Geiranger, June 15

This one is new for me as the Hurtigruten ferries don't come in here in April (although the protected waters of the fjord do not freeze in winter). It is absolutely spectacular! This fjord is one of Norway's narrowest and most dramatic with very steep sides laced with waterfalls of various sizes. At the very head of the fjord, some 100 kilometers from the ocean at Alesund is the little village of Geiranger where we tender ashore for our tours.

After breakfast. Jill and I rediscovered the way to the aft deck where we sat for a while soaking up the scenery and sun and working on our tans. Those tans, or at least mine, are probably unique to this cruise as they extend from the wrists down and the neck up, everything else being covered by one or more layers of clothing. (After our tour I had even more sun...not quite burnt, but close.)

WOW!!! What a day! What a place! What a tour! Absolutely ideal weather warm with bright sun and only a few little clouds. Geiranger is as totally awesome as anything I've ever seen in my life! By this, I mean the fjord itself and the mountains around it. The village of Geiranger is also lovely, but it is the natural scenery that just takes your breath completely away!

Our bus driver, Hans, was a wonder also. He negotiated what must have been several hundred hairpin curves on roads that were barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass on the short straightaways, and certainly not on the curves where we needed the whole thing to ourselves.

Our first stop was at the Eagles' Bend where we had a great view back down the fjord including the Seven Sisters waterfalls which you see here. This road was only completed in (if I remember right) 1954. Next, looking back toward Geiranger, you see our ship, the village, and the lower end of the Flydalen Valley. Mt. Dalsnibba is the one at the upper left that I didn't get the top of in this photo.

From Geiranger a road that is only open in summer climbs over the mountains to Oslo. We went back through the village and took that road which was completed in 1889 after eight years' work. It is a true engineering marvel. They could only work in the summers, and first they had to shovel the snow off by hand. At 300 meters up is where the road closes in the winter. At about 800 meters we passed the tree line and into snow fields complete with several skiers going cown nearby slopes, and at about 900 meters we turned off onto a road that goes all the way to the top of Mt. Dalsnibba at 1524 meters. This is the highest mountain in Norway that you can drive all the way up. The last photo here is from up there looking back at the fjord. You can see part of the road we traveled. And again, WOW!

Sailing back out of the fjord we passed all the big waterfalls again during dinner. We had a full table at dinner this evening as Jill and I and Jean and Curtis from Birmingham, Alabama were joined by a couple from Australia.