#19 Norwegian Scenic Routes (Nasjonale turistveger)

Reading Time: 17 minutes

The photographs used in this post are either from Pixabay or The Norwegian Scenic Routes Section Image Bank, from the Nasjonale Turistveger website, and can be found at the following link: https://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en/press/image-bank/. All rights belong to them, and the original captions and photo credits have been included.

TRANSCRIPT:

Break out that blanket and take a nice long drive, It’s time for Architecture, Coffee, & Ink.

30 second Intro song

Hello, this is Hollywood C. and you’re listening to Architecture, Coffee, & Ink. A podcast dedicated to introducing concepts, detailing out designs, and tackling the architecture you might not realize the meaning behind. I’m your hostess and I am here today to start introducing you to the designs that make you wonder why.

tag line:  So I ask you to brew your coffee, grab your sketch book and pen, and let’s begin.

Hello everyone! Today is a brand new day! I kind-of feel like I need to crawl in and offer IOU notes for coffee dates and missing episodes, BUT I do have a reason that everything has been late. But first , welcome to everyone, both old and new! If you have been here a while, or if this is your first episode, I hope you enjoy! This is your first episode, this is actually a really good time to start, because this is new episode, and isn’t connected to anything else. Thank you to everyone who reached out and asked what’s been going on. Funnily, enough they were writing to ask if I was feeling bad again, and if that’s why I was backtracking on the releases that I am working on, and the truth is, yes I was sick again-because my coffee was poisoning me! Okay, it wasn’t literally poisoning me, but it was mislabeled and I was allergic to one of the ingredients. Which I have to be honest with you, while I am glad to know what has been going on, I also feel like I have been betrayed on a level I cannot comprehend. Caffeine and I have been together through 3 degrees come May, so to know that it has come to this is more than I can bear. But truthfully, I strayed and tried a new brand, so I guess this is why you shouldn’t cheat. I would like to politely vote to strike February from the official 2022 calendar. Thank you next please- February, we can try again next year.  A BONUS episode was released in February, called Once upon a Scruffy City. And for some of you, you may have missed the release, because I have discovered that on some platforms when an episode is labeled BONUS, it doesn’t alert the listeners. So make sure to double check that you aren’t one of those who missed out on the first part of the next chapter of my Thesis. 

All joking aside,  I am going to take a moment to focus onto a more serious topic. I have no doubt my listeners have been following the news in the past few weeks and are aware of the fighting ongoing between the Ukraine and Russia. I will be sharing some information on ways to help with war relief efforts from the Red Cross and a few others. If you can and feel called to donate and help, the information will be on the Facebook page and group. I know that for some of my listeners, podcasts are a way to escape the news and reality for a few hours, but please at least send a kind thought, good karma, prayer, well wish, to all those who are affected by what is going on. If you ever know of similar efforts or would like to share a cause that I am not aware of, please always feel free to share them. But please remember that wars maybe waged by governments, but the casualties are always people. As I am releasing three episodes this week, this message is going to be released in all three episodes that are coming out. So please, if you are able, see what efforts you can assist with that are in your area.

But this week is going to focus on one of the many episodes I have promised, the Norwegian Scenic Routes! This is a project that we talk about all the time in my school, we absolutely love to study it, so I am really excited to share it with everyone today!  Before we dive in, this is good moment to remind everyone to always check your sources, check your facts, and more importantly, check me!  Also, please double check the pronunciation-especially this week. I always try my best and research them, but since this is not a language I speak,  I encourage everyone to search out ways to hear the correct pronunciation. I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say it incorrectly, and want to make sure that the proper respect is given to each culture I share and discuss in the past, present, and future of this podcast. As I told one my students this week, I am here to share and collaborate-and struggle through countless YouTube videos trying to correctly pronounce the words. 

So, under the episode title, I called this project the Norwegian Scenic Routes, which in more the name that you see in English translations but from my understanding is not the exact translation of the name. The true name is Nasjonale turistveger, which translates closer to National Tourist Roads. For the sake of covering all my basis, I chose to include both names in the title of the episode.

