Fantastic, Fabulous Fjords

  Fjords, Norway
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day in Bergen and scarfed down the buffet breakfast at the hotel (toast, cereal, cold meats and cheeses, and the strange Norwegian brown cheese, which tastes basically just like cheese-flavoured fudge, but is nice with jam on toast!). We had to hurry to make it to the harbour for our ferry, but got there 5 minutes before it was leaving and set off on our tour of the fjords. After some discussion yesterday, we decided that our best value for money was the World Heritage Tour, a day-long trip through the fjords including three ferries, two buses and a train ride back to Bergen. It was a bit expensive, but we figured we couldn't come all the way to Norway and NOT see the fjords, and Gabrielle's grandparents had given us some money as a wedding present to use in Norway, so this seemed like the perfect chance!

Gabrielle and the Fjords

Although Bergen is famous for being the rainiest city in Norway, (more than two thirds of the year it rains in the city), we lucked out with a beautiful day as we cruised along through the fjords. They started out lined with islands, holiday homes and trees, and looked very similar to the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada, but as we got further out the hills rose to mountains on either side of us, most of them snow-capped, and the trees became huge, thick forests reaching down to the deep blue water of the fjords. The holiday homes gradually faded out, and became occasional tiny fishing villages dotted along the edge of the fjords, picturesque little places with wooden buildings painted red and tiny white churches. Most of them were very remote, and would have been accessible only by boat, but were absolutely beautiful.

Life at the Fjords Edge

After several hours, we stopped in the middle of one of the largest fjords, which was more than 1200m deep, and crossed by a little bridge to another ferry which pulled up alongside. This ferry was much slower, and we cruised along the Naerfjord, the Narrow Fjord, slowly. This fjord was voted the Number One destination of the UNESCO world heritage sites in a recent survey of some kind(beating out the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids, which is really saying something!) which hasn't helped the Norwegian ego in any way, but we were just speechless with how spectacular the scenery was as we cruised along. Steep mountains with snow-covered peaks plunged dramatically down to the water on either side of us, and dozens of waterfalls plunged hundreds of metres down to the ocean below from their sides. The fishing villages along the sides completed the image, and we alternated between pointing out gorgeous mountains and waterfalls to each other and running from one side of the boat to the other taking photos. We eventually ended our ferry trip in Gudvangen, a tiny town at the head of the Naerfjord, after about six and a half hours on the water. We were amazed at the sheer size of the fjords - rugged wilderness that seemed to stretch on for days, and even after all our hours on the water we only saw a tiny fraction of it all.

The Narrow Fjord

On the boat we had befriended some other travellers, an Aussie guy, from Hong Kong descent, and an older American couple from Seattle, as well as another older lady from the States who was also on the same tour as us. While in Gudvangen, Gabrielle and this other lady were both in the coin operated bathroom and somehow locked themselves in. Fortunately Dan walked by outside in search of his missing wife and heard their knocking. After some yelling back and forth through the door, we managed to figure out how to open it and the peasants rejoiced. (yay!). We all got on the bus together through winding hillside roads with more waterfalls and little villages. Our bus was supposed to go up this famous winding road that went up a very steep hill with hairpin turns on the corners (apparently quite the ride) but our bus driver told us in a thick Norwegian accent 'Not this trip'. When we asked if we were going to go stop at the also famous waterfall that was supposed to be huge and featured on many a postcard, he again told us 'Not this trip'. When we got to the bus station in Voss and asked him if he was going to take us to the train station he told us 'Not this trip' and kicked us all off. We were directed to a mini bus and our bus driver sped away. The mini bus driver had obviously been planning a different trip and was obviously now shafted by his work mates. We also managed to displace a young Norwegian girl in the process and felt very guilty, but apparently there was another bus coming in 6 min. that she could take. So we made it back to Voss in time to catch our train back to Bergen.

Happy Honeymooners

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we watched the beautiful sunset from the hill above the hostel colouring the fjords orange, rose and pink around Bergen, slightly overwhelmed and sensory overloaded with all the natural beauty of this area. Despite the hassle and expense of getting to Western Norway, it was definitely worth it - a once in a lifetime trip!

All our best from Norway

Dan and Gabes