The small village of Skjolden sits 124 miles up Sognefjord, the longest navigable fjord in the World and is today’s port of call. We entered the mouth of the fjord at around midnight slowly winding our way up through the early hours of the morning. Sylvia got up to take some early morning photos……
…….while I briefly stirred before turning over and returning to my slumbers. By the time I eventually got up a mist had begun to fall from the mountains giving the whole scene a very mystical look. It reminded me of some of the old Norse stories of Odin and Thor, or had I just been dreaming of Marvel movies!!
The hamlet of Skjolden has a population of 200 or so residents so welcoming a cruise ship with 3000+ passengers and even more crew must be a daunting sight. The sun picked out the pretty coloured wooden houses as I like many others on the ship posed for photographs.
Today we had booked on a ship organised excursion to the Nigardsbreen Glacier, the largest glacier in mainland Europe. Leaving the quayside the coach took us along the narrow roads, through tunnels, with fantastic waterfalls cascading into the fjord below. Norway is known as the country of a million waterfalls and we must have seen many of them today. As we travelled towards the National Park our guide kept us entertained with tales of trolls and even sang a traditional Norwegian folk song for us. The journey took around an hour but was worth it as the glacier looked absolutely stunning from afar…..
….and close up.
After watching a film about the park and visiting an exhibition in the Park Centre ……..
……there was just time for a few photos before returning to the ship.
This evening we travelled back along the fjord towards our next destination, the light offering the chance to take just a few more photos.
Tomorrow we will be in Olden.