Fjord fiesta - Scanorama

THE EDITOR
You can see what
Kerouac was driving at
Z
urich Airport is a favorite of
mine. Sure, the city it serves is
nice enough but it is also a gateway
to so much more. On arrival
I often slip into a familiar pattern: pick
up baggage, call into Sprüngli for a couple
of bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef ) and
Gruyère cheese sandwiches, hire a car
and head for the Alps, to Klosters and the
world’s best small hotel (Chesa Grischuna)
or the remote farming village of Vals, with
its wonderfully incongruous mix of goat
sheds and cutting-edge spa.
I have always liked the expression “on
the road” for its connotations of openness,
possibility, an unwritten page in asphalt.
As a child, I dreamed of being a truck
driver, with the continent as my workplace,
before fantasies of becoming a legendary
globe-trotting correspondent
took hold. I remember reading a story in a
motoring magazine about an architect in
Sweden who drove his Alfa Romeo every
year down to the house he had built in
Switzerland. South, to the continent, in
an open-topped sports car, pigskin gloves
wrapped around the wooden steering
wheel – does life get any better than that?
When I look back, many of my more
memorable journeys have been road
trips: that time I drove across Switzerland
RIKARD LIND
Editor in chief
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www.scanorama.com
and Austria, over snow-covered plains
and mountains, with exciting new design
hotels as milestones; a few days surfing
between San Diego and San Francisco
along California’s Pacific Coast Highway;
north from Barcelona through Costa Brava
‘ON THE ROAD’
MAKES ME THINK
OF AN UNWRITTEN
PAGE IN ASPHALT
across the French border into the Pyrenees
where, standing on the side of the
road, I enjoyed the most diabolical mountain
stage of the Tour de France, and all the
fanfare and spectacle that surrounds the
world’s biggest bike race; driving around
the lakes of northern Italy in a Maserati; or
through Suffolk and Norfolk in the east of
England in a grumbling Aston Martin V8.
What I like most is that feeling of complete
freedom. You can do whatever you
want. What will we find if we turn down
this back road? What happens if we just
keep driving? Curiosity and improvisation
can lead to unimagined rewards.
In this issue, we explore the Atlantic
Road and Trollstigen between Trondheim
and Ålesund in western Norway – probably
the world’s most beautiful stretch of
road, a stunning fjord-shaped landscape.
As you can see, Scanorama has also
taken a new direction. We have added a
bunch of features – The Expert, Suite Life
and a city guide with carefully considered
tips – which you will shortly be able to flick
through on your iPad.
Happy travels. See you in March.
Trollstigen, Fjord Wheel Drive, page 44
Reynards, The Wythe Hotel, page 18
CONTRIBUTOR: DANIEL MÅNSSON, PHOTOGRAPHER
For this issue, you stayed at the Hotel
Formentor on Majorca. What was it like?
It was opened by an eccentric Argentine
intellectual, Adán Diehl, in 1929. Refurbished
in the 1970s, the hotel seems to
be stuck in an aesthetic limbo between
its early 20th-century exterior and Seventies
interior. The new owners have yet to
decide whether to redo it all, or keep it as
it is.
So you didn’t spend a lot of time in your
room then?
The surroundings are the draw at this
hotel. The
scenery is just
stunning, with
wonderful views
of Pollença Bay.
It’s incredibly
beautiful and
peaceful. The
hotel’s garden
stretches all the
way down to the
water. Sitting on the terrace in the afternoon
you can see why Winston Churchill
and Grace Kelly wanted to recharge their
batteries there.
Who goes there now?
Many celebrities still do, as well as those
looking to unwind with good food, a glass
of wine and long walks. It’s a true retreat;
the pace of life is very slow.
Would you go back?
Since I’m into biking and Majorca is great
for that, I would. It’s hilly, has good roads
and a mild climate. Many national teams
practice there, with several races held on
the island every year.
ERIK OLSSON, COURTESY OF WYTHE HOTEL
16 FEBRUARY 2013 SCANORAMA