Friday – August 18, 2017
We left Bergen, Norway and cruised inland to the Hardangerfjord. This is one of the famous and most beautiful fjords of Norway. We arrived at the beginning of the fjord at daybreak. Clouds clung to the high mountains.
We went out to the front of the ship to watch it slowly progress through the fjord while the sun rose higher in the sky. We passed under the bridge which connects the road from Oslo to Bergen. The bridge had not been built when Jeff and I drove around Norway in 2001.
Eidfjord means the end of the fjord in Norwegian, and is the name of the tiny village at the end of the Hardangerfjord. The Rotterdam had to anchor off the harbor because a Viking cruise ship was tied to the main dock. It was so big it dwarfed the town.
We took a tender into Eidfjord and walked around the lovely town. There are a few small shops, cafes, restaurants, and a grocery store. A small hotel sits at the main dock.
We had signed up for an excursion in the afternoon so we met the tour group at about one o’clock. We took a bus out of Eidfjord and climbed up the mountain and went up into the interior of Norway beyond the fjord.
Then the bus took us to an amazing dam: the Sysendammen which was built entirely of rocks and stones. No concrete was used in the construction of the dam, according to our guide. Her name was Pilar and she was an immigrant to Norway from Spain.
Beyond the dam we could see a huge glacier. The guide told me that she just saw the bus driver taking pictures of the dam and glacier for the first time. She said he has been taking tours to this location for about ten years and has seen it thousands of times, but this was the clearest and best view of the glacier. “It was usually raining or totally overcast and impossible to see anything.”
View of the scenery between the fjord and the dam:
The bus continued for another 45 minutes to a small hotel and restaurant in the middle of nowhere called: Halne Fjellstove, where we enjoyed waffles and fresh whipped cream and jam with a cup of good coffee.
The air was crisp and cool but the temperature felt warm and sunny. Pilar spoke about hiking and camping in this treeless region.
It was getting late and we had an hour-long ride back to Eidfjord and the ship. The terrain of Norway is rugged and weathered but very beautiful and awe-inspiring. I took a few photos out of the bus window:
