After spending the evening in
Bergen, we packed up the car the next morning and headed for something that we had read about and were SOOO pumped to see- Aurlandsfjellet- the snow road! Our first stop on our way to our destination was the town of Flam. Like our other days of driving, we passed lots of mountains and drove through several tunnels along our way.
We stopped in Flam because the women that we had met at the church the day before in Bergen mentioned it to us, and we thought it would be a good stop for lunch and potty breaks. What we didn’t realize about Flam is that it is the major leaving-off point for fjord cruises and train tours and the place was PACKED. We had to go to the bathroom, so we had to wait in long lines; we wanted to eat a quick lunch, so we had to wait in long lines. The best part of Flam is that we did find some super cool wool Norwegian-made mittens which we thought would be very useful for our big plans the next day- glacier hiking!
Once we were on the road again we found and followed the scenic road signs for Aurlandsfjellet. This road, 47km long in total has sections that are completely closed off in winter, hence the name snow road. The views of Aurlandsfjord and Sognefjord were spectacular. The first thing we came across was a waterfall off the side of the road, and we had to pull over to check it out. There was a carpark, and there is a campground on this spot too- can you imagine waking up in your tent to this? The place was full of tourists- there were probably a dozen tourists buses there- but it was worth a quick stop.
We continued our drive, coming to the fjord, and the waters were just so blue and beautiful!
One of the first stops during our scenic drive was the glass lookout called Stegastein. The platform, made of laminated wood and steel, is 4 meters wide and 30 meters long, giving beautiful views of the Aurlandsfjord.
Stegastein was pretty crowded, but once we got past there the crowds on the road definitely thinned out, and we usually had miles of roadway to ourselves. It is crazy how quickly the scenery changes here, and before long we were on top of the mountains and seeing snow.
When we first saw the snow, like in the picture below, we thought perhaps that was it- the snow road. It was, after all, June 14, it was very interesting there was any snow left at all. But as we kept driving, the snow kept getting taller, until there were walls of snow along both sides of the road, taller even than the car!
We also passed lots of man-made rock piles, the sort we had seen in other places in Norway, so we got out and walked through some snow so we could build our own, despite the fact that we were in sandals; it at least felt less cold to us than after our hike up Pulpit Rock.
Another stop we made that day was a location recommended to us, the city of Lærdalsøyri. This cute village is just tucked in between the mountains next to the river, and is considered a national heritage village. In the city center, there are 161 wooden houses dating from 1700 to 1800. The village used to be a trading port, connecting east and west Norway, because of its location near Sognefjord, one of the longest fjords in Norway. The village was so quaint and definitely merited a walk around to explore. It was also great for getting out of the car and stretching our legs
What a cute town! From there we drove to Borgund Stave Church. This is considered one of the best preserved stave churches of the 28 that still exist in Norway, with the fewest alterations being made. It was built between 1180 and 1250. There is a museum across the street from the church (with wifi- always nice to find when you’re traveling a foreign country without Internet access), with lots of artifacts and info about stave churches.
We paid to go in and tour the stave church; some of the things you can still see in the church are the wooden beam carvings and the animal masks on the door.
Also still visible are the carver’s marks on the door, and the medieval stone altar, painted in 1654.
The pulpit dates from 1550-1570, and the doorway is decorated with serpents, dragon-like creatures and foliage.
The church is pretty small, but it was very interesting to see the carvings in the wall, to touch the wood that has been touched by hands hundreds of years ago. Also on the site is separate bell tower; added in the 13th century, it is the only example of it’s kind in the country. The external gallery wraps around the church and protects the outer wall and provides shelter in bad weather.
One of my favorite things about the stave church is to just look at the roof and take it in, very much reminds me of a viking ship, how about you?
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| one of the original carved dragon’s heads from the roof of the Stave Church |
Next to the stave church is the Borgund Church, built in 1868 to replace the use of the older church. Look how similar it looks! Unfortunately, we could not visit inside.
