Molde: the city of roses and fjords

Surrounded by over two hundred peaks composing the celebrated 'Molde Panorama', Molde also hosts a historic summer jazz festival.

The center, known as the city of roses, is comfortably explored on foot with views of surrounding fjords.

The Molde Panorama, a panoramic point that dominates the city, offers a view over more than two hundred twenty-two snow-capped peaks that compose the mountain horizon of the region.

Just nearby, the Cathedral of Molde, rebuilt after destruction in the Second World War, houses contemporary stained glass windows dedicated to Norwegian resistance.

Continuing along the port, you walk among the rose gardens that give the city the nickname 'city of roses', cultivated here thanks to an unusually mild microclimate.

As evening falls, a boat excursion in the Romsdalsfjorden Fjord offers close-up views of the mountains that surround the city.

Molde was almost completely destroyed by German bombing in 1940 when it temporarily sheltered the Norwegian government and royal family fleeing the Nazi invasion, before post-war reconstruction.

The Molde International Jazz Festival, among Europe's oldest, draws musicians and enthusiasts from across the continent every summer to a city of fewer than thirty thousand inhabitants.