Torghatten, Norway

Torghatten is a granite mountain on Torget island in Brønnøy municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is known for its characteristic hole, or natural tunnel, through its center. It is possible to walk up to the tunnel on a well-prepared path, and through it on a natural path.
According to legend, the hole was made by the troll Hestmannen while he was chasing the beautiful girl Lekamøya. As the troll realized he would not get the girl, he released an arrow to kill her, but the troll-king of Sømna threw his hat into the arrow's path to save her. The hat turned into the mountain with a hole in the middle. Also, Felice Vinci has linked the legends about Torghatten to the Homeric myth of Polyphemus.
The tunnel is 160 metreslong, 20 metres  wide, and 35 metres high. It was formed during the Scandinavian ice age. Ice and water eroded the looser rocks, while the harder ones in the mountain top have resisted erosion.
Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to Marie for this amazing view!

Sent: 21 April 2016   Received: 11 May 2016   Travelled: 20 days

Svolværgeita, Norway

Svolværgeita (Northern Sami: Spålla) is a 150-metre tall pinnacle at the southwest face of Fløyfjellet on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. The 569-metre (1,867 ft) high Fløyfjellet is located on the edge of the town of Svolvær in the municipality of Vågan in Nordland county, Norway. The first recorded time a climber reached the summit of Svolværgeita was on 1 August 1910 by Ferdinand Schjelderup, Alf Bonnevie Bryn and Carl Wilhelm Rubenson.

The name Svolværgeita is from the first element, Svolvær, since it is located in that town. The last element is the finite form of geit which means "goat", since the mountain has two "horns". The two horns are called Storhorn and Lillehorn. By descending from Storhorn it is common to jump over a 1.5 metre wide gap and land safely on Lillehorn, while viewing the town cemetery 300 metre below.

Source: Wikipedia

Ohhh reading this ,yes indeed I see the two "horns" as mentioned.

Thanks to Marie for this amazing and one of the iconic images of Norway.

Sent: 12 Oct   Received: 27 Oct 2015   Travelled: 15 days

Trollfotografen

81 Trollfotografen by Rolf Lindberg

Rolf Lidberg Jonas (May 26, 1930 in Järkvissle, Sweden – 15 February 2005) was a Swedish artist and botanist, best known for his watercolor paintings and books with paintings of trolls depicting their life near Sweden's Indal river. In his illustrations, his trolls were very human, and usually occupied with something in nature, such as berry or mushroom picking, fishing, or gazing up in the sky. His books have been translated into 12 different languages.

Lidberg's main interest was botany, especially orchids and fungi. He was also a founder of a local mycological society in 1970, traveled around Europe to paint and draw vegetation, and spent long periods in Sicily, where he became an honorary citizen of the city Geraci Siculo.

Lidberg was known for having had hunchback and big beard, closely resembling the trolls that were one of his favorite subjects for illustration. He even named one of his famous troll illustrations, "Self-Portrait." In the early 1980s, Swedish national television channel SVT broadcast a series of three programs on Rolf Lidberg, titled, "A Man and His Flowers."

Thank you so much Marie for this wonderful card of Trolls by Rolf Lindberg.

I love seeing how happy the troll is in looking for his perfect shot. 

Sent: 22 June 2015   Received: 7 July 2015   Travelled: 15 days

I love Norway

Geiranger, Breng, Lovatnet, Ludvig Holberg in Bergen

Thanks to Eva for this lovely postcard of her own holiday photos.

Sent: 3 July 2015   Received: 24 July 2015   Travelled: 21 days

Moss, Norway

Moss is a coastal town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. The rural municipality of Jeløy was merged with the city on 1 July 1943.
Its administrative district covers areas east of the town, such as the island of Dillingøy in the lake Vansjø. Parts of the town are located on the peninsula of Jeløy. Moss city has 30,723 inhabitants (2012).
The Old Norse form of the name was Mors. It may be derived from an old root mer- which means to "divide" or "split".

