An Escape Up the Coast

Joe was working like crazy.  A combination of being generally understaffed and unsupported with colleagues on holidays, jobs coming up at the same time and problems with equipment kept him at the office to nearly midnight (or sometimes after) for an entire week.  The poor guy would arrive at home, eat an extremely late dinner and slump into bed only to wake up at 6 and do it all again.  We had planned a night away before everything went nuts but of course, had to cancel the night before as Joe just couldn't get away.  When the following week calmed down, the time away was even more needed as I wondered if he might turn up at home one day telling me he quit his job.

Haugesund is a small city just up the coast from Stavanger and while it's only about 80 kilometres, 2 undersea tunnels and a ferry ride make the journey close to two hours by car.  We had no idea if there was really anything there but we've seen it on the map and road signs over the last couple of years and we were curious.  Known for its past in the herring industry and home to Norway's longest pedestrian street, we hoped it would be a quaint and cozy weekend away.

Well, truth be told, it wasn't.  The town itself felt a little run down and that long pedestrian street wasn't anything to write home about.  It wasn't lined with cute cafes and pubs and it lacked the charm we had hoped for.  After a quick peruse Friday evening, we immediately decided a day trip out of Haugesund was in order.

 Haugesund is also home to Norway's National Monument, Haroldshaugen.  Supposedly, Harald Fairhair is buried here.

Saturday after breakfast, we jumped back in the car destined for Langfoss, one of Norway's many waterfalls.  In 2011, CNN featured an article on the 10 most beautiful waterfalls in the world and Langfoss happened to make the cut.  Thankfully, it was impressive.  The sheer length (2 008 feet) combined with the width as the water crashes out over the rocks and into the fjord certainly make it a sight to be seen.  There is an accompanying hike to the top of the falls however, it's deemed as 'Demanding' and demanding in Norwegian standards is most definitely a challenge that I wasn't up for 7 months pregnant.  Instead, we drove the short drive over the bridge that cuts directly through the waterfall, parked and admired the sight from a number of different vantage points.  On the return trip back to Haugesund, we stumbled across a small Polish cafe in Ølen that was serving pierogis which might have been a highlight of the entire weekend.  They weren't the same as the Ukrainian variety I grew up eating regularly but they were pretty damn good.

So, Haugesund itself was a bit of a bust but the waterfall and those pierogis saved the trip.  Joe caught a break from his computer and it was nice to be just the two of us in the car with time to chat about life away from the distractions of home.  Sometimes, that's all that's needed.