Geiranger Norway

As you cruise into the Geiranger Fjord on the west coast of Norway the first thing you notice is the mountains. They fill the scene and your vision as they line your travel through the fjord.The 15 km fjord itself is an arm of the Sunnylvs Fjord, which in turn is a branch of the Storfjorden, or Great Fjord. Seems like Norway has plenty of fjords to spare.

This beautiful deep blue fjord is a Unesco World Heritage site and deservedly so. The colours of the water tame the whites of the mountain peaks and yet at the same time seem to embolden the mountain tops to shout "look at us"!

 On the way to the end of the fjord small farms appear to be impossibly nestled on any spot of land that humans, goats, or cows seem to be able to walk on regardless of the pitch of the land. Numerous times we would look at steep mountains sides that descended to the water's edge and be amazed that a farm was tucked into a tiny spot of ground.

Our ship The Norwegian Star is a fair size ship as you can see here; it seems large sitting in the small inlet at the head of the fjord.The town of Geiranger itself is small and we were lucky as only our ship was in port today. We have been told by the locals that up to 5 cruise ships can be in town on the same day.That would equate to 8,000 - 10,000 people in a tiny village where 1,000 makes it seem like the town is over run.

Like the farms we viewed as we came into the fjord, Geiranger itself clings to the mountainside and uses every piece of land it can, be it residential housing or small urban farms close to the city.
The larger white building in the lower left of the first picture is the Geiranger Hotel where travelers and vacationers can stay while they enjoy the rugged country at the city's edge. Activity is centralized on the outdoors and this is the type of place where everything there is to do requires you to be in fit shape; hiking, kayaking, and mountain climbing, are just some of the activities that draw people to the area.

Annette and myself, and Linda and Ken didn't have the luxury of time so we used one of the tourist buses to........

 To go up roads like this............

To give us views like this......seemed like the economical way to conserve our time during the day..... :)

The view point on The Eagle Road gets you high up the side of the mountain to provide an "eagle's eye view" of the fjord below. Well worth the drive up the steep, narrow mountain road with it's 11 hairpin turns so tight that the buses wait for each other to turn the corner before proceeding. More than once the turn was so tight that our bus kissed the tiny rock ledge on the side of the road that is supposed to act as a bumper to keep the bus on the road. The views are worth the excitement factor...the next three pictures provide a glimpse of what we were able to see from our perch on the mountain.

Our cruise ship doesn't look so large now, does it?

Small pictures don't do the scenery justice......click on the pictures to see them full size...

Back down at sea level we wandered the small town, well, really a cute village, meandering in and out of the little tourist shops at the edge of the fjord.

We spotted a couple of these birds foraging at the water's edge; we have similar birds on the coast of Vancouver Canada named "Common Oyster Catcher". These birds are very similar but I thought I had spotted a bird that surely would have some kind of exotic name in Norway....turns out they are named "Common European Oyster Catchers".....so much for an exotic name!

To help preserve the heritage of the area, various old buildings from different generations have been brought here to act as an outdoor museum for the visiting tourists. If you look close enough you will notice the differences in building methods from one generation to the next.

You're looking at the downtown area of Geiranger...big the town is not but the sheer location of the town makes it a worth while trip.

Annette looks so cute is the picture...what she is really saying is "I'm cold...look there's snow on the mountains behind me...that's how cold I am"! But she looks good saying it! 

A few last pictures of the Geiranger Fjord as we cruise out of the fjord heading for the open seas

Steep mountain edges draped in mist from waterfalls fight for your attention with the scattered farms clinging to any spot of land that the inhabitants believe can support their farm life.

Which way do you look to be awed....do you look ahead to watch the fjord merge with another larger fjord flanked by mountain ranges? Or do you look up at the mountains themselves? Either way you won't be disappointed with the view in Geiranger Fjord.

As always the night ends with a new friend waiting on the bed for us. With offers of chocolates and the news of tomorrow wrapped in a cloak of cuteness it's hard not to mind him sneaking into our cabin.

All pictures of our trip to the Geiranger Fjord and Geiranger itself can be found here on my Flickr site. 

If you like the write up on Geiranger add a comment in the comment section, it's always nice to receive feedback

Europe 2015 - Cruising into Flam Norway

Another night of gliding through the Norway fjords brought us to village of Flam located at the end of the scenic Aurlandsfjorden, which in turn is a tributary of the Sognefjorden. This would be the smallest population centre we would visit on the cruise but it by no means was less spectacular than our other ports of call.

