View of the inland fjords
On the fjord again. Just can’t wait to get on the fjord again.
Every travel guide to Norway recommends the Norway in a Nutshell tour. When else will you be able to ride 4 forms of transit in a 10-hour period through mountains and valleys and the old Norwegian favorite: fjords.
I knew this excursion would wear me out. When I explain it, you’ll know why. 8;00am – the train leaves Bergen. 2 hour train ride. Train arrives at Voss. Immediately board a bus. Take a 1 hour bus ride. Immediately board a ferry. Take a 2 hour cruise. Exit the ferry for a 1 1/2 hour lunch break. Take a 1-hour train ride up the mountain. Immediately board another train for a 2-hour ride back to the city. Arrive in Bergen at 6:00pm. Basically, this is the equivalent of a transcontinental flight – nearly 10 hours of sitting-on-my-butt travel. For those wanting to take the Norway in a Nutshell, take a day to relax at one of the cities enroute, and absorb the atmosphere, breathe the mountain air, take coffee on the hotel balcony overlooking the peaks. Sometimes there is too much scenery, too much movement, and not enough time to enjoy the moment. The tour was not rushed; actually it was paced very well. But it left me wanting more.
I’ll save the details & give you some pictures. The majesty of the fjords is too much to comprehend. It’s too much to photograph. Two hours is too quick. I want to stop in the little villages and watch the weather change and the sun set.
We did get to see snow from the train in Myrdal, Norway. I don’t think it ever quite melts there. But my most incredible snow moment was one that not many people experienced. Most were sitting in the covered areas.On the ferry ride, there was a high snowy peak tucked up and behind two of the fjord walls, creating a small wind tunnel. There was one perfect moment when the wind blew directly from the peak to our boat, and I could watch the snow blowing 2,000 feet above, then down the narrow valley to land on me, giving my face a brief chill. It lasted about two minutes. It was incredible to imagine the journey that snow took just to land on some stranger from Texas passing by.
Yeah, the road just about drops off
We were in a full-sized bus, but somehow we made it down about 10 hairpin turns just like this one. I don’t know how you practice for a drive like that. At one point I saw a sign for an 18-degree slope. That’s steep.
This isn’t the best picture I took, but I think the seagull adds something. It was one of those who followed along
My fjord pics couldn't compare to a postcard, so I photo-enhanced them
with our cruise. There are waterfalls everywhere. The cliffs look almost like those on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I just can’t do justice to the surroundings with my photographs. It was so windy on the deck that I couldn’t stay out for more than about 10 minutes, which made every minute that much more special.
The top photo either:
1) Takes me back to Shangri-La from the book Lost Horizon
2) Looks like a Peruvian Andes landscape, or
3) Makes me want to yodel
This was taken from the balcony of a hotel where our bus stopped on the tour.