Geirangerfjorden

After our second night in Lom, we headed up to our most northerly point of the trip. First we picked up some pastries from the Lom bakery, which were delicious! For a small town it’s got quite a good range of restaurants and other eateries. We also had some food at the restaurant at our campground which was tasty too!

The destination for the day’s main activity was Geiranger, a small village at one end of the fjord where we were going to catch a boat for a tour of the fjord. We got there by coming up and over a hairpintastic pass going past Djupvatnet lake.

It was a clear but cool day. Our boat, furthest right in the picture had outside seating for us to enjoy the views.

Geirangerfjorden is reputed to be one of the most beautiful and most famous of the fjords. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a 15km long branch leading off from several other fjords. It is interesting for a number of reasons. Before Norway discovered the oil that has made it one of the richest countries in the world (per capita), it was relatively poor, and land to farm was difficult to come by. A lot of people lived anywhere they could find some spare land, including on the steep sides of fjords, such as at Geiranger. The farms here have been abandoned, but the buildings have been preserved and can still be seen high up on the cliffs.

Another interesting feature of Geiranger is the windy road out of the valley to the north. Called the Eagle’s road, it was seen as a lifeline to the villagers, who are often cut off for long periods in the winter. It’s used by car manufacturers to test their cars’ winter handling.

The main attraction (at least for our boat tour) is the waterfalls. On one side of the fjord there are the Seven Sisters, who tumble down the same section of rock face together (rainfall dependent) in distinct an separate paths.

On the way back up the fjord we were treated to the sun catching them at the right angle to create rainbows, which I tried my best to catch.

On the opposite side of the fjord sits a larger but solitary waterfall called the suitor. The story is that the suitor tried his luck with each of the seven sisters and was rejected each time. The poor thing is consigned to watching them from a hundred or so meters away until the forces of nature divert them away from each others (could be a while).