So, what is the scenic route? While, as you may have guessed, this route is located across Norway, the first part of this episode is going to talk about the brief history of Norway itself before we move onto the Scenic Routes.  I know that we have a least a couple of Norwegian listeners, so I am expecting a grade on how bad my pronunciation is.  Now, instead of going all the way back into pre-history for this episode, we are actually going to focus on more recent history. …Relatively speaking. First, let’s set some vocabulary-since not all my listeners are familiar with the differences, please bear with me as I explain this if you are. So, let’s talk about the difference between Norse, Norwegian, and Nordic. So Norse is what is currently trending in pop culture and focuses primarily on the Vikings, and can be focused on the years from 793-1066. This includes several modern day countries, not just Norway, and it would be fairer to say that it is focused on Scandinavia. So, this includes Marvel’s favorite Norse Gods, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and my favorite, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Of course, the true mythology of the Norse Gods is very different then what the big screen shows- and when I eventually discuss a Norse Ruin, I will totally dive into that. Or perhaps the add an extra to the Religions of the World episodes I am working on, we will see. But Nordic, covers everything within the Nordic regions, and the time range associated with that is starting from 1919-now. If you look at a map, this is multiple countries around the Arctic Circle and the July isotherm, from Greenland through Finland. There is a Nordic Association, or Förening Norden, of which the name comes from. Norwegian, which is our focus, is going to be from the country of Norway, which timeline wise is from the Middle Ages through today, with independence being declared in 1905, which I will explain in just a bit. In addition to being important to today’s episode, hopefully that helps answer a listener’s question they left on the website. They didn’t leave a name or email, so please get in back in touch if you need more clarification. 

So the Kingdom of Norway, is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula, and includes several archipelagos and islands, there are several oversea territories and dependencies as well. Although, some islands is a bit of an understatement, since there are roughly 50,000+ islands just along the coast.  Among the list of nationally recognized languages is Norwegian,  Sámi, Kven, Romani, Scandoromani, and Norwegian Sign Language. With an estimated population of 5,405,000 people, currently underneath King Harald V and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the 36th to serve.

Geographically, the majority of the residents are concentrated to the coastal areas, and lower part of the country. Oslo the capital was established roughly 6,000 years ago. Currently, the country boasts several exports, including Crude Petroleum, Petroleum Gas, fish, and raw materials. Research wise, they have produced some world renowned scientist, including names such as Niels Henrik Abel, for whom the Abel prize is named, and 13 Nobel Laureates. Of course, this has nothing on the beautiful scenery, and diverse geography, from the fjords, to the Mountains, and Fennoschandian Shield. While I will post pictures as I always do of the locations on the Blog, this is great time to check out the sources. Among the travel guide and the various websites is a series of photos of breathtaking locations. Of course, I love travel and landscapes in general, and have yet to find anywhere I don’t like, so take a look and decide for yourself! Like other locations up North, the Northern Lights are also a strong feature you can check out when visiting the country.

Now, let’s  wrap up the back history with a bullet point of the facts about the country itself. So, it was actually part of the Denmark kingdom for a while, after being united for the first time in the 11th century, before it was transferred to Sweden, then from Sweden it gained Independence in  1905. That’s why earlier, I stated that the time period for Norway extended before 1905.

The last topic to discuss, is the Sámi People, who are native to Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Finland. Their language, as I mentioned earlier is one of the national languages, and  a Finno-Ugric language.  While they are most commonly known for reindeer herding, it is estimated that only 10% are actually involved. They are experiencing a threat to their way of life, across all of the regions they call home, due to economic development, etc. While some are settled down, some are semi-nomadic, and travel with the herds. But one of my buildings from my coolest buildings list is the Sámi Parliament, which is located in Karasjok, Finland and is shaped to be like their tents, the lavvo. Of course, the beautiful art, and the clothes, and patterns is all amazing, and again, if you have the chance to do some extra research, please-please, choose this episode to spiral down an image search  rabbit-hole. Although, this is where I am supposed to name drop the movie Frozen, but I really cannot tell you how much I don’t want to be sued as a broke Graduate Student and I took way too big of a risk with the name dropping I have already done.

