishes, is served every Sunday or for parties of 20 or more by prior agreement. In the strawberry season you can try plenty of different strawberry-based dishes, and

Norsk Bærindustri Valldal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

stroll around the strawberry fields. Our strawberry gateau is famous, and we also make our own apple juice from organic, locally picked apples. In addition, you can buy jars of locally produced preserves and handicrafts. Overnight accommodation is available in three double rooms in the old farmhouse. We also have a function room in the barn, with space for around 50 guests.

Our restaurant seats approx. 90 people. We collaborate with Valldal Naturopplevingar, which arranges rafting, gorge walking and hiking trips to suit the active family.

Gamle syltegata +47 702 575 11 www.baer.no All year

Norsk Bærindustri in Valldal has been producing fruit juices, cordials and preserves from local raw materials since 1919. Farmers and garden-owners in the village and surrounding areas deliver large quantities of fruits and berries throughout the summer and autumn. Some of this is pressed to produce juices that can be either drunk as they are or turned into fruit syrup.

We use traditional, tried and trusted recipes, but we are constantly developing new products with exciting tastes and less sugar.

You will find our shop in Gamle Syltegata, behind the church in Valldal’s village centre.

If you visit us in the summer season you can also take the boat to Geiranger, explore the lovely scenery on foot, and taste newly picked strawberries, raspberries and the many other kinds of fruit that are cultivated in the district.

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Juvet Landskapshotell Valldal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Valldal +47 950 320 10 www.juvet.com March to November

On a steep riverbank, between monumental stones and beech, asp and pine trees, lies Juvet, Europe’s first landscape hotel.

Seven separately built rooms nestle in the landscape. At first glance they look rather modest and unassuming. But when you open the door and step inside, it is as though nature itself is rushing to embrace you through the vast panorama windows.

GUDBRANDSJUVET KAFÉ Valldal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Isterdalen Rv. 6300 ÅNDALSNES +47 974 938 10 www.trollstigen.no April to September

With a good wiew from the edge of the roaring river Valldøla and the deep hollows of the ravine, lies Gudbrandsjuvet Kafé.

The café and the viewing platform make an exiting contrast to Norwgian mountain scenery ande give you a special experience of the ravine up close.

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You can almost feel the trees tickle your back, and the spume from the Valldøla river dampen your cheek. We serve locally sourced food, firmly embedded in the culinary tradition of western Norway, featuring clipfish (dried and salted cod), reindeer, red deer and salmon, as well as berries and vegetables from Valldal. We cultivate the pure taste of our ingredients, and can tell the story of their use up through the ages.

Our restaurant is, regrettably, open only to overnight guests. For the youngsters Juvet offers fantastic hiking trails, a wilderness camp and climbing wall just behind the barn. Rafting in the Valldøla river is also a popular activity. ness camp and climbing wall just behind the barn. Rafting in the Valldøla river is also a popular activity.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

Trollstigen KAFÉ Isterdalen

At the top the hairpin bends climbing up from the Isterdalen valley, you will find the modern Trollstigen kafé. The new servicebuilding contains both café, souvenir shops with local hancrafts, toilets, parking,

Petrines Gjestgiveri Norddal

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Isterdalen Rv. 6300 ÅNDALSNES +47 974 938 10 www.trollstigendrift.com April to September

beautiful water surfaces, in addition to bridges and paths to viewing ramps. World class architecture in harmony with nature.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6214 Norddal +47 702 592 85 www.petrines.com June to September

We source high quality produce with rich traditions from local farms and gardens, dairy farms, mountains and fjords. Kid goat is the speciality at Petrines, but we also serve venison and trout from Herdalsfjella or Dyrdalen. The fertile land of Norddal gives us access to fresh berries and local fruit all season long. With vibrant culinary traditions and innovative partnerships with farms in The Happy End – Norddal organisation, we can promise you exciting gastronomic experiences.

Petrines Gjestgiveri works with other local businesses offering activities for children and young people. Experience kayaking, climbing and bouldering, dairy goat farming and cheesemaking, fishing and hiking.

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Melchiorgarden Norddal

Located by the fjord in the quiet village of Norddal , Melchiorgarden has been a farm since the 18th century. Goats are the main focus, with their milk used to produce Snøfrisk cheese. In June and July, the entire herd of 250 goats goes off on its “summer holidays” to the beautiful Herdalssetra.

