Wrapped in a bath towel and gazing down over Norway's fjord and snow-capped mountains, Donal Conlon finds his suspicions of luxury melting away
As I had never been to Norway I consulted the map, as I love to do, to find our destination. The coastline resembled a monstrous comb with broken and missing teeth. I found the town of �lesund, on the west coast, south of the Arctic Circle, hiding behind a protective island.
The plane carried many trekkers and skiers, but we left them at the airport to take the bus from �lesund to Geiranger; we were going to taste a little luxury. This trip was a prize for an article I'd written for the Guardian describing the atmosphere on a Mozambican beach ? a far cry from snow-capped mountains and still-frozen glacial lakes, but you have to be adaptable.
Having lived my life without it, I'm slightly suspicious of luxury. To help me to cope, I had invited my sisters to accompany me. They more than compensated for my reticent relationship with opulence by their total embrace of it. We relaxed in chaises longues at the hotel windows of the Hotel Union, admiring the fjord. We were wrapped in bath towels and by our sides we had bowls of fruit, coffee and varieties of tea with names like "Cream Orange" and "Nurbong". There were saunas, hammams, massage rooms, swimming pools and discreet shadows flitted silently around us looking for whims to answer.
Among our excursions was a boat trip on the fjord. Between the sheer sides of the mountain we moved down the cleft that had been gouged out by ice. Cascading water from the still-melting snow crashed down in many waterfalls into the fjord and was the background music to the guide's four-language commentary. There were several traditional-style farms clinging to the sides of the mountains, abandoned now but maintained for their aesthetic beauty. We learned of the farm children, long ago, who had to be tied to trees to stop them falling off cliffs when the parents were away working in the fields.
We made a trip to �lesund's museum, taking us back to 1904, the year the town burned down. In the aftermath it seized the opportunity to rebuild in the art nouveau style, so making it architecturally quite unique, with a lightness and grace.
Out beyond, islands stretched towards the horizon. The bus took me to the island airport and I reluctantly said goodbye to Norway.
? Hotel Union (+47 70 26 83 00, hotelunion.no) offers doubles from 795NOK (around �89) per night B&B; for an extra �28 a buffet dinner of local food or a two-course meal is available; spa entry is �28. Norwegian Air (norwegian.com) flies Gatwick to �lesund from �112 return. For more information, see visitnorway.co.uk and visitalesund-geiranger.com
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/sep/23/norway-spa-break-geiranger-fjord
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