we were in a portion of norway for three days this week, a hasitly planned trip to meet priya who's attending bergen universty for a semester.... but even in those few days we managed to squeeze in quite a bit... the highlight being the great 'sognefjord in a nutshell' trip via trains and express boat... traversing rocky mountains, miles of tunnels...and then a five hour express cruise on norway's longest (204 km) and deepest (1.3 km at its deepest point!) fjord, the sognefjord. fjords are fingers of sea that creep inland along deep valleys carved aeons ago by ice age glaciers. from the mouth of the fjord where we met the ocean the boat then weaved through little islands that dot norway's shores, back to bergen.
all i could keep saying in the trip was 'wow!' the steep rocky cliffs that plunged into deep green waters of the fjord... the crystal clear streams and rivers.. the forests... the waterfalls and white water rapids... water... water... water.. trees... rocks.... wah noway!!!
we started our trip in bergen station on a train.. where kripa volunteered to clean our dirty window in anticipation of good viewing...
she was very very good at her job.. and soon our window was the cleanest in the compartment...
... however, for the first half hour of the train journey we kept zipping into tunnels... and any bursts of view between the tunnels happened to be on the 'wrong' side!!! quite exasperating!!
once the views started to 'happen' on our side of the train.. we were glued to the window.. resulting in eerie looking images.. where the viewer seemed to meld with the view!!
the first major stop was at voss
we crossed valleys...
... and sped past fast and furious rivers... climbing all the time
... till we reached the myrdal valley which lies at 866 m above the sea...
there we switched trains... a huge rush of tourist traffic...
this is inside the touristy train... going from myrdal to flam... this 20 km stretch of railway line is said to have taken a score years to build with people digging tunnels manually at the rate of a metre a month... the track winds up 900 metres at a 1:18 gradient... and one of the 22 tunnels in the route includes a unique 360 degree spiral one too.. supposed to be the pride of norwegian engineering!
we saw snow and ice that had resisted the blaze of the summer sun...
and deep valleys (from between the wooden slats of the covered tracks)...
the kjosfossen waterfall with a 350 metres freefall, and also tapped for electricity for the railway line...
during a five minute break at the waterfall tourists got to hear hildra's siren song...
...as well as see her mysterious appearance... popping up at various rocky outcrops !!!
the view of waterfall once we rounded the bend...
'jealously' clear bottlegreen waters... other than 'wow' the other thing that kept crossing my mind was 'if only'!!!
another waterfall...
coming out of a tunnel. where the river was also made to go through a tunnel.. rather than building a bridge for the train to cross the river!
... past an idyllic scene...
till we arrived in flam, 2 m above sea level...
here the sea reaches out inland through the aurlandsfjord.. a huge hotel like cruise ship was tethered to the quay. dwarfing all others around it ... we had sandwiches for lunch in the green green grass of flam, where we had a three hour layover before we caught the boat.. we spent time looking at the striking view of the cliffs above flam...
... waiting for our boat in the quay...
... or browsing through the many tourist traps... killing time by pretending to be a fierce viking...
we also had time to explore the railway museum.. where we saw tools, still being used commonly back home, put up as 'unique' displays...
after three hours we boarded the boat.. grabed seats by the window and bored sistras waited for the journey to begin... our boat reversed and churned up a beautiful ice green froth...
once the engines went full blast.. we sped past the cruise ship...
...dwarfing it in the distance in no time!!!
as the boat sliced the water and forged ahead it kicked up a lot of wind that played havoc with our hair and clothes......especially my kurta that kept flapping upwards...
.. the boat stopped at various points in the fjords.. this one is leikanger...
the force and beauty of nature evident amidst rocky mountains water and ice... the mountains (some 1700m high) getting smaller gradually as we headed westwards to the open sea...
there was very little vegetation in these rocky mountains.. the vegetation got thicker as we went towards the sea too...
the boat slowed down a bit and took us to the bottom of this rock face... i must have uttered 'wow' a hundred times! for the boat to come this close to the cliff without running aground shows how steep the sides of the fjord are underwater too...
oh the wind... giving us great sleek hairdos!
the fjord widens up in places...
glacier above balestrand
and a long distance view of the jostedal breen (glacier) as we head south from balestrand...
... when there was a sudden change of weather and the sun shone through.. making the froth shine even whiter!!
the water then started to reflect the blue sky
beautiful old viking town of vik
new boathouses in vik...
sailing out of vik in the sun... and looking east
the beauty that wind, earth and water can create...
the quay in nordiede had extra huge tyres for cusioning
the scene looking south east...
.. and northwest.. where the cliff resembled an upturned human head...
the fjord widens up again
cliffs ahoy
and the end of the fjord in sight...
instead of heading to sea, our boat then heads south towards bergen through narrow passages....
a first sign of 'plotting' in norway i saw!!!
the same shrubs and wild flowers we'd spotted atop brocken in germany
our boat was weaving around little islands...
... and under bridges...
past an oil refinery --"one of the largest in northern europe!!"
