When anyone asks me where it is worth going on vacation, without hesitation I say: „to Norway”. Anyway, if I could, I would send everyone for a short stay in this beautiful country.
Nature’s severity, beauty, majesty and a kind of terror are indescribable. It is not without reason that many places there are said to „see and die”.
After seeing the Viking wonders of nature, nothing is the same anymore. This is where people abandon all-inclusive holidays in favor of communing with living nature, its unpredictability.
We decided to go to Geiranger to see the Geirangerfjord, one of the must-see places.
The fjord itself is not huge, as it is „only” 15 kilometers long and is a branch of the Storfjord. The Geirangerfjord is considered the most beautiful in Norway and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
We left Trondheim, where I lived. We were driving on Norway’s main road, the E6, which can be said all about, but definitely not a highway. Rather, it is a road leading you through the wonders of nature. Really, you feel like driving a car.
Then you want to stop, jump out, sit on the rock and sigh looking around you. We are accompanied by the music of Wardruna, thanks to which we begin to rediscover Norway, the power of Nature, Tradition, Magic and History of this place. We start to breathe this earth, these people, Thank you, Wardruna (you can read more about the band’s music HERE).
„Szóstka” is also a meeting place. For example, herds of sheep jogging along the country’s largest road, or musk oxen. Why.
Okay, we’re going to that Geiranger. If you’re driving in August and you like mushrooms, don’t stop on the way. For your own good, because you will fall into a mushroom picking frenzy. There you do not need to go into the forest, because right next to the road you will find beautiful boots, the size of a hat the size of your head.
I will not write about the wonders you will see along the way: the wonderfully turquoise river that casts a spell on you, the huts scattered on the mountain slopes, the churches that remember the times of the Vikings … There are plenty of them.
Everything Nature throws against you can be found here in Norway. Although maybe the word „against” does not fit, but in the case of „olinklusiwcy” it is probably appropriate.
Until you reach a crossroads, where you turn left to Stryn – the largest glacier in Europe is located there. You will get there by going up. If you have a little imagination, you will reflect not only on the might of the mountain in which you are riding, but on the equally powerful human mind that can tame this nature by leading a safe tunnel through the mountain.
Going to the right you are heading to Geiranger, which was our destination. Before we reached it, we drove to the Dalsnibba viewpoint located 1,500 meters above sea level.
To get there you have to pay a fee and you’d better have cash, because although you can pay by card, there are problems with the terminal, and poor Norwegian runs on the roof of the booth to catch a wifi signal.
The ascent to Dalsnibba is difficult and full of impressions reaching up to the throat. You have to drive up these 1.5 kilometers driving steeply uphill and making sharp turns in very short distances.
I admit that when it comes to the difficulty of the route, the climb to Dalsnibba is more impressive than the famous Trollstigen, the Troll Ladder.
The other impression was purely aesthetic – it was very pleasant to drive through the clouds, and when I left them under me, I breathed a breath 😉
Until we got there. There is a free car park at the top and a solar powered shop. It is warm and pleasant there, you can buy local products and souvenirs related to this place. If I were to persuade you to do something, it would be to buy such candies wrapped in such pink cones. Heaven in my mouth!
Of course there is also a toilet. Of course, the loo is not the main attraction of Dalsnibba, but it is definitely the most practical 🙂
Dalsnibba is not only a unique view of our title character, but also of the amazing snow caps shining in the sun. A beautiful, azure lake with turquoise elements of the coast. It’s on the left side, a bit lower in the August snowfall.
Serpentine. Great, because with a beautiful lake background and monumental mountains directing tourists towards Stryn.
And the mounds of stones surrounding you. Thousands of mounds left in memory of those who were here before.
And you come to the edge of the viewpoint. And you look at the serpentine winding 1.5 kilometers below you, leading to the nearby fjord. You look over there and… it clogs you up. You are unable to say anything because you realize that you have no words to describe the beauty of what you see.
There are those who praise the beauty of the Lysefjord. Okay, it has its charm, but it pales in comparison to the King of Kings. Just at the Geirangerfjord.
By the way, if we mentioned the Lysefjord, we must mention its main attraction, Preikestolen, which you can read HERE.
Geiranger, Geirangerfjord are special places where Nature reveals its raw and majestic beauty to me. These are places where you realize how little you mean to places like this.
Finally, if you have any sensitivity, you will feel the desire to know these types of places, and respect for them and the beings who live there.
Time ceases to exist. Everything ceases to exist. Sure, you can turn around and walk to a place where several hundred stone pyramids have been placed as a memento of your stay here. But it’s time to move on. Only when you go downhill will you realize what you’ve got into.
A successful descent from Dalsnibby resembles a failed suicide attempt. Seriously. It is only the stunt crossing over the serpentines to Lysebotn that makes me think about leaving Dalsnibby with tenderness.
So you move on. You traverse the serpentine that you just saw from above and drive. You drive into the Geiranger Valley and you watch. And you wonder how beautiful it is. And you go. And you look. And you go. And you think: how beautiful it is. In you think, you rebuke yourself for starting to repeat yourself.
We stop in the parking lot and fly to one of the viewpoints. We sit on a special viewing chair, which was „opened” by Queen Sonia. What is the view from the armchair? And look at the photo first. Well.
Interestingly, after reaching the shore of the fjord, the impression is not as great as at the beginning. But this is the case with probably every tourist attraction. Everything is more impressive from a distance. It is so here, although it is still great. We almost ran out of the car, ran past the hotel that was demolished in the movie „The Wave” (you can read about it HERE) and we fly towards the cruise ship heading towards the shore.
A ferry is maneuvering next to us. It makes incredible turns almost in place, and the water gurgles. The birds go crazy with happiness, because the ship throws food to the surface thanks to its maneuvers.
The cruise ship moored. The passengers had yet to get off for good when we burst on deck, shaking chaotically and waving our paws as if we were chasing a pack of bats. The staff tries to answer us politely, and the frightened passengers almost run down the gangplank to the shore. We do not notice that they knock on the forehead while showing us. And we just want to buy a ticket for a tourist cruise on the fjord. Yeah. Because of long translations we realize that it was the last cruise of the day. Chicken! And it starts to rain.
Alright. We will just pop into fjordbuda, i.e. a souvenir shop and continue. We go inside.
Mother divine, how much is there! Huge assortment with elements not only Geiranger but Norwegian as such.
Nasty troll figures, T-shirts, hats, calendars, thimbles, glasses, caps, shoes, posters, mugs, thermoses, oven mitts, whatever you think of, it will be there, even the Norwegian superman moose.
It’s raining more and more, and we have to move on, after all, we want to do the Troll Ladder on the same day!
We are following the Way of the Eagles, or Ørnevegen. It is a road built in 1954 full of curves leading upwards. We stop at a vantage point from which we admire the vast panorama of the fjords. A killer sight!
It was falling for good and it’s time to move on. Something thin i see driving through Trollstigen during the day. Maybe it will work, maybe not. For now, I have another worry: make it to the last ferry carrying us to the next part of the journey. Without it, we’ll be in … Well, maybe not there, but close. And all because of mushroom picking, which I warned you about at the beginning.
For now, we are leaving the Geirangerfjord full of beautiful memories, unforgettable views and full of love from head to toe. We feel fulfilled and we know that we will come back. We don’t know when, but we’ll be back.
From time to time, we receive e-mails from you asking if we could help in organizing a trip to this place. Let me put it this way: it’s not that simple, and organizing a trip is primarily about ensuring the safety of all participants of the trip.