Hjørundfjorden cruise

One of the coolest things we did was take an individual cruise around Hjørundfjorden. We got to see a lot of small villages and farms on the shores. Unbelievable beauty, but what a difficult place to farm. Some were abandoned, but many weren’t. There is even a village of 2 that receives ferry stops several times a day! After appearing on a Norwegian TV show about tiny villages, its population doubled when someone felt sorry for him and moved there. Not sure how that went, but they’re still rubbing along.

There are waterfalls everywhere and most settlements are placed next to or between them. This little village has two waterfalls –

Here is one set back from the small harbor quite a bit, it’s called Oye and it’s where we stayed for three days and where our captain picked us up.

This is looking toward the town of 25 from the only road in or out. That’s the hotel right at the curve of the road in yellow with red trim. And this is a look basically over my shoulder to the right. There are rows of boat houses like this in almost any coastal village. What struck me most after a few days on these shores is that small fishing villages and towns are very much alike and I was reminded of Maine, NH and Massachusetts in the way they’re laid out and organized. Even the architecture, surely dictated by weather and sea conditions, is similar even though those parts of the US aren’t heavily settled by Scandinavians.

On the boat, we picked up some speed now and then which made taking photos a bit challenging, but it was bright enough for fast shutter speeds without having the ISO go above 320 or so. I took the opportunity to create some monochrome conversions and woah, does it amp up the drama!

The scale of the mountains is intense, mostly because there is no distance between as there usually is with mountain ranges. You have foothills and such in between and the peaks are far off and so don’t feel like they may fall on you. Not so here – the immediacy of them is incredible. They aren’t immense peaks, but they have a presence and weight that is something you can feel. They loom, but somehow they don’t intimidate. They feel oddly welcoming instead of forbidding. As if maybe they are protectors rather than threats. Hard to describe, but the people who live here are in harmony despite the sometimes tough conditions. Climbing and skiing are favorites as is hunting and fishing. Everyone I met from this area is quite outdoorsy. Camping is big, too.

Settlements in these valleys and on the fjords are hard won. With mountains this steep there is the ever-present threat of avalanche. On our drives we saw signs warning us not to stop for any reason. During snow melt it is risky and more than one person told us stories of whole villages wiped out by avalanches. Some directly because the people, animals and buildings were directly in the path, or indirectly because rivers became blocked and flooded out the people. One tragedy occurred when people were gathered for a wedding and almost everyone died when the snow came down. Another town persisted after one disaster only to have another in the next generation. They gave up then and there is a small church with a cemetery commemorating the defunct village and the people who died. Mountains are beautiful, but there’s a price.

Part of the beauty are the dozens of waterfalls on the fjord. I wonder if people stop seeing them if they live here. Probably. It’s just human nature to get used to features that others would consider amazing or unusual if they are in your environment all the time. The stone walls in New England became that for me and only after leaving did I realize how special they really are. Very hard to photograph well, but I pulled it off a few times and I’m glad I did since Wisconsin doesn’t have many.

Next is an abandoned farm that we got close to and sat still so I could get a few shots. If I remember correctly, our guide said the family left in the 1970s or 80s. Not sure if people still come here, but the landing looks like it’s still maintained. The little stone building to the left is the outhouse although the house itself looks grand enough to have indoor plumbing. I really like the terrace effect of the retaining walls and the fruit trees. What a tough row to hoe – literally.

One of the places we stopped was the village of Trandal (population 17, including our boat captain) which hosts an annual Blues Festival that attracts hundreds of people who pack into the small venue perched on the edge of the fjord. Seriously, google it. It’s wonderful. If you miss the music, you can still have a swing on this –

Before the swing we met Linda (her dad put up the swing for her when she was a girl) who basically runs the local venue for the festival and the restaurant and bar. She made us the most amazing venison burgers from a deer her brother shot up the hill. And we had some Norwegian beer from Bergen and admired the view. Great place, great people. There is a sense of belonging and cooperation in the villages and between them, too. Many had their own schools back in the day, but now have collective schools for all the kids nearby. Ferries and private boats bring them to and from, even in winter although sometimes if the fjord freezes or is too jammed with floating ice, they get a reprieve. Our boat captain said that in Trandal, couples basically decided to have children around the same time so there would be other kids of similar age to play and hang with as they got older. That’s amazing and something I’d never have thought of, but must have been common for centuries. Oh, but back to the food!

Little roasted potatoes are really popular. We had them with every meal and they were wonderful. Those are lingonberries that look like small cranberries, but taste much sweeter. A Norway tradition.

So that’s it for this post. Next up is a stop we made at another village on this boat trip where we met a woman working to preserve and promote her family’s 500-year-old farmstead. But before I close, here’s that amazing swing –