I woke up at 6:30 am to another glorious ride through the fjords, toward Geiranger. Deep into Geirangerfjord we went. The deeper we journeyed, the narrower the fjord became and the higher the mountains grew. In such a large ship, it almost felt like an Alice in Wonderland type moment where all the hallways grew tinier as you approached the desired door to where you eventually couldn't fit. Except in the fjords, we did not grow bigger in comparison to the narrowing space. We grew smaller as the world around us became mountains and dramatic contrasts.
Geiranger is one of the most desired locations to visit, so I learned, because it is one of the deepest and narrowest fjords, creating a drama you can only imagine. Even while I was there I felt like I was imagining what I was seeing right before my eyes. I feel like it is all a dream, really. Like a perfectly dramatic painting that I could reach out and touch. This feeling of incredulousness fills me that I was there. How was I there? Was that place real? Surely we were on another planet - one where nature runs its course and is breathtaking and pure.
Mum and I sat outside on deck 14 with our breakfast, as usual, the whole way into Geiranger. My imagination came alive and I knew these were the misty mountains of Middle-earth. I was certainly in fairyland; the dwarves dwell in these rocky, deep mountains and elves make their homes amongst the woods clinging to the crags. It was troll territory. Snow capped all the tallest peaks. The fjords of Norway were created for stories. God surely had some delight in creating this land and the sea that cuts through narrow places.
The Seven Sisters waterfalls were a bit dry, but still a pretty sight, and there were so many waterfalls along the way. It was about 54 degrees and I imagined the water to be quite icy. The tall trees that clung to the cliff-edges were just starting to show their autumnal colours.
We got off the ship and walked to land by way of a floating gangway. We made our way through the tiny village of shops and restaurants, and followed a path that lead to a waterfall walk. That sounded lovely, and we could hear the water roaring already. The rushing water quickly came into view, along with waterfall crashing down layers of the mountain. Stairs starting leading upward, but we couldn't see how far they went. Turns out it was 327 steps to the top (I only found this out later), and we had no idea we would be climbing that many, but after awhile we didn't want to go back down, so we just kept going up. We paralleled the waterfall the whole time, and it cascaded down levels to the fjord. We finally reached the top, but it wasn't really the top, as I looked up it was coming straight from the snowy peaks high above us, probably 1,500 feet higher.
We rested near a museum, and then explored around Geiranger Kyrkje, the octagonal church, there since 1842. It wasn't open, but it had a great location for views. We followed the hairpin road back downward toward the village again. It was quite a day of hiking! Once in the village again, we decided to buy some chocolate from a little shop that makes it right there. The shop had a grass roof and was a cafe, too, selling coffee and hot chocolate, etc (photo above). When I got home I ate the dark chocolate bar in little bits, and it was some of the most delicious chocolate I've tasted.
Later at dinner as our ship slowly headed back out of the Geirangerfjord, the sun was setting quickly, especially down in the fjord. We chatted with a nice British couple at the table next to us, and I enjoyed the view right next to me, while I drank mint tea. Waterfalls and tea.
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