Previous reports from this trip:

Introduction: Seeing the fjords in Norway
Quality Hotel Ã…lesund
Runde the Puffin Island
The resort town Kalvåg
The fjords in Stryn / Loen / Olden
Sognejord area and Balestrand
Geiranger fjord and staying in Stranda
The return to Ã…lesund through Trollstigen

We landed in Ã…lesund about 4 pm. I walked over to the rental car counter to get our rental car from Hertz. I have President’s Circle status thanks to my Platinum status with Delta Airlines. They upgraded my car from a compact Toyota Auris stick shift to a manual Audi A3. I haven’t driven a stick shift in over 15 years and so I was very happy with the upgrade.

I drove from the Vigra airport to the Quality Hotel Ã…lesund. There are two Quality Hotels in Ã…lesund – Quality Hotel Waterfront and Quality Hotel Ã…lesund. We choose Quality Hotel Ã…lesund because of the reviews that highlighted the abundance (by Norwegian standards) of free parking around the hotel.

The room was fantastic for our needs and we were pretty tired from the long trip and decided to just go to sleep.

This meant that we woke up super early in the morning and therefore decided to go on a hike for an overview of Ã…lesund to a place called Fjellstua.

We spent a good three hours hiking around and finally made our way back to the hotel for the amazing Scandinavian breakfast.