I don’t remember exactly when Scandinavia first started to enchant me. Maybe it was the first time I read the word friluftsliv – that beautiful Norwegian philosophy meaning “a life lived outdoors, in nature.” Maybe it was when I dreamt of waking up beside a mirror made of water and trees. In Gol, these aren’t just words. They are reality.
The river that led me to silence
The first image that welcomed me in Gol was that of a river flowing slowly – so slowly, it felt like it was showing me the way to peace.
Its banks were lined with stones shaped by time and rain, while above them, a crystal-clear sky was reflected so perfectly on the water’s surface that you didn’t know whether to look up or down.
And across the river – A-shaped cabins, wooden, with dark roofs and deep red edges. As if they’d stepped out of a fairytale. Quiet, yet inviting. They didn’t look like accommodation.
They looked like nests for the soul.
Colors, sounds, and breaths from another kind of life
Crossing the small wooden bridge that connected the two banks, I paused often just to look around.
I didn’t need to do anything.
I didn’t care about “sights,” nor did I need hurried photographs.
The landscape itself was the experience – the trees mirrored on the water, the wind whispering through the leaves, the raindrops from the night before still resting gently on the stones.
What I kept thinking as I walked was that Gol doesn’t overwhelm you with impressions. It quietly empties you of the unnecessary, so you can start to feel again. And that may be its greatest gift.
My own northern refuge
If you ask me today where I’d like to disappear for a while, I’ll tell you: to Gol.
To a place where time isn’t measured in hours, but in breaths.
Where it doesn’t matter what you do, only how you are.
And somewhere between a river that mirrors the sky, wooden cabins nestled in silence, and a sky that seems to touch your skin – you rediscover something you had forgotten: yourself.
📍 Gol is located in the Hallingdal Valley, in Norway’s Viken region – approximately a 3.5-hour drive from Oslo or Bergen.
🛖 The cabins are nestled along the riverbank, offering a rare sense of isolation within nature.
🗺️ Ideal for hiking, photography, or simply… for learning to be still.
If you’re searching for a place to “lose yourself” in the most beautiful way, just remember this word: Gol.
Find this story and more at travelview.gr – where nature gently teaches you how to feel calm again.