...close to the land and forest...
for the final stretch we spent most of the time in the front deck... braving the forceful rush of air that ruffled our eyelashes, and ears too!!! another express boat overtakes us... priya said this picture would fit the caption.. "and that's when i fell of the boat and saw it rushing away without me!!!"
little houses on little islands...
more homes as we headed closer to bergen..
the boat reduced speed when we went past such homes to reduce the wake of water...
and even slower when there were other little boats or kayaks about...
we went under the bridge under highway e39...
it was nearly sunset time (nearing nine) when we went into the fjord/bay towards bergen
harborside colourful homes...
and houses climbing the hills behind old bergen
the bryggen houses.. unseco heritage... in bergen harbour
near the fishmarket...
and finally on terrafirma across from bryggen... what a trip.. twelve hours roundtrip from bergen!!!
all i could keep saying in the trip was 'wow!' the steep rocky cliffs that plunged into deep green waters of the fjord... the crystal clear streams and rivers.. the forests... the waterfalls and white water rapids... water... water... water.. trees... rocks.... wah noway!!!
we started our trip in bergen station on a train.. where kripa volunteered to clean our dirty window in anticipation of good viewing...
she was very very good at her job.. and soon our window was the cleanest in the compartment...
... however, for the first half hour of the train journey we kept zipping into tunnels... and any bursts of view between the tunnels happened to be on the 'wrong' side!!! quite exasperating!!
once the views started to 'happen' on our side of the train.. we were glued to the window.. resulting in eerie looking images.. where the viewer seemed to meld with the view!!
the first major stop was at voss
we crossed valleys...
... and sped past fast and furious rivers... climbing all the time
... till we reached the myrdal valley which lies at 866 m above the sea...
there we switched trains... a huge rush of tourist traffic...
this is inside the touristy train... going from myrdal to flam... this 20 km stretch of railway line is said to have taken a score years to build with people digging tunnels manually at the rate of a metre a month... the track winds up 900 metres at a 1:18 gradient... and one of the 22 tunnels in the route includes a unique 360 degree spiral one too.. supposed to be the pride of norwegian engineering!
we saw snow and ice that had resisted the blaze of the summer sun...
and deep valleys (from between the wooden slats of the covered tracks)...
the kjosfossen waterfall with a 350 metres freefall, and also tapped for electricity for the railway line...
during a five minute break at the waterfall tourists got to hear hildra's siren song...
...as well as see her mysterious appearance... popping up at various rocky outcrops !!!
the view of waterfall once we rounded the bend...
'jealously' clear bottlegreen waters... other than 'wow' the other thing that kept crossing my mind was 'if only'!!!
another waterfall...
coming out of a tunnel. where the river was also made to go through a tunnel.. rather than building a bridge for the train to cross the river!
... past an idyllic scene...
till we arrived in flam, 2 m above sea level...
here the sea reaches out inland through the aurlandsfjord.. a huge hotel like cruise ship was tethered to the quay. dwarfing all others around it ... we had sandwiches for lunch in the green green grass of flam, where we had a three hour layover before we caught the boat.. we spent time looking at the striking view of the cliffs above flam...
... waiting for our boat in the quay...
... or browsing through the many tourist traps... killing time by pretending to be a fierce viking...
we also had time to explore the railway museum.. where we saw tools, still being used commonly back home, put up as 'unique' displays...
after three hours we boarded the boat.. grabed seats by the window and bored sistras waited for the journey to begin... our boat reversed and churned up a beautiful ice green froth...
once the engines went full blast.. we sped past the cruise ship...
...dwarfing it in the distance in no time!!!
as the boat sliced the water and forged ahead it kicked up a lot of wind that played havoc with our hair and clothes......especially my kurta that kept flapping upwards...
.. the boat stopped at various points in the fjords.. this one is leikanger...
the force and beauty of nature evident amidst rocky mountains water and ice... the mountains (some 1700m high) getting smaller gradually as we headed westwards to the open sea...
there was very little vegetation in these rocky mountains.. the vegetation got thicker as we went towards the sea too...
the boat slowed down a bit and took us to the bottom of this rock face... i must have uttered 'wow' a hundred times! for the boat to come this close to the cliff without running aground shows how steep the sides of the fjord are underwater too...
oh the wind... giving us great sleek hairdos!
the fjord widens up in places...
glacier above balestrand
and a long distance view of the jostedal breen (glacier) as we head south from balestrand...
... when there was a sudden change of weather and the sun shone through.. making the froth shine even whiter!!
the water then started to reflect the blue sky
beautiful old viking town of vik
new boathouses in vik...
sailing out of vik in the sun... and looking east
the beauty that wind, earth and water can create...
the quay in nordiede had extra huge tyres for cusioning
the scene looking south east...
.. and northwest.. where the cliff resembled an upturned human head...
the fjord widens up again
cliffs ahoy
and the end of the fjord in sight...
instead of heading to sea, our boat then heads south towards bergen through narrow passages....
a first sign of 'plotting' in norway i saw!!!
the same shrubs and wild flowers we'd spotted atop brocken in germany
our boat was weaving around little islands...
... and under bridges...
past an oil refinery --"one of the largest in northern europe!!"
...close to the land and forest...
for the final stretch we spent most of the time in the front deck... braving the forceful rush of air that ruffled our eyelashes, and ears too!!! another express boat overtakes us... priya said this picture would fit the caption.. "and that's when i fell of the boat and saw it rushing away without me!!!"
little houses on little islands...
more homes as we headed closer to bergen..
the boat reduced speed when we went past such homes to reduce the wake of water...
and even slower when there were other little boats or kayaks about...
we went under the bridge under highway e39...
it was nearly sunset time (nearing nine) when we went into the fjord/bay towards bergen
harborside colourful homes...
and houses climbing the hills behind old bergen
the bryggen houses.. unseco heritage... in bergen harbour
near the fishmarket...
and finally on terrafirma across from bryggen... what a trip.. twelve hours roundtrip from bergen!!!
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