What a surprising card that came to my mailbox, I didn't pay attention to the name

of the city in the card until I researched it, so it is another great addition to my

Funny Name places. Thank you very much Marie for this special postcard of Moss :D

Sent: 13 April 2015   Received: 11 May 2015   Travelled: 28 days

Troll

One normally imagines them to be fierce and a huge menace but the Norweigian troll series shows them in a wholesome way. Thank you Lill for this awesome card!

Sent: 14 January 2014
Received: 27 January 2014
Travelled: 13 days

Sæbø

 

Finally the stray card arrives and the most stunning of all! Thank you for the paradise view Jo.

Stunning!

 

Sent: 15 November 2013

Received: 6 December 2013

Travelled: 

Myklebustsætra

On the road between Ålfoten and Svelgen is the valley of Myklebustdalen with the mountain farm of Myklebustsætra located close to the lake of Sætravatnet. This is one of the few mountain farms in the county of Sogn og Fjordane still in use.
http://www.coast-alive.eu/content/mountain-farm-myklebustsaetra-alfoten

Thank you Jo for a view of the mountain farm! Looks like a place out of time :)

 

Sent: 15 November 2013

Received: 27 November 2013

Travelled: 12 days

Norangsfjorden

Gunnar Wangen (www.naturfotografen.no)

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion. The word comes to English from Icelandic, but related words are used in several Scandinavian languages, in many cases to refer to any long narrow body of water other than the more specific meaning it has in English. There are many fjords on the coasts of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland

 

Thank you Jo for the beautiful view of Norangsfjorden!

 



Sent: 15 November 2031
Received: 27 November 2013
Travelled: 12 days

Puffins, Norway

Gunnar Wangen

Puffins are any of three small species of alcids (auks) in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil. Two species, the Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin, are found in the North Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic Puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Thanks Jo for another great addition to my bird and Norway album :)

Check out Gunnar's photography at www.naturfotografen.no

Sent: 15 November 2013

Received: 27 November 2013

Travelled: 12 days

Map of Norway

 

Picture top to bottom: Nordkapp, Lofoten, Trondheim, Geiranger, Preikestolen, Lindesnes

 

Norway officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Scandinavian unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island.Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of a little above 5 million. It is the 2nd least densely populated country in Europe. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km or 1,006 mi long), which is the longest uninterrupted border within both Scandinavia & Europe at large. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak Strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. It shares maritime borders with Russia by the Barents Sea; Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland by the Norwegian Sea; and Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom by the North Sea. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is laced with fjords, a renowned part of its landscape. The capital city Oslo is the largest in the nation, with a population of 650 thousand. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, fresh water, and hydropower.

 

Thank you Jo for the beautiful map!

 

Sent: 24 April 2013

Northern lights

Vesterålen Islands

Thank you Jo for this amazing Northern Lights card!

Sent: 23 April 2013

Hell,Norway

Twilight, Hell Station

 

Wow! How cool is this?! I've heard of Hell, Michigan but I never knew there were other Hell cards elsewhere. Hell in Norweigan means "Luck" so it's not really a Hell card but nevertheless,it's still a great card :D

I hope you're doing well in your new school,thanks Marte for this card

Sent: ??
Received: 11 Septembe 2013

Stave church of Norway

 

Borgund Stave Church is a stave church located in Borgund, Lærdal, Norway. It is classified as a triple nave stave church of the so-called Sogn-type. This is also the best preserved of Norway's 28 extant stave churches.

A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building. The name is derived from the buildings' structure of post and lintel construction which is a type of timber framing, where the load-bearing posts are called stafr in Old Norse and stav in Norwegian. Two related church building types are also named for their structural elements, the post church and palisade church, but are often also called stave churches.

 

Thank you Jo for another treasure from Norway! Love the historical aspect of this church and the unique architecture.

 

Sent: 22 March 2013

Received: 3 April 2013

Travelled: 12 days