Vivid green grass and rushing waterfalls hinted that Winter wasn't too long gone from these parts. And as we would see later in the day, that Winter was still hanging around not far from town..

The highlight of the visit to Flam is to catch a ride on the portion of the Flamm railway that runs from the port of Flam 12 miles up into the mountains to a small rail stop that connects the railway onto other parts of Norway. This portion of the railway is one of the steepest in the world, at a rate of 1 in 18.

Here's good tip for those pondering this train ride.....the train does not just go to Myrdal station and then come back, at least not per se.
As this is a working national railway, people can buy a ticket to Myrdal and beyond by transferring trains at Myrdal and continuing. Be aware.....you can buy a ticket up to Myrdal, but as there are people coming towards Flam the other way, you may not be able to catch a return train as the coaches may be sold out.  Here's the trick....once you get of your boat "run" to the train station in town (a couple of minutes from the boat) and get in line first to book your round trip tickets.

We weren't that experienced yet, so we stood in a long line up and had to book tickets for later in the day. All good, except we had to "kill" time for a few hours.

Click on the pictures to see them full size......you'll marvel at the beauty

 We opted to catch the tourist tram that went around the village and puttered up the beginnings of the mountain valley to older areas of the village.This let us A) keep out of the rain for a while, and B) get a slow closeup view of parts of the village we might not have seen.

  We noticed areas where the river had overflown its banks and scoured away bridges and parts of the roadway. Large backhoes signaled the restoration process was still ongoing.

The quaintness of the older sections of the area were enhanced by the dreary day, the greens and browns some how more vivid to the eye. This was the side of Norway we wanted to see....strong and vital life set against a backdrop of soaring mountains and wild rivers.

After touring the village by the "pretend" train, we sauntered over to the old railway station which was now the Flam Train Museum housing all sorts and manner of transportation, mostly revolving around train life. The museum also hosted many "live" exhibits telling the story of the making of the Flam railway.

  Most people had a summer and winter ride....one with wheels for the summer and one with slide rails for the winter. In the mountains of Norway they have real winters folks, not just a couple of snow flakes now and then.

If you were lucky you could hitch a ride on the motorcycles converted into sled cars.

It was almost embarrassing to look across the inlet to know how we had arrived, all the while complaining about the rain. We are surely spoiled compared to even just a generation ago.

ALL ABOARD ! We're on our way  !!

Small settlements took advantage of level land where it could be found in the mountain valley. Each new bend in the tracks brought either a new vista or a new settlement, or both.

Low laying clouds weren't actually that low, were were just climbing that high that quickly. Wouldn't be surprised if we seen snow....locals said there was still a bit of snow at the top.

One track up, once track down, and only one place on the mountain with enough space to make a "passing" zone for the oncoming train.

And right on queue, here are the remnants of the previous winter hanging tough into May. The road in the picture was the old road used while the railway was being built. Now that's a crazy drive.

Scenic stop both on the way up and on the way down is this rugged mountain waterfall fueled by the melting snow. And yes it was cold up here compared to down in Flam.....bring your big coats.

Pretty well all the train riders took advantage of the the scenic viewpoint to snap pictures and wonder about the hard life living high in the mountains isolated in a place like this.

Enhancing the experience is a Forest Spirit that comes alive and runs about the ruins while it sings its siren song to attract weak men under its spell. Might have worked on me if there was indoor plumbing at that place!

Our coach stopped in one of the tunnels along the line when the train stopped at the waterfall...it was a bit different walking along a train tunnel as, since we were kids, we were warned to "stay out of tunnels"!

Continuing on and nearly at the top we go past an alpine hotel..and do you see how much snow is still here! There is 3 feet still on the ground - can you imagine how much there was during winter?

End of the line - it's the small train station located at Myrdahl.The train waits for 10 minutes, then reverses and heads back down to water's edge at Flam. We had just gotten back on the train a few minutes earlier after stopping at the waterfall....many parts of our bodies were still cold so most opted to stay on board and just enjoy the view before we started back down the tracks to Flam.

This was definitely a highlight...beautiful mountain vistas, a touch of winter to augment the vivid greens, and a ethereal fog to lend a bit of mystery for our trip both up and down the mountain.

The full set of pictures from Flam may bee seen here on my Flickr site...go see them, the area is beautiful 

Back on the ship we scurried to our cabins to warm up and we were all delighted to see yet another creature waiting for us. Wasn't too hard to see why the dinosaurs went extinct....they couldn't handle the Norwegian winters.

Only one day left on our cruise and the big town of Bergen awaits us....next stop Bergen, an outpost of the Hanseatic League from the 1340s.

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