Every design for Åndalsnes

Locals still call it Nes. The farm of that name is the oldest settlement here, written down as early as 1354, and the town took its full name in 1888, when the post office joined it with the neighbouring farm of Åndal. In the 1860s the road down Romsdalen was finished to this spot, the tourist ships followed, and once the Rauma Line opened in 1924 Åndalsnes was the clear centre of inner Romsdal.

Raumabanen still ends at the harbour, the only railway in Møre og Romsdal. From the station it is not far to Norsk Tindesenter, which tells the story of climbing in mountains like Romsdalshornet and Trolltindan, to the gondola that lifts you from the centre to Nesaksla, and to viewpoints such as Rampestreken and Nebba. Below lies the town on its sandbank at the mouth of the river Rauma, where the Romsdalsfjord turns into the Isfjorden.

Growing up here means peaks on every side and Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, in the valley above. On the map, the river mouth, the station and the steep flank of Nesaksla trace a childhood in the town that calls itself Norway's capital of peaks.