After a relaxing sea day, we arrived in Geiranger, Norway. This is a small town of a few hundred people down a pretty fjord in central Norway. This type of fjord is what Norway is known for. These fjords were created thousands of years ago when glaciers slowly moved towards the ocean cutting deep gouges in the earth that became these fjords.
We had booked an optional tour with Viking at this port to do a hiking trip. This was tender stop where a small boat takes you from our cruise ship to the city. Typically, you tender because the city doesn’t have dock space but in this case a Celebrity cruise ship beat us to the only available dock, and it was a much larger ship needing the dock more than we did. When we arrived on land our guides were ready to take us hiking. Since this was a hike with a lot of elevation the guides decided to take us up to the Geiranger Church to make sure everyone could make it that far before heading up the mountain side to the farm we were going to. The church was a unique octagonal structure with a cemetery around it with a great view of the harbor. From the church our small group 12 continued marching up the side of the mountain. There were many pretty views of the town below and our ship. We kept climbing up the rocky paths until we got to the top where there was a small farmhouse with an overlook of the town below. This farm also had some llamas that we could take pictures with. After a short rest we began our hike back to the town below. As we walked down, we could see many of the beautiful waterfalls this area is known for. We stopped at a cultural museum a little over halfway down and said goodbye to our guide. This allowed us to spend more time walking the rest of the way to the harbor and taking some pictures. There was a very nice walkway with many steps going down along a beautiful running stream/waterfall. At one point we found a rock in this fast-flowing stream that almost appeared to have a face carved on the side of it.
At the bottom it was amazing to see all the RV’s and campers in the area. This was a very popular place for people all throughout Europe to come to and spend some time in the mountains and fjords. It was such a scenic area. Many of the houses had grass roofs which we were told provided good insulation for the houses. We were also told that at times they put goats up on the roof to eat some of the grass before it got too tall.
Shortly after getting back down to the bottom where we are started from, it was time for our second tour of the day which was a bus tour. The bus first stopped at a look out point to see the Seven Sisters Waterfalls. These were 7 small falls right next to each other, falling hundreds of feet down. Across the fjord from the Seven Sisters is another larger fall which is supposed to represent the guy who asked each sister to marry him but was rejected by all of them. The traffic at the overlook was a mess with many buses trying to drop off and pick up people along with cars and RV’s stopping to look. Too many people for such small area. From this lookout point the bus took us further up the mountain area to a lake that was very nice but much colder. We were high enough up that there were many areas that still had snow and ice on the ground. As we came back down, we made one more scenic stop to overlook the town and fjord far below. It is a very beautiful area to drive around or hike.
Sharon and Greg
We had booked an optional tour with Viking at this port to do a hiking trip. This was tender stop where a small boat takes you from our cruise ship to the city. Typically, you tender because the city doesn’t have dock space but in this case a Celebrity cruise ship beat us to the only available dock, and it was a much larger ship needing the dock more than we did. When we arrived on land our guides were ready to take us hiking. Since this was a hike with a lot of elevation the guides decided to take us up to the Geiranger Church to make sure everyone could make it that far before heading up the mountain side to the farm we were going to. The church was a unique octagonal structure with a cemetery around it with a great view of the harbor. From the church our small group 12 continued marching up the side of the mountain. There were many pretty views of the town below and our ship. We kept climbing up the rocky paths until we got to the top where there was a small farmhouse with an overlook of the town below. This farm also had some llamas that we could take pictures with. After a short rest we began our hike back to the town below. As we walked down, we could see many of the beautiful waterfalls this area is known for. We stopped at a cultural museum a little over halfway down and said goodbye to our guide. This allowed us to spend more time walking the rest of the way to the harbor and taking some pictures. There was a very nice walkway with many steps going down along a beautiful running stream/waterfall. At one point we found a rock in this fast-flowing stream that almost appeared to have a face carved on the side of it.
At the bottom it was amazing to see all the RV’s and campers in the area. This was a very popular place for people all throughout Europe to come to and spend some time in the mountains and fjords. It was such a scenic area. Many of the houses had grass roofs which we were told provided good insulation for the houses. We were also told that at times they put goats up on the roof to eat some of the grass before it got too tall.
Shortly after getting back down to the bottom where we are started from, it was time for our second tour of the day which was a bus tour. The bus first stopped at a look out point to see the Seven Sisters Waterfalls. These were 7 small falls right next to each other, falling hundreds of feet down. Across the fjord from the Seven Sisters is another larger fall which is supposed to represent the guy who asked each sister to marry him but was rejected by all of them. The traffic at the overlook was a mess with many buses trying to drop off and pick up people along with cars and RV’s stopping to look. Too many people for such small area. From this lookout point the bus took us further up the mountain area to a lake that was very nice but much colder. We were high enough up that there were many areas that still had snow and ice on the ground. As we came back down, we made one more scenic stop to overlook the town and fjord far below. It is a very beautiful area to drive around or hike.
Sharon and Greg
RSS Feed
