Geiranger, Norway

One word . . . WOW. I have been a lot of places, and it is hard to compare the fjords of Norway to the beaches of Moorea, but Geiranger is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. 

I decided not to be lame and woke up early for the scenic cruising through Geirangerfjord and it was well worth the missed sleep. With the walls of the fjord towering hundreds of feet above us, the water was perfectly still with only the wake of the ship to ripple the mirrored surface and only the sound of waterfalls to break the silence. The hymn “How Great Thou Art” kept popping into my mind as I gazed in awe at this spectacular creation.

 

 Every so often we passed smalls farms built into the sides of the fjord. There are no roads leading to these farms, they are only accessible by boat, then the occupants have to climb to the house. Many of the farms were abandoned in the early twentieth century, around the same time the “family farm” started dying in the US, but a few are still occupied and others are now tourist attractions. The captain explained that when the farms were occupied people would only leave their homes every couple of weeks because boats were not motorized and sometimes the climb could take up to four hours. It’s a charming idea, but I am glad I didn’t have to do it.

Tiny does not describe the town of Geiranger; the year-round population is somewhere between 200 and 300 but the population increases dramatically during the summer. A campground occupies a large portion of water-front real-estate as does a hotel and rental cottages. We left the ship around 10:00am and my parents had a 12:00 tour (the tour was sold out so I was not able to sign up as a crew escort), so we decided to walk up to the road and see where it took us. As it turns out, the road led to the local church and cemetery. As we wandered the cemetery we couldn’t help but notice that most markers were for people who had lived well into their nineties and some into their hundreds. We had noticed the same thing in Molde and I am sure it is because of the ridiculously clean air and all up-hill walking they do.

After exploring the church and cemetery we headed back down so my parents could catch their tour. I still had a few hours before work so wandered around and took a few pictures.

All aboard that evening wasn’t until 10:30pm and as we were so far north the sun was just beginning to set as we brought in the anchor and pulled away. Sail away was just as beautiful as sail-in, but in the dusk it was a different kind of beauty. For some reason it didn’t feel as still as it had in the early morning hours; it felt powerful. I’m sure that doesn’t make sense; maybe it is one of those things where you just have to be there.