Norge/Norway/Norvége/Norwegen [antikvár]

There's a land that is nigh to the ne'er melting snows, Where the mantle of spring but the valleys enclothes . . . wrote Bjornstjerne Bjornson of Norway, and in view of its geographical position one might well expect the greater part of the country to lie firmly in the grip of ice and snow. Thanks to the waters of the Gulf Stream, however, Norway enjoys summers as hot as those of the British Isles and Central Europe, with long sunny days and nights that are but a fleeting twilight. With its population of a bare three and a half millión scattered over an area greater than that of Italy, and a landscape practically untouched by the rolling tide of twentieth-century industrialism, Norway ofifers unrivalled opportunities for relaxation to anyone wishing to escape from the nőise and bustle of city life. The shores of the Oslo Fjord and Southern Norway are studded with camping grounds and bathing beaches, and there the sea is warmer than anywhere else in Europe, apart from the Mediterranean. ít is probably the magnificent scenery of the West that is mainly responsible for Norway's international reputation as a tourist wonderland. The many fjords which cleave their way far into the interior, their deep waters mirroring the sheer rock walls that tower above, and the thundering waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet down the mountainsides, make a visit to this scenic paradise unforgettable. The peaks of Jotunheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane, the mountain ranges of Central Norway, are an eldorado for mountaineers and ramblers alike. Here are to be found the highest peaks in Northern Europe, interspersed with vast expanses of mountain moors completely unspoiled by the hand of man. And a voyage northwards along the coast of Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle and up to the Land of the Midnight Sun, to Finnmark, home of the Lapps, is an experience the wonder of which will remain alíve for ever. ift rm*:, -