We make local delicacies from goat and kid meat with the goat hides tanned and turned into wonderful gift items. We also grow raspberries, mainly for sale, but also to make our own juice, jam and jelly. Our farm shop also sells goods from other members of the local trade organisation, The Happy End – Norddal. Together, we offer experiences based on local culture, nature and traditions.

We have three double guest rooms in the farmhouse and overnight guests can enjoy a

Den Glade Ku Tingvoll

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6214 Norddal +47 922 834 77 www.melchiorgarden.no All year

home-made breakfast from the best of the farm’s own produce. While you enjoy the breakfast it is possible to follow the activity inside the barn through a large panorama window.

From this summer, we’re offering the following activities: –Guided walking tours with history, geology, culture and food as core components.

–Family activities such as a goat safari, zip

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

6630 Tingvoll +47 994 735 39 www.dengladeku.no All year

Our farm shop is open daily, with a range including our own products. The production area is right next-door and visible through a window.

Every Saturday we run our Åpen Kafe (Open Café), serving coffee, our own specialities and other baked treats. One of these specialities is our “Graut og bakkels”, sweet, creamy or buttery porridge served on waffles. Naturally everything is homecooked. People come a long way to taste these waffles with porridge!

From May to the end of summer, calves roam the yard between the farm shop and barn and cows graze in the fields. The area also has much to offer adventurers young and old, on the mountain and by the lake.

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wire and bouldering.

–For our visitors we also arrange “Evening tours”, visiting an organic farm with a printing workshop, brewery and unbroken traditions in the these crafts.

–For a little more adventure – climbing and abseiling.

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – GEIRANGER – TROLLSTIGEN

OLAGARDEN Tafjord

Adress: 6213 Tafjord Phone: +47 911 579 53 season: June to September

We offer Bed & Breakfast accommodation at a farmhouse dating from 1890, situated in the wild and beautiful landscape that has been designated a world heritage site

by UNESCO. Our cafe has seating for around 25 guests. The food is made from local ingredients, with the emphasis on lamb and fruit that we produce ourselves.

We also bake all our own bread and cakes.

The berries come from the local area, and we buy our vegetables and fish from local sources. We arrange courses, and periodic exhibitions of works by local artists. In Tafjord you can visit the Museum of Hydroelectric Power, Sakariasdammen and Tafjordbadet open-air pool. You can also learn more about the tsunami that caused the Tafjord disaster and about the artist Marianne Heske. Tafjord is surrounded

by the Reinheimen national park and a conservation area of distinctive natural qualities. The local area offers plenty of opportunities for walking/hiking and other outdoor pursuits. You can try your luck with a fishing rod, or simply listen to the peaceful quiet of the countryside. We also offer tailor-made excursions lasting around six hours, with lunch included.

TROLLSTIGEN DRIFT

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Isterdalen

Isterdalen Rv. 6300 ÅNDALSNES +47 974 938 10 www.trollstigen.no April to September

Trollstigen Drift operates roadside cafes at Trollstigplatået in Geiranger, Gudbrandsjuvet in Valldal and Trollstigen Camping og Gjestegård AS in Isterdalen near Åndalsnes.

The two first-mentioned are examples of world-class modern architecture. These eating places are all situated along the Geiranger-Trollstigen National Tourist Route, one of the most beautiful drives in Norway, offering precipitous mountains, deep fjords and lush valleys. Altogether we have seating for over 600 guests at our three cafes. We also cater for private parties, à la carte diners and bus tour groups. Our delicious food is made from ingredients sourced locally. We have three shops selling locally made delicacies and handicrafts. And for the youngsters we have a playground/ball-games area, canoe hire and scenic footpaths.

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RONDANE E6

Folldal

1

Fallet

Dombas

Strombu Sohlbergplassen

E6

3

2

RONDANE NASJONALPARK

Otta

Enden Muen

Sjoa

Frya Ringebu

E6

SERVES COFFEE

Accommodation

SERVES Breakfast

Possibility to accommodate +40p

SERVES LUNCH

SHOP

SERVES DINNER

LIVE ANIMALS

FAST SLOW FOOD

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1. KVEBERGSØYA GARD RONDANE GARDSMAT 2. RONDANE GJESTEGÅRD 3. Sollistua Gjestegiveri

Attna

NATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE – RONDANE

Kvebergsøya Gard Grimsbu

Kvebergsøya is a farm, whose roots stretch back to the 17th century. The farm is located in Folldal, between forests, mountain peaks and plateaus, at 680 m above sea level. The beautiful log houses have been faithfully restored by the owners, with the aim of preserving the historic rural atmosphere.