We continued our drive after visiting the Stave Church; it was a beautiful day for once! We had decided that the following day we would do a glacier hike, so we booked it while we had WiFi at the museum. That evening we had sandwiches at a gas-station while we drove to get closer to the glacier.
Around 11pm we arrived to the area of the glacier, and our plan was to camp off the side of the road. We were driving down a road, and could see the glacier and we saw our first reindeer grazing in a field- we were so excited!
We saw a spot where we could possibly pull off the road and camp, so I drove onto the gravel, made a quick circle so that we could get the car out quickly in the morning, and promptly got stuff. For a good 7 minutes I was reversing and gunning the car to try and get out of that spot. Heidi and Erin even got out and attempted to help push. I’m still not quite sure how I did it, but I did get us out of that spot, but I was definitely shaken up- I almost got us stuck on a road with nobody around to save us and our rental car! By that point I was feeling pretty unsure about where we were going to sleep for the night, but after driving a little bit further down the road we did find a campsite, the kind with cabins but with lots available for RVs and tents. However, the office was closed, so we had to the make the choice to just pitch the tent anyways and hope we didn’t get caught in the morning and fined. It felt like while we were setting up our tent everyone was staring at us, knowing that we were there illegally, but we were able to sleep until 9am the next morning and no one knew. The ground was so cold, however, that the sleeping was a bit hard to come by, but it was okay, because that day we were hiking a glacier!
The glacier we were visiting was Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier on mainland Europe, it has over 50 glacier branches, covering a total area of 487 square kilometers. We were going to be doing a hiking tour on the branch called Nigardsbreen. For $90 we got a guided tour which included gear- crampons (the spiky things that you attach to your shoes that hook into the ice) and an ax. When our guides saw our sneakers, which they said were too soft, they also hooked us up with some boots, which were very useful for keeping our feet warm and dry. Why didn’t we bring boots with us on this trip? Because we packed all wrong, but we really appreciated those boots. We were all bundled up for our hike and it was fairly warm when we started but of course on top of the glacier it felt pretty cold.
After getting our gear, the first thing we had to do was take a boat across the lake that you can see in the picture above. Then, it was about a 30-40 minute hike over rocky terrain (not wearing the crampons yet) to the glacier, including crossing a very rickety bridge.
There were 10 people in our group plus our guide, a nice man from Nepal. When we got to the glacier we were harnessed together and given instructions on how to hike with the crampons and how to use the ax to hoist ourselves up or stop from falling. And then we were off!
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| All harnessed up and ready to go |
It was surprisingly easier to walk on the glacier than I thought it would be, you just have to place your foot flat down, not forcing down the crampons, and take small steps. Our guide was great about letting us stop to take as many pictures as we wanted along the way. It was amazing how blue the glacier is, especially deep in the crevasses- none of these photos have been touched up,
At one point we stopped and our guide climbed around in a bunch of ice caves, and then he did a little photo shoot with each person, taking us in the caves one-by-one to check it out from the inside- so cool!
We hiked up a bit further (we spent about 4 hours total on the glacier) stopping at the top to eat some sandwiches we had packed and our guide even shared some coffee with us; we were so hungry by the time we made it to the top, the stop was very welcome. I was feeling a bit nervous about hiking down, thinking it would be tougher to do without falling down, but it was actually probably a little bit easier, you just have to squat down as you take the small steps downhill. Other helpful hints from our guide- put your gloves in your coat next to your body so they stay warm and dry and move your arms like you’re slowly flapping your wings to increase circulation to your fingers if your hands get cold.
On our way down we did see a little snow avalanche, just like the sign warned, but luckily there was no one in it’s path. We did make sure to take an OHIO picture with our guide and then we had to return our gear before heading back on the road.
We headed back on the road towards Geiranger, where we had a cabin reserved for the night. It was about a 2 hour drive, where we passed another branch of the glacier, and we stopped again at a gas station for dinner (I got fish and chips). We realized that the cabin reception would be closed by the time we got there (it’s easy to forget that not every country is 24 hours open like in the US) so I called to warn them but they, like all the Norwegians we had met, were very kind and let us check in late to our adorable red cabin for the night.
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