Norway's UN World Heritage Site Fjords: A Nutter in Norway on the Looney Front - Part 1

Norway's UN World Heritage Site Fjords: A Nutter in Norway on the Looney Front - Part 1
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When UNESCO in 2005 inscribed Norway's Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord on its World Heritage list, it cited them as 'exceptional in scale and grandeur in a country of spectacular fjords... among the most scenically outstanding fjord areas on the planet.'

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Geirangerfjord

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Nærøyfjord

It listed waterfalls and free-flowing rivers, deciduous and coniferous woodlands and forests, glacial lakes, glaciers and rugged mountains among the exceptional attributes as well as the fjords' depth and narrowness. It might also have highlighted the exceptional nature of the surrounding countryside whether you approach them by boat, rail or road, as becomes amply clear on the Flåmsbana railway.

The neighbourhood
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You no sooner switch to the Flåmsbana from the Oslo-Bergen mainline at Myrdal junction, high up on a stark mountain plateau, than it stops by the massive Kjosfossen waterfall.

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Plunging 738 feet down a craggy precipice, sheets of rainbow-gilded spray inundate camera-brandishing tourists who take the viewing platform by storm to engrave themselves on eternity with idiotically grinning poses and selfies.

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Moreover, Thor or some other Nordic god's gone stark raving berserk (to use a true Nordic term), dancing, prancing, mincing and wincing crazily on a clifftop above the falls, swirling like a whirling dervish, long blond tresses flying in the air, arms flailing dementedly every which way.

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Oh, it's not Thor? It's a female. Look at her long blond plaits, her flowing red dress. It must be a Valkyrie, then.

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Whatever, some Norwegian tourist official has had a genial idea that for all its corniness both affords fun and captures all the mists, mystery and mysticism of ancient Norse sagas in a superbly evocative landscape as the strains and plaintive twangs of ancient horns and trumpets blare through the air.

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The Flåmsbana takes an hour to descend the 12 miles to Flåm at the end of Aurlandsfjord, 2,800 feet below, passing through 20 tunnels, one with a 180 degree turn, inching along ledges above plunging forested ravines and skirting scores of other waterfalls tumbling wildly down the craggy mountains.

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Talking of fun and tumbling, I'm travelling with my wife Rivka on this part of the trip. She's packed the whole house into her case, it weighs at least two tons, and you've no idea how interesting that makes clambering from the platform over the widest of mind-the-gap gaps and up the three steep steps of the train doors into the carriage - and then back down again.

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And talking of berserk - which, as we all know, comes from Old Norse berserkr (ber for bear and serkr for shirt), denoting an ancient Nordic warrior who has, to put it mildly, lost it, working himself up into an insane frenzy of aggression - Rivka has now gone berserk on the Mall of Norway on Flåm's small waterfront, checking out everything in an ever widening Viking rampage.

Flåm's waterfront

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Small coral bracelets for a snip at 150,000 Norwegian Kroner? That's not possible - that's $18,500! An amber pendant for 50,000? That's $6,120! Ponchos made in Latvia for $250? I'm keeping a hawk's eye on her. Damn, she's escaped again. Ah, there she is by the rainwear, just past a cabinet of knives and daggers.

OK, back to the fjords. Some 2,000 winding feet up the side of Aurlandfjord, Stegastein viewpoint affords a magnificent panorama over the blue waters far below, the tiny houses of Aurland village clinging to the narrow shore, snowcapped peaks, massive crags and dozens of waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet. On the plateaux above there are numerous hydroelectric plants hidden in the cliffs.

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UNESCO's Nærøyfjord is the next fjord along, its end reachable by bus from Flåm, threading its narrow 11-mile path through fold upon fold of craggy 4,000-foot-high mountains that tumble down to the forested shore.

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It flows into Aurlandfjord, itself no slouch in the beauty division - green water, towering wooded cliffs, crags, geological ramparts, buttresses and rounded towers, picturesque little shore-side villages clambering up the hills, snowy summits, scores of waterfalls, some narrow silvery threads, others broad thundering cataracts, under one of which the Bergen ferry now stops for a photo op.

O Gawd, how I hate selfies!

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Aurlandfjord flows into broad Sognefjord, at 127 miles Norway's longest, and Sognefjord flows into the sea, where the ferry turns south down the coast through a watery maze of countless pine-covered islands, some tiny, others large, joined to the mainland by arcing bridges. At last the green church towers of Bergen's old town hove into view.

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From Bergen you can board the regular daily Hurtigruten ferry, which takes six days to reach Norway's far north near the Russian border, for the over-night trip to Geirangerfjord, UNESCO's second fjord wonder, after first passing through Storfjord and Sunnylvsfjord.

Only about 12 miles long, it is indeed superb, fully deserving its World Heritage listing. The jagged saw teeth of its snow-capped peaks tear at the azurest of skies on this particular day above its blue and green waters.

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Waterfalls tumble down its precipitous cliff faces, sometimes huge silver-white torrents foaming through verdant forests, sometimes more modest but no less enchanting like the Quadruple Waterfall - which has just morphed into sextuplets - its translucent bridal veils billowing down the sheer bare cliffs.

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To take full advantage of the spectacular scenery, get off at the little town of Geiranger for a seven-hour bus trip through the magnificent hinterland, rejoining the ferry further north at Molde.

You first climb 2,000 feet up 11 hairpin turns to Eagle's Bend for a stunning overview of Geirangerfjord (and oh Gawd, how I loathe selfiedom).

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And that's how you reach Trollstigen, the Steps or Way of the Trolls, those hideous supernatural creatures of Norse folklore with four fingers, four toes, long twisty noses and long bushy tails.

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The landscape is pure magic - snow-capped peaks, towering crags and plunging waterfalls. Far below, a valley glows emerald in the bright sunlight - Isterdalen

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The roads twists back on itself in 11 more tight hairpin bends, this time in descent. So far we haven't encountered any trolls, though I must say several of our fellow shipmates certainly fit the bill in the nose and hideousness department, though I can't vouch for their toes or tails.

Now wouldn't you just know it - Rivka's trolling for souvenirs in the tchotchke shop at the bottom of Trollstigen, and we have to send in a special ops unit to extract her so that the bus won't miss a fjord ferry crossings.

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The whole area is steeped in Norse mythology. A long squiggly white vein of quartz in the cliff face is the sea snake that St. Olav smashed into the rock way back in the 11th century. The evocative landscapes served as a location for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film - so says the guide.

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She also reports that on this day in early June we're in luck - there are only a moderate number of tourists and tourist buses. What with the ginormous cruise ships, there are sometimes 6,000 tourists a day swarming this section of nature's beauty.

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[Upcoming blog next Sunday: Lofty daredevil feats and sedater pleasures in Norway's fjordlands]

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By the same author: Bussing The Amazon: On The Road With The Accidental Journalist, available with free excerpts on Kindle and in print version on Amazon.

Swimming With Fidel: The Toils Of An Accidental Journalist, available on Kindle, with free excerpts here, and in print version on Amazon in the U.S here.

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