Geiranger, Norway

Today was kind of an interesting cruise day – we landed first at Hellsylt, Norway, so that people who had excursions starting there could get off.  We then departed again to cruise for a few hours into Geiranger.  We didn’t have an excursion today, so we used the additional cruising time to do exciting things, like morning trivia and laundry.

According to our adopted trivia friends (John and Mrs. John), who have done this cruise like a zillion times, Geiranger is pleasant to walk around, but didn’t have a ton to do (Mrs. John did bemoan that the town had allowed a campground so close to the water, because it just totally spoiled the view, but she just walks right on through the campground anyway).

We cruised into the town, which was set in the cove between two fjords, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  It’s like there are mountains rising out of the water on all sides, and the weather was perfect.  Snowcapped mountains, blue skies, green everywhere.  Gorgeous.

We took a tender from the ship into Geiranger, and decided to do the hike went up through town to the Fjordsenter.  Let me just say now.  If any of you are considering traveling to Norway, find your nearest 20+ story building, and climb the stairs a few times a day for basically ever.  Everything we’ve done so far has included pretty solid elevation gains, and the Geiranger hike was no exception.

We hiked (mostly walked up stairs) along a giant waterfall, and stopped at several viewing points along the way, where you could see the whole bay with the mountains and the two cruise ships that were in port.  As we got to the top, it started to rain (because of course it did), so we took some pictures, read some of the exhibits on fjords, and headed back down.  In case you were wondering, the campground did not, in fact, spoil the view.

Geiranger is a pretty small town, but happily, on the way back, I was able to pick up a Norway magnet.  Very important part of the travel experience.  The port time has been pretty brief on this cruise, so there hasn’t been much time for shopping, and there’s not much in between super cheap tourist crap and omigod expensive Norwegian sweaters.  Just crazy – hopefully we’ll have a bit more time to poke around in Bergen, tomorrow.

The evening was more or less uneventful – we went to the lounge on deck 15 and watched the fjord pass for several hours.  It’s totally mesmerizing to watch, and there’s a lot of variation in the fjord landscape, which kept it interesting :)

Bergen, Ho!