Fjord fiesta - Scanorama

FJORD FIESTA
Road less traveled:
Trollstigen’s winding
hairpin bends
his head when we ask for bacalao. “We’re inspired
by Noma, so bacalao doesn’t really fit.”
Comparing yourself to Noma, the world’s best
restaurant, is gutsy – especially if you’re a halfempty
onetime post office in Geiranger harbor.
But the creamy fish soup of blue mussels, Salma
salmon, spring onion, pale ale and crème fraîche
delivers.
Crossing the tiny street afterward, we’re transported
once again, this time via the Alps and Scottish
Highlands to Topanga Canyon, Los An geles.
Villa de Sving has the sort of hippie-chic vibe for
which Californian café owners would give one of
their dreadlocks.
“Californians like this place. It was while I was
traveling there that I started to dream of a café
like this,” Camilla Rönneberg says, bashing out
the grounds after making yet another cappuccino.
The black wooden cottage is full of secondhand
furniture, plastic details in Seventies orange, tea
lights, family games, and 1960s detective novels.
Even if the summer brings much-needed income,
Rönneberg looks forward to the off-season.
And perhaps a gentle hike in the mountains?
“No, no. In summer, we work around the clock,
so when fall and winter come we don’t want to go
walking around on some mountain. Not all Norwegians
are nature lovers. In winter, I just want to
sit here, drink wine and take it easy.”
We have almost come to the end of the road, but
there’s still time for one last detour. Erik Hil drestrand,
chef at the Juvet Landscape Hotel, will be
serving bacalao to night. We jump in the car and
drive the small winding roads up to the hotel.
The salt cod, dried on Averøya, has been rinsed
un der running water for 24 hours. Hildrestrand
puts it in an oven tray together with a tomato
reduc tion of chili, garlic and peppers.
“Good bacalao needs to have a kick, a real kick,”
Hildrestrand says, sliding the tray into the oven.
A couple of hours later and we’re finally about
to get a taste of what the average Norwegian eats
a kilo of each year (10kg if you’re Portu guese). It
does have a kick and, yes, it’s salty...
It’s almost worth the drive alone.
GO TO TRONDHEIM/ÅLESUND SAS takes you to Ålesund/
Trondheim. Book your trip at www.flysas.com. Use money or
your EuroBonus points, or combine points and money.
END OF THE ROAD 24 HOURS IN ÅLESUND
GRAB A LATE BREAKFAST. Wake up
with industrial-strength coffee and a bowl of
homemade muesli at Invit, an espresso barcum-interior
design store with raw concrete
walls, exposed pipework and pared-down
furniture. Apotekergata 9. www.invit.no
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN. The best way to
get your bearings and take in the town is to
climb the 418 steps up Mount Aksla to Fjellstua
lookout. www.fjellstua.no
LUNCH WITH THE LOCALS. Having
worked up an appetite, head to Lyst for good
old-fashioned home cooking and dishes such
as klippfisk with Serrano ham, potato purée
and buttered vegetables.
Kongensgate 12. www.lystmeny.no
GO TO A MUSEUM. Ålesund’s art nouveau
architecture is the result of a devastating
fire in 1907. The Jugenstilsenteret (Art
Nouveau Center) has exhibits on everything
from jewelry to advertising. Admission:
$12.50. Apotekergata 16.
www.jugendstilsenteret.no
SPLASH OUT ON DINNER. Right on the
docks, the seafood restaurant Sjøbua is a
favorite for fresh fish or bacalao, and even
has its own lobster farm. Brunholmgata 1.
Tel: +47 70 12 71 00. www.sjoebua.no
STAY Housed in an old fish warehouse
by the water, Hotel Brosundet’s rougher
edges – bare brick walls and untreated
pine – have been smoothed over by Norwegian
starchitects Snøhetta. Those
with money to burn should ask for room
No.47, a lighthouse perched at the end of
the Molja seawall on the Ålesund Strait.
Rooms from €175. Apotekergata 5.
Tel: +47 70 11 45 00. www.brosundet.no
Additional reporting Hedvig Andersson
58 FEBRUARY 2013 SCANORAMA