Monday, July 4
Today we joined up with friends Don & Norma, who had arranged to hire a car, and headed off to see the waterfalls and scenery around the village of Eidfjord. The road out of town took us through the spectacular and steep Mabodalen Valley, where the Voringsfossen waterfall is located. This is the most famous and most photographed waterfall in Norway, as it is very accessible and has a number of viewing points. The vertical drop is about 200 metres or 600 feet, and consists of two separate falls on either side of the gorge. Looking straight down while taking pics made you realise how far they fall!
We continued along the road to the largest mountain plateau in Northern Europe, and most of the houses here had grass growing on the roof for insulation - we even saw one guy on his roof with a whipper-snipper to keep it neat! A bit further along we came to the Sysen Dam, which had an impressive stone wall about 90 metres high and 800 metres long.
We returned to town and headed out on a different road, looking for some Viking graves and another big waterfall. We followed the road along the fjord, passing more massive stone walls that boxed the fjord in, but the road kept getting smaller and smaller. When we came to a dead end and saw cars parked there we figured we had to walk the rest of the way to see the waterfall, but due to our time in port being reduced by 3 hours we didn't want to risk it. Also there were no signposts as to which dirt track to take! (We later found out you could drive on one of the dirt tracks to the waterfall)!
The last thing we aimed for were some old Viking graves, but again the maps let us down, as well as the time factor - so we returned the car, took in the local art gallery and then boarded the ship. The Captain had picked up some local cheese in Flam, so we attended the wine and cheese sail away that was organised.
We had dinner at Canaletto Restaurant with Don & Norma, and had a huge window to admire the fabulous scenery we were sailing past. When we got to a glacier and another famous waterfall, the captain slowed the boat and rotated it so everyone had a good view of them. As we sailed out of the Hardanger Fjord we looked back and saw the most magnificent rainbow, with its own reflection beside it - an amazing sight to complete an amazing day!
Today we joined up with friends Don & Norma, who had arranged to hire a car, and headed off to see the waterfalls and scenery around the village of Eidfjord. The road out of town took us through the spectacular and steep Mabodalen Valley, where the Voringsfossen waterfall is located. This is the most famous and most photographed waterfall in Norway, as it is very accessible and has a number of viewing points. The vertical drop is about 200 metres or 600 feet, and consists of two separate falls on either side of the gorge. Looking straight down while taking pics made you realise how far they fall!
We continued along the road to the largest mountain plateau in Northern Europe, and most of the houses here had grass growing on the roof for insulation - we even saw one guy on his roof with a whipper-snipper to keep it neat! A bit further along we came to the Sysen Dam, which had an impressive stone wall about 90 metres high and 800 metres long.
We returned to town and headed out on a different road, looking for some Viking graves and another big waterfall. We followed the road along the fjord, passing more massive stone walls that boxed the fjord in, but the road kept getting smaller and smaller. When we came to a dead end and saw cars parked there we figured we had to walk the rest of the way to see the waterfall, but due to our time in port being reduced by 3 hours we didn't want to risk it. Also there were no signposts as to which dirt track to take! (We later found out you could drive on one of the dirt tracks to the waterfall)!
The last thing we aimed for were some old Viking graves, but again the maps let us down, as well as the time factor - so we returned the car, took in the local art gallery and then boarded the ship. The Captain had picked up some local cheese in Flam, so we attended the wine and cheese sail away that was organised.
We had dinner at Canaletto Restaurant with Don & Norma, and had a huge window to admire the fabulous scenery we were sailing past. When we got to a glacier and another famous waterfall, the captain slowed the boat and rotated it so everyone had a good view of them. As we sailed out of the Hardanger Fjord we looked back and saw the most magnificent rainbow, with its own reflection beside it - an amazing sight to complete an amazing day!
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