Geiranger
NORWAY & DENMARK Diary : Day 13 - 12th April 2019
Set in the lap of a small valley surrounded by mountains & cliffs, at one end of the fjord, is Geiranger. (pronounced as Gayr anger). It is a small village, lying at a ferry distance of 3 hours from Alesund. The stunning Geirangerfjord runs roughly for about 15 kms consisting of some of the best jaw dropping views, while on a cruise. The village is popular with loads of opportunity for some of the best hikes, cycling tracks, rafting & fishing. It has now turned into a tourist paradise. Travellers can also use the Trollstigen road to enjoy the most scenic & impressive landscapes, that also has some of the best "view points" to offer.
Waking up to a relaxed morning we stepped out at 11:30 am. A 4 minute walk to the pier, in which stood anchored the GEIRANGERFJORD boat, promising us a wondrous journey to the village of Geiranger. There were hardly any passengers and it seemed like our own private boat. We produced our pre-booked tickets to the officer ( booked on the GEIRANGERFJORD website). Once again entering the municipality of Stranda, but this time on water ( read STRANDA) , we would be journeying through the Storfjord to reach this quaint little village. The journey began. Swarming around the fjord in multitudes were snow peaked mountains. We were geared up to wade through the blue waters that curved like a limbless reptile, in and out of these surrounding humps. It was a heavenly combination. It was a very peaceful 6 hour journey, to and fro. The headsets handed over to us at the beginning of the cruise, provided ample information about the area & also its history.
It did take a while to get perfect pictures of the mountain ranges reflecting on the blue waters. As our ferry propelled, the ripples created in the fjord waters, gave a smudgy effect to the otherwise perfect mirror images of these immovable mighty masses. We had to capture it from various angles and from many inconvenient points on the boat. The blowing wind on our faces ensured difficulty in handling the camera. Finally we managed a few long shots to capture their near to perfect reflections. These created wonderful patterns. Looking at these pictures now, I have no regrets of having gone through a little difficulty at that point in time. It was fun & a truly visual Treat all along.
We met an American girl and also an Italian & Spanish gay couple on board. They helped us click few pictures of our entire group together. We seldom find help to get a picture of the entire group
We were hoping to witness the "Sju Sostre" meaning the Seven sisters. The Seven Sisters waterfalls was clearly segmented into 7 outlets and spraying down in all its glory from top these mammoth mountains into the fjords. But the melting waters were not in full volume and so we had to be contented with the little we saw.
We spotted one sister. Probably she decided to entertain us a bit on this soulful journey, so as to not leave us totally disappointed. Just as we moved a little ahead, the voice in our headsets directed us to look high up. We spotted yet another sister letting herself down gently. What a sight they must have made when in full glory ! At this point our boat was quickly moving and we had to take a few pictures before these beauties faded from our background. We were quite successful I must say. As we progressed forward, we were introduced to a certain portion of fjord waters that looked unusually green. It is believed that a mysterious "Northern lights" effect is caused here under these waters. It was thrilling to pass through a patch of absolute green waters, encompassed by a whole sea blue. Ways of nature!
Moving further , I saw this quaint settlement at the edge of the valley that found roads twisting its way upwards in a beautiful zig-zag fashion. For some reason, I was reminded of this old quatrain which I had penned a long time ago :
Life is like Hair-pin Bends
A Twist , A Turn till the journey ends
But every time it takes a turn New
I Know I will always find "U"
At a distance, we saw the Geiranger village fast approaching. It looked like a package of tiny buildings and houses, scattered on the foothills of a mountain valley. That's all it was ! The whole village didn't seem to occupy much land. From that distance we couldn't spot any land route that reached there. It intrigued us on how people managed their lives, sitting on the lap of these mountains, having every necessity fed to them. What amazed us is that it was a much sought after tourist spot. We had just about an hour to explore the village, before returning to Alesund by the same boat. We were leaving Alesund that midnight, to move to Bergen city. Our boat anchored itself at the shores of the village.
It was a village of character. Small shops, busy life, self-sufficient transport, unbeatable views, kind people, beautiful boats, rugged mountain terrain, adequate tourist attractions, above par hotels & restaurants and to top it all, a wonderful climate. There was nothing missing there to help lead a happy, healthy life, except for the natural hazards , may be ! We didn't have much planned for this hour, we just preferred keeping it relaxed. Walking around the village, we stepped into a Souvenir shop. It was built like a bright, model village house sitting amidst a befitting backdrop. The Entrance & exit had super cute Trolls installed .
The shop had plenty of "souvenir" trolls, of all shapes & kinds. By now, all our efforts to emulate mannequins and trolls were getting better and our pictures in such action-- even better ! After having lived all our lives in a noisy bustling city, anything close to heavenly nature felt more than welcome. In our entire trip we experienced such moments more than once.We could feel the calm & peace deep inside us. A member of our group remarked " We should have stayed here a couple of nights". True that ! It was just lack of time, due to which we couldn't stay back. We were happy not to miss it in our itinerary. I remember on returning to India , we watched this movie "THE WAVE", which sent shudders down our spine. It was shot in this very village, based on a true incident of a surrounding mountain crashing into waters, causing havoc with the fjord waters flooding into it. After all, we may have done just right, by not camping here ! Another highlight of this journey was " The Brasserie Posten" - as restaurant . We got hungry and were expecting something vegetarian in a Norwegian village as this. After our shopping endeavor, we crossed the road and came across this little restaurant. We had no other choice at that moment but to take a chance. We were not disappointed. The food turned out amazing. The Chef cum owner was ready to serve us some vegetarian beetroot burgers, pizza and some salad with feta cheese. The pictures in the gallery will prove how yummy they were. The portions were large enough to keep our stomachs occupied till dinner time. We did write to the restaurant thanking them, once we reached India, for which they expressed extreme happiness and gratitude.
The one hour in the village flew past and it was time to board our ferry and head back. Another 3 hours of fjord cruising, by 7:30 pm we were back in Alesund. It was still bright outside, unlike India. Walking past a small bridge we reached Nedre Strandgate No.7. This was end of day 13 of the tour.