To make the most of the visit to Geiranger, Carl and I took the fjordcruise early Saturday morning before moving on to the next leg of the roadtrip. Geirangerfjord is one the most visited fjords in Norway. A UNESCO World Heritage site, along with Nærøyfjord, since 2005, Geirangerfjord is a branch of the Sunnylvsfjorden and spans 15 kilometers. The mountainwalls on both sides of the bluegreen fjord are adorned by waterfalls – the most popular of which would be The Seven Sisters (De sju søstre). Well, there’s also the Bridal Veil (Brudesløret) and The Suitor (Friarfossen). As one can guess from the names, there are many myths and legends surrounding the beautiful place.
Unfortunately, Google maps would not let me make routes designed for summer. So, I’ll have to get back to the road route we took later. 🙂
We booked our tickets with Geiranger Fjordservice the day before, choosing the 90-minute cruise that leaves at 10 am. At that time, the cost was 450 kr per head, including some free coffee and an audio guide. 🙂 While waiting for our slot, we drove up to the white Geiranger church. The small, wooden church was built in 1842, is octagonal in shape, and can seat up to 165 people.
We got back down in time for the cruise. Even though the ferry boat seemed small, it can actually accommodate more than a hundred people. You can choose to be on the panorama deck upstairs, or sit comfortably below inside and just watch the scenery through the panorama windows. We started off on the deck, of course, and went in whenever cold wind caught our faces.
Along the steep banks of the fjord, we saw tiny villages, composed of maybe less than 10 houses. It reminded me of Italian lake villages where you hop on or off. With the Norwegian fjord, it made me wonder if people actually live in those small villages, or if they were just holiday homes. Some of them seemed to be only reachable by boat.
A fjord is said to have been formed by a process called glaciation, when glaciers move very slowly and leaving behind beautiful landforms on its path. This means that Norwegian fjords are actually very old, ancient, and one of the most unspoiled ones in the world where little to no change has happened ever since. According to fjordtours.com, the word came from the Old Norse fjǫrthr, meaning “where you travel across”. And another trivia: fjordwater is salty!
During the cruise, it’s impossible to miss some wonderful waterfalls. The most popular of which would be the Seven Sisters, named after the 7 streams, some thin and some thicker and more visible. Opposite it is the the Suitor (Friaren), which had a stronger current, and thus easier to see. It was a bit tough for me to identify the Bridal Veil, or to determine if it was even visible at that time (early autumn).
Slightly before the end of the tour, the boat stopped by a little port, where many of the passengers got off. We didn’t really read a lot about the tour, so we didn’t know where they were going. Later, I found out that they’re going hiking to a place called Skageflå, a historic mountain farm lying 250 meters above the fjord. Guessing from the passengers who got off, some had dogs and some were elderly, it was not a very challenging hike. BUT the area looked very steep, so take my word with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, we opted not to get off because it wasn’t part of the tour we signed up for, and we had no idea when the next boat was arriving. If I remember correctly, there were only two departure times from Geiranger town that day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The whole tour was supposed to be 90 minutes, but give some time before and after. We left a little past 10 am (two tourists were late), and got back at 11:40 am.
Carl and I love mini-cruises (or maybe I like it more). It’s like adding flavor to the whole journey, and I would not miss the Geirangerfjord cruise, of course. The world is big, and I don’t know if we will go there again in the future. This is all for now. Roadtrip #7 continues in the next entry.. #spreadlove #positivevibes
ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS ENTRY ARE MINE.
PinayOdyssey 