I've been enjoying each and every moment in the rural fjord-land of Norway, but inside I've been secretly wishing that the sun would come out. Today I got my wish and it did not disappoint!
After enjoying our time in Oslo, we woke up on Saturday and took a seven hour train to Bergen. The ride went by quickly and had awesome views of the Norwegian countryside and some fjords. We had heard that the train ride was spectacular and it was really nice, but that's all I can give it after how spoiled I became of scenery in Scotland, particularly the Isle of Skye. We enjoyed the quaint seaside town of Bergen which was easy to explore on foot. We took the funicular up to the top where you had a nice arial view of the city.
Monday we picked up a car and headed inland to explore a few fjords. I had not thought much about what the experience might be like driving in Norway. I knew that we'd be driving on the same side of the road as in the States and I was excited about that. Well, I guess I figured the roads might be super narrow, and they are. What I had not thought about were the tunnels. We probably drove through 30 tunnels in our 3 hour trek from Bergen to Lofthus. The longest one was 7.7km! That one had a rotary in it (yes....a roundabout if you aren't from New England)! After arriving in the Lofthus area, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had a view of the Hardangerfjord from our room in the hostel. We were also walking distance from the waters edge...
We woke up, checked out and set out to do a hike in the Huse Valley. We saw four incredible waterfalls. Incredible. Like nothing I've ever seen before. Each one more amazing than the last. Here's one of them...
After that pretty hike we drove to Balestrand by way of many tunnels and one car ferry. It's a super tiny town and again we have an incredible view. This time its of the Sognefjord, the 3rd largest fjord in the world (the other two are in Greenland and Nunavut, Canada). It spans 127 miles and almost a mile deep. Today the clouds finally lifted and the sun peaked out and...there just aren't words to describe how spectacular it is here. We did another hike right from our hostel and it was incredibly picturesque.
Tomorrow we are going to take a 3 hour ferry ride which includes riding along the Nærøyfjord. We have wanted to do a boat ride on this trip and chose to do it on this arm of the Sognefjord because it has been described to be the most impressive. Apparently it was used as an inspiration for Arendelle in the movie Frozen. We'll keep an eye out for Else and Anna but that's not what has drawn us to this fjord for our boat trip. It is the narrowest and has the most dramatic peaks. I hope the sun is out tomorrow too!!!
Jesslyn