Greetings community!
We went on a week-long road trip to the western part of Norway. As I've mentioned in previous posts, exploring Norway is best done by car, allowing you to spontaneously
stop at various locations to appreciate the natural landscapes, geoparks, old buildings, and historical and cultural attractions along the way. Also, one more point is to get the weather report. Summers can be very rainy here, which can ruin many outdoor activity plans. My husband is very clever to time the trip according to the weather forecast and plan routes with interesting stopping points to break up the driving.
the sun was shining when we started from home, but the forecast wasn't very good- rain and thunder showers. But the forecast was for several days of good weather in the mountains to the west. Since the evenings are light, we started in the afternoon. Our first stop for the night would be in a town called Flesberg.
Around a four-and-a-half-hour drive from home.
When we started from the town, there was no sign of bad weather.
As soon as we crossed one town, the thunder clouds started gathering.
when we reached Konsberg, the rain shower was over, but still it was cloudy.
The summer days were long and the light lingered until midnight, so I asked my husband to take a break and walk a bit around the Kongsberg Bridge. He also wanted a break from driving, so we stopped to enjoy a short walk around the bridge and the small park nearby.
Due to rain and snowmelt, the Lågan River's water level was high and flowing vigorously. The Gamlebrufossen and Våpenfabrikkfossene waterfalls are part of the Gamlebrufossen hydroelectric power plant, developed in 1971. It has a 15 MW capacity, an average annual production of 66 GWh, contributing to a combined average production of 91 GWh for the two power plants.
To approach the bridge, we have to walk from this small park.
From the bridge, the Lågan.
The Kongsberg Silver Mines were in operation for 335 years, from 1623 to 1958. Over this period, the mines were a significant part of Kongsberg's history, even making it Norway's second-largest city for a time. produced approximately 1,350 tonnes of silver. I will write about that in another post.
The bridge features four sculptures by Arne Durban,(both ends of bridge but we did not cross the bridge) gifted by the city's business community: The Forester and The Skier (both unveiled on May 17, 1956), and The Blacksmith's Boy and The Silversmith's Journeyman (both unveiled on May 17, 1957). During a 2006 upgrade, large copies of some Norwegian coins and medals were added along the railing.. The Norwegian Mint, located at Nybrua here in town, produced all the coinage for the country. Additionally, the bridge displays two shields: one with the seal of Oberbergamtet and the other with Kongsberg's coat of arms.
These coins were made of silver a long time ago. There haven't been silver coins in circulation for many years..
I wanted to have more time here, but we had a long way to drive to our destination. we returned to the car before the rain started again and continued to get to the cabin we had booked for the night.
Thank you.
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