> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.luisnatera.photo/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 049 - Norway: Oslo to Hardangervidda - URL: https://www.luisnatera.photo/norway-oslo-hardangervidda/ - Published: 2026-09-22T21:07:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T21:07:13.000Z - Author: Luis Natera - Tags: newsletter, travel, travel photography, Norway Up we went. Climbing some metres with every kilometre that passed by, every turn as a tally of gaining altitude as we move. The goal was to arrive at Lake Halnefjorden, 1,140m higher than Oslo, and sitting in Europe’s largest mountain plateau, the Hardangervidda. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260809-DSCF8800.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260809-DSCF8827.jpg) Before the climb up, the city. Oslo with its distinctive architecture from the Opera House to the Astrup Fearnley Museum. The contrast is striking, not only between city and nature, but even in the city. The softness of the wood in the Astrup Fearnley Museum, giving shape to the curves of the structure, a softness that can be seen and felt all around in the fjord: the boats, wood houses, the warmth of the buildings offering cover from the wind and cold days. Even in summer. The Opera House, on the other hand, a building almost clinical, like a white block of ice, with sharp lines and a scale that makes anyone feel small. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/07/DSCF7023-1.jpg) ## Photography, creativity, and the odd side project I write most weeks about photography, the creative habit, and building things outside the algorithm. Free, and you can leave anytime. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260810-DSCF8971-1.jpg) The arrival was no less impressive. A cloudy fresh morning, the kind of breeze that wakes you up with a little chill, and makes you happy to have a coffee in hand, feeling the warmth of it. We were arriving by ferry from Copenhagen, as we were standing up on the deck feeling the air and the smell of the sea, the fjord was popping up with [coastal towns](https://www.luisnatera.photo/010-travel-notes-from-scotland-st-andrews-skye-and-celebration/), little colourful buildings, one after another, small towns on islands. A full spectacle by itself. It was like moving and looking at a very long postcard. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260810-DSCF9090.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260810-DSCF9126.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260811-DSCF9181.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260811-DSCF9198.jpg) As we climbed towards the Hardangervidda, the vegetation started to change, from the city atmosphere of Oslo to deep green forests and lakes with clear waters that turn into blues as one peeks at the horizon. In between all this nature: a museum. Like a bridge between nature and art. The museum, placed deep in the forest, in what used to be a paper mill. The space now hosts a diverse collection of sculptures among the trees that we discovered [as we walk the grounds](https://www.luisnatera.photo/029-walking-and-seeing/). I like these kinds of places that go beyond the ordinary, blurring the lines between nature and art. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260811-DSCF9278.jpg) And indeed, out of the ordinary was the plateau. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260811-DSCF9305.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260811-DSCF9302.jpg) We arrived as the sun was setting, giving that peculiar light to the clouds highlighting their volume, and softly draws the silhouettes of [the mountains around us](https://www.luisnatera.photo/027-mountains-and-creativity/). The delicate dance between blues and whites fading into the black of the night. We stayed for a while, having dinner, and chatting with the owners of the place. I can only imagine what they get to see staying there, day after day, a spectacle that never gets old and changes with the seasons. The next morning, the sunrise was unique. I deeply enjoy the moments of calmness before the sun rises, before life starts again. Those moments, when the world is still. Like the thin frost on the grass, the one that crunches under the feet before revealing the green of the grass, and the slowly moving creeks feeding the lakes. As I stood there, looking at the horizon, the light slowly starts to change, the clouds get illuminated, and what used to be a dark grey sky, now turns into a soft blue, slowly, at the beginning, and accelerating as the earth turns to face the sun. Finalizing with an explosion of colours in the sky reflecting on the lakes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9311-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9316-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9339-1.jpg) For me, this place represented the definition of out in the open. Where there’s nothing to contain the eyes from freely roaming around the scenes. Notice the place where the sky and the lakes become one, where the colours of the grass, yes, the grass has a multitude of colours beyond green, melt with the greys and browns of rocks. A place where the mind keeps wondering what’s beyond the horizon. The plateau is a place of calmness. It’s a place to observe infinity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9514.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9522.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9626.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9637.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260813-DSCF9656.jpg) We drove through the plateau, looking for the border of it, as if we were chasing the edge of the world. And the edge, as it turns out, is a place of force. Dramatic by itself, full of character and water, a proper drop. The calmness of the plateau gives way to a rapid movement of water: the Vøringsfossen waterfall. 182m of free fall, the Bjoreio river dropping off the plateau into Måbødalen. It is as if all the creeks and rivers of the plateau, that once were calmly flowing along delicate hills, watering grass, and feeding lakes, now converge as one, and suddenly decide to leave the place, making an exit that cannot be ignored. The force of the water is so strong, crushing whatever lies beneath it, but at the same time, with a graciousness and delicacy capable of producing clouds as soft as cotton candy. A softness that can only be found in nature. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9356-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9364.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9394.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2026/09/20260812-DSCF9425.jpg) The view from the plateau lets us imagine what lies below it. Water, lakes with streams flowing into fjords, and a vastness of nature.