Traditional farming methods, particularly the active use of horse-power, are still applied, which gives the farm the feel of being a living museum. We offer overnight accommodation for around 10 guests in an environment your great-grandmother would recognise, and serve traditional food based on local ingredients such as lamb and elk. We also have a function room ‘Fjøset’, with space for up to 50 people.

Guests can take part in activities ranging

Rondane Gardsmat Grimsbu

At Haugtun farm on the southern bank of the Folla river, 4.5 km from Grimsbu, our main business is the production of meat and milk. In addition, we raise Old Norwegian Short-Tail Landrace sheep, a breed that dates back to the Viking era. Here you will find no imported products, just goods produced on the farm. In addition to natural sheepskins from Old Norwegian Short-Tails

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2582 Grimsbu +47 416 139 41 www.kvebergsoeya.com All year

from sleigh rides with tinkling bells and flaming torches, carriage rides and pony treks in the woods and mountains, carriage driving courses, freshwater fishing, canoeing and wall climbing. The farm also has a fascinating collection of carriages, sleighs and farm implements. This year we are also offering a one week’s stay including a threeday journey along the Rondane National Tourist Route by horse-drawn wagon.

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Haugtun 2582 Grimsbu +47 996 120 48 www.rondanegardsmat.no All year

in many different shades, everything is made from wool and natural materials. And you simply must taste the salted and dried meat products we make from this breed. We can offer mountain-dried meat such as ‘fenalår’, Rondane jerky, cured sausage and salted and dried lamb ribs (‘pinnekjøtt’). We also have dried beef from cattle that have grazed at our

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upland summer farm in the Einunddalen valley, one of the finest summer pastures in Norway. Our sheep range free all summer, grazing in the forests and mountains around the farm, though we generally have some in our home fields as well.

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Rondane Gjestegård Sollia

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

2477 Sollia +47 478 622 18 www.rondanegjestegaard.no All year

Adress: Phone: WebSITE: season:

Solliaveien 658 +47 928 685 23 www.sollistua.no July to August

Rondane Gjestegård is set in a magnificent location, some 780 metres above sea level with Rondane national park as its nearest neighbour. The hotel is small and intimate with ten double rooms and ten log cabins.

As the hotel owners, we want to give our guests an experience to remember. We serve mainly traditional local food. In addition to game and char from the surrounding lakes, we can now also offer kid goat, a dish that has proved popular with guests. This year there is also more lamb on the menu.

Naturally, we continue to serve our homemade “rømmegraut” (a porridge made of sour cream), elk carpaccio and our very own apple cake. Families who visit us can fish, barbecue, head off on a beaver safari by canoe or join an elk and musk ox safari.

Sollistua Gjestegiveri Sollia

Sollistua is located high in the foothills of Rondane, on the Rondane National Tourist Route. We offer good food from nature’s own larder, and an atmosphere of tranquility in the shelter of the mountain, surrounded by unspoilt natural beauty.

The flowering meadows make a fantastic playground, or you can walk along the stream up to Sollia Church. Sollistua is the perfect starting point for mountain hikes to a beautiful sandy beach at Finnsjøen lake and trips to the old Solligarden farm. The place is very child-friendly, with plenty of toys and books, a large veranda, and many fascinating old objects to discover. We also have horses, rabbits and cats to say hello to.

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We are here to help you plan a tasteful experience of Norway!

Taste of national tourist routes is about so much more than food. We are in constant search of the finest experiences along our roads. For every kind of guest there´s a tailor made experience waiting. We make travelling and exploring Norway’s food treasures easy and exciting.

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Let us inspire you with art, design, architecture, exclusive lodgings, foodies’ tours and much more along National Tourist Routes. Professional guided tours are available in all the major incoming ports in Norway. We also have connections in other parts of Scandinavia.

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TA S T E O F N AT IO N A L TOU RIS T ROU TES The National Tourist Routes are eighteen selected stretches of road that pass through the most beautiful and most varied scenery in Norway. The magazine you hold in your hands (and the website tasteofnationaltouristroutes.com) are part of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s efforts to promote the unique culinary experiences and destinations to be found along the Tourist Routes. This edition takes you to Sognefjellet, Geiranger–Trollstigen, Gamle Strynefjellsvegen, Valdresflye and Rondane – five stretches of road with matchless cultural landscapes, fine hospitality and local temptations. www.tasteofnationaltouristroutes.com