Geiranger Fjord

Cross the bridge in Hellesylt and on your right stands the formerly somewhat majestic Grand Hotel with its Sherlock Holmes Pub. Just beyond the hotel lies the ferry landing where you board for the 65 minute-sail of the Geirangerfjord to Geiranger.

From the Grand Hotel, one can look back to the bridge with the cascading waterfall and local church of Hellesylt. Hellesylt lies on the Storfjord, set half way between Stranda (on the way north towards Aalesund) and Stryn (on the way south to Sogn and Bergen).

The ticket takers on the ferry find a moment of respite dockside before cars and passengers begin to board.

On the way in to Geiranger, the ferry passes the Seven Sisters waterfall in early September when little water is actually flowing to form the seven veils.

The ferry finally reaches the small village of Geiranger. First visited by cruise ships in 1869, the Geiranger fjord and its environs were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.

The Fjord Country

The fjord country of western Norway is rich in tradition and beautiful to see. Hardanger fjord is best known for its fruit production, its spectacular scenery and its folk traditions. The Hardanger bunad and the eight-stringed Hardanger violin have become synonymous with Norway itself.

At Gudvangen, at the end of the Nærøyfjord, where pagan religious rituals are believed to have taken place in the Viking Age, the memory of the place is reinforced by the modern imagined representation of a Viking warrior.

The forests, mountains, lakes and rivers of western Norway serve to delight tourists while they employ the nymphs and spirits of the Norwegian folkloristic and mythological traditions. At Kjosfossen in the Flåm valley, such creatures are seen regularly by those traveling the Flåm railroad up and down between Myrdal and Flåm. Sometimes they wear green, sometimes they wear red.

And, if you are not battling with the spirits, you might find yourself in the middle of a National Romantic landscape that reminds you of the portrait of I. C. Dahl, Stalheim, a realistic rendering of Jordalsnuten in the breathtaking Nærøy valley.