The Scenic Roadtrip - Oslo to Bergen via the fjords, 24 hr Refundable

This weekend trip from Oslo to Bergen and back was truly the adventure of a lifetime. The scenery was magnificent despite (or perhaps because of) the rainy weather, and my guide Hanne was simply a joy to travel with. She was personable, articulate, knowledgeable, and really allowed me to experience Norway for all too short a time from the "inside". Hanne grew up in Bergen and knows the country around there extremely well. She was even well-connected enough to allow me to - after we'd visited a goat cheese store with marvelous cheese - actually take me up to one of the farms that supplies the goat milk where the farmer, an acquaintance of Hanne's, proudly showed me his goats and milking barn. Try having an experience like that on one of the 'self-guided tours'! The days were very long - starting at 7:30 or 8:00 and not ending until 10:00 or 11:00 at night, but they packed so much into that time. On the first day I was able to take both the Sognefjord boat cruise and and Flam scenic railway; on the second day, Hanne took me back via an alternate route that featured a ferry ride across a fjord and several more magnificent waterfalls, one of which you could actually walk behind. I can't imagine a better way to see the real Norway in such a short time. The trip is expensive (everything in Norway is staggeringly expensive) but in this case it was worth every Kroner. And I could not ask for a guide better suited to such a tour than Hanne. Highly recommended.