Norwegian Cruising Adventure 2022 - Hellesylt - Day 8
Forget everything I said about the weather in Norway. We have just experienced three glorious warm and sunny days. The guides are giddy because they are not taking tourists on hikes in the pouring rain for the first time in eight days. Let us hope our good fortune continues.
Thursday morning room service breakfast was a delight. Our steward has figured out all of our special requirements. We want two pots of coffee, four small carafes of warm milk, two jars of raspberry jam and all our breakfast stuff. For some reason room service does not have salted butter. We collect salted butter at dinner and store it in our mini fridge. First world problems.
We were in the lifeboat turned dingy by 9:00 am and then on to our bus in Geiranger, Norway. This will be a day of broad vistas. We are fortunate to have the sunniest day of our trip. If this was a rainy day our sight-seeing would have been ruined. Our ship will hoist anchor and meet us at Hellesylt. Some passengers will stay on the ship for the cruise to Hellesylt. Our bus zig zagged up the mountain with numerous switch back turns. At one point cows blocked the road. Near the top of the mountain we stopped to look down on our ship anchored in the Geirangerfjord. Our small ship looks like the tender for the larger cruise ship. This was also a stop to see the Seven Sisters waterfalls.
There are many hazards on the roads in Norway.
The Queen Victoria and her blue tender.
One of the stories the guides told us was a warning about asking Norwegians how long it will take to get to the end of the trail. The Norwegian will tell you it took him 20 minutes. After an hour of trekking you think he lied to you. The truth is Norwegians have long legs and are very physically fit. They walk at a much faster pace than the average glacial American. Ask them how far it is to the end of the trail and estimate your own pace.
Despite the dominance of Norway in the winter Olympics in downhill skiing there are very few ski resorts with chairlifts. Norwegians are more likely to spend five hours hiking up a mountain to spend 20 minutes skiing down. They do not want to destroy natural areas by installing chairlifts. However, we did find one ski resort called Stranda that has a chairlift and we rode it up over 4,000 feet. We were also treated to a lunch of reindeer stew. There were also several hang gliders jumping off the side of the mountain and rising up on the thermals.
One of the few ski resorts in Norway.
The view of the fjord from the top of Stranda.
We rode the chairlift back down and boarded the bus to stop at one more scenic vista before returning to ship. Terry our other Tauck guide bought ice cream for everyone on the bus.
We drive our bus onto two separate ferries to get from Greiranger to Stranda. You could get off the bus and walk around on the ferry. Each crossing took about 20 minutes. There are many infrastructure programs in Norway unsung the oil money. Bridges and tunnels are high on the list to replace the ferries.
Riding on my bus on the ferry boat across the fjord.
All of the rental cars in Geiranger are electric vehicles. The most popular are the two seat version. The seats are inline like a motorcycle.
I have a correction to make on a previous post. I stated that Pulpit Rock was 1,800 feet above the fjord. One of my blog readers Peter Fisher stood on Pulpit Rock in 2019 and he advises Pulpit Rock rises 1,980 feet above the fjord. I stand corrected.
Peter Fisher is standing on Pulpit Rock 1,980 feet above the fjord. The movie Mission Impossible Fallout with Tom Cruise features a dramatic fight scene that takes place on Pulpit Rock.
One of the requirements to ride the bus is to wear a seatbelt. Every guide and bus driver stresses that anyone not wearing a seatbelt will be fined $150 along with the driver. We all comply with their request but I have yet to see a policeman in Norway much less expect a random stop. Yes, safety first.
Tomorrow we will wake up in Alesund.