Okay, now that I have set the scene and created the backdrop of history, let’s talk about the project itself. So all of the photos for this episode unless otherwise stated on the blog, are from the Nasjonal turistveger website, and a link to all images will be posted, so that everyone can see the originals. But, the Norwegian Scenic Routes are a series of 18 driving routes that are managed by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. Kicked off in 1993, with the aims of combining roads and tourism, it has utilized a series of government departments. Overall there will be 4.85 billion Norwegian Krone put into the project, which equals roughly 550 million USD, or 506,566,500.00 Euros, or 63,506,300,000.00 Yen invested into the project from 1994 to 2029. The majority of the money, will come directly from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and rest will be from the local municipalities. This project takes place under the Director General of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

The routes, which are also called the golden routes, are spread around the entire country, looking at the most rural parts of the communities, are designed to boost the economic through Tourism, however, a car is required. While some of the areas are able to be reached by bus, to see all of the sites and locations, you have to use cars. All of the major routes are paved and include infrastructure, including what is considered the world’s best toilets. The highlighted routes are scattered along the Norwegian Sea, and spread across the entire country, from top to bottom, with a larger concentration being focused on the bottom half.  Altogether it is 2151 km.  This includes the West Coast, Northern Norway and Mountains of Southern Norway.

The original idea came out in 1993, and it started in 1994, and was changed in 1997 to the National Tourist Routes when it was expanded. The original routes were the Helgeland Coast Route, Gamle Strynefjellsveg, Hardanger, and Sognefjellsvegen. Once they decided to expand, they had the municipalities around the country nominate the roads to join the project, resulting in a total of 8,000 kilometers that got selected down to the final 1850 kilometers that was finally decided upon in 2004, with sign postings coming out in 2012.

Okay let’s break this down into a timeline, in a quick bullet-points list: 

1994-97 was considered the pilot program

1998-was the go ahead to continue

1998-2004 was clarification of the project

2004-now, is the development. 

2024-is the maintenance

The employees-and they list 15 total-are primary scattered across three different locations. The Routes themselves are a nationwide project that utilizes three different councils, An Architecture Council, a Designated arts curator and Arts Council and a Scenic Routes Forum. Currently, there is 8 county administrations and 59 municipalities involved-and the currently ongoing project is projected to be finally completed in 2023.

Alongside each of the routes is a series of artworks and architecture, and heralds back to a longstanding tradition wherein Norway has focused on invoking and enhancing nature, allowing for an enhanced experience. The majority of the artwork and architecture comes from Norwegian firms, however, several international guests have been allowed to contribute. What remains repeated throughout the website, is that the emphasis remains on “innovation and creativity”. There is a longstanding history of awards, starting from 1998 through as recently as last year. And seriously, how could this project not? It covers beautiful terrain in a thought provoking way, that honors the history and the people. The program offers enough flexibility, that the differences enhances, without detracting away from the project.

So, from the Norwegian Scenic Routes website, the 18 routes are as follows, listed in order from their website: Varanger, Havøysund, Senja, Andøya,

Lofoten, Helgelandskysten, Atlanterhavsvegen, Geiranger – Trollstigen,

Gamle Strynefjellsvegen, Rondane, Sognefjellet, Valdresflye, Gaularfjellet,

Aurlandsfjellet, Hardanger, Hardangervidda, Ryfylke, Jæren. Now, for the future goals, starting in 2022, there will be an additional 11 project added.  As you can tell, this project continues to develop and grow. So, among the new additions to the project, are the works of Helen & Hard, Code Arkitektur, Biotope, and Snøhetta.

But once again a big thank you to all my listeners! I know I say this every week, but please: Please rate and review. If you liked it, loved it, hated it, let me know. I love feedback, and hearing from everyone, and more importantly, sparking conversation.  We again have a Facebook page and private group, both of which are under the same name: Architecture, Coffee, & Ink, which is again, pretty young a podcast. https://architectureink.design.blog/, is the website,  Everything will be linked in the show notes. Now, later on, I will be posting two other episodes, the “Panopticon Penitentiary” and “Killing Stones and Sulphur Springs”! Please be on the lookout! I have already scheduled those episodes releases, so while I know that in the past month, I have struggled, I can finally and confidentially say that it is behind me. I will be posting the transcript and some images on the blog later in the afternoon, so please keep an eye out for that, but as always,

May your coffee mugs be full, and your ink wells never run dry.

60 secs end song re-looped.

SOURCES:

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Bergskaug, Elisabeth. “Nasjonale Turistveger: – Et Unikt Prosjekt I Internasjonal Sammenheng.” ABC Nyheter. ABC Nyheter, July 3, 2018. https://www.abcnyheter.no/reise/reisenyheter/2018/07/03/195412290/nasjonale-turistveger-et-unikt-prosjekt-i-internasjonal-sammenheng.

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