Geiranger, Norway

We sail into Geiranger via another fjord and the morning starts with another bunch of waterfalls.

This morning’s disembarkation is by tender which works surprisingly smoothly. The tenders take quite a large number of people and scoot back and forth from ship to shore.

We have booked the local ferry to take us along the Geiranger fjord. Yesterday I realised we might not make our ferry given the tender process off the ship may leave us short of time so I emailed them and the company very efficiently changed us to the later ferry.

As things turned out we DID make the earlier ferry by a mere minute (even though we weren’t really trying!) and they let us board. This worked well as we also decided to come back earlier which will fit better for our afternoon tour. And this turned out to be a good call as this return ferry docked 20 minutes late (!) so had we returned on the later ferry, it may have docked late also and we'd have missed our tour!

We set off and of course it is raining and we pass by the point where the Geirangerfjord meets the Sunnylvsfjord; then along that fjord to Hellesylt - about an hour. We bob in and out to/from the deck between rain and showers and (rarely) almost no rain.

We don’t bother getting off as it is wet. We can just see the enormous waterfall that is right in the middle of town: the Hellesylt waterfall (which cascades down the mountainside between two bridges).

In any event, this return ferry is choc-a-bloc full of people - standing room only for many - and we are happily ensconced on a lounge by the window. Yay.

Back at Geiranger we now have bonus time up our sleeve so we can fit in the short walk up past the Geiranger Waterfall. Immense!

Despite the drizzle/rain, we have learnt to not let it put us off; just work with it: occasionally there are pauses.

The afternoon excursion is a drive along the Ørnevegen (‘The Eagle Rd’) - 11 hairpin bends with cars backing up at each bend - to a viewpoint one side of the fjord. From here the road continues to Trollstigen but is closed as the authorities can’t resolve who is responsible for road works as there have been a number of incidents where rocks have hit cars. 

We go back down and then up the other side to what I must say is a much better viewpoint: the Flydalsjuvet viewpoint.

Here also is an installation called "Fjordsetet" that was unveiled by Queen Sonja: a chair on a rocky outcrop. Apparently Queen Sonja has been an avid trekker in her time.

Her daughter the Princess of Norway will be married here at the Union Hotel in 31 August. Can you imagine in this tiny but busy tourist town; the place will stop still! And she’s apparently marrying a shaman from California …

https://www.tatler.com/article/princess-martha-louise-of-norway-wedding-durek-verrett

We climb further. It is certainly a dramatic landscape and we finish at Djupvasshyita - a mountain lake - at 1030m. Then return to port.

Trolls are a big deal here.

And reindeers have a hard time.

We set sail at 8 pm back down the Geiranger fjord with a last look at the waterfalls gushing down the side. 

Of course, it is raining … and then miraculously it clears as darkness falls…

Walked 8.36 kms