Eidfjord, Norway

Apr. 25, 2023

Well, as the poet Robert Burns put it “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley.”

Rather than visiting Scandinavia, I was laid low with a bout of pneumonia. I did briefly see downtown Oslo, Norway. The ship’s doctor sent me ashore for a CAT scan, which was refused because the hospital did not consider me to be an emergency, so I returned to the ship. After that, the only sight I had of Norway were the beautiful fjords at Eidfjord from our balcony which I’ll share with you now.

First, as is my routine, lets discuss Norway.

Norway is a country of northern Europe that occupies the western half of the Scandinavian peninsula. Nearly half of the inhabitants of the country live in the far south, in the region around Oslo, the capital. About two-thirds of Norway is mountainous, and off its much-indented coastline lie, carved by deep glacial fjords, some 50,000 islands.

Here is the flag of Norway:

Indo-European peoples settled Norway’s coast in antiquity, establishing a permanent settlement near the present capital of Oslo some 6,000 years ago. The interior was more sparsely settled, owing to extremes of climate and difficult terrain, and even today the country’s population is concentrated in coastal cities such as Bergen and Trondheim. Dependent on fishing and farming, early Norwegians developed a seafaring tradition that would reach its apex in the Viking era, when Norse warriors regularly raided the British Isles, the coasts of western Europe, and even the interior of Russia; the Vikings also established colonies in Iceland and Greenland and explored the coast of North America (which Leif Eriksson called Vinland) more than a thousand years ago. Weakened by plague and economic deterioration in the late Middle Ages and dominated by neighboring Denmark and Sweden, Norwegians turned to trading in fish and lumber, and modern Norway, which gained its independence in 1905, emerged as a major maritime transporter of the world’s goods as well as a world leader in specialized shipbuilding. In the 1970s the exploitation of offshore oil and natural gas became the major maritime industry, with Norway emerging in the 1990s as one of the world’s leading petroleum exporters.

Lying on the northern outskirts of the European continent, Norway (the “northern way”) has maintained a great homogeneity among its peoples and their way of life. Small enclaves of immigrants, mostly from southeastern Europe and South Asia, established themselves in the Oslo region in the late 20th century, but the overwhelming majority of the country’s inhabitants are ethnically Nordic. The northern part of the country, particularly the rugged Finnmark Plateau, is home to the Sami (also called Lapps or Laplanders), a people whose origins are obscure. Life expectancy rates in Norway are among the highest in the world. Abundant waterpower, offshore oil, and peaceful labor relations were major factors in the rapid growth of Norway as an industrial nation during the 20th century and in the creation of one of the highest standards of living in the world, reinforced by a comprehensive social welfare system.

Norway’s austere natural beauty has attracted visitors from all over the world. The country has also produced many important artists, among them composer Edvard Grieg, painter Edvard Munch, novelists Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset, and playwright Henrik Ibsen. Of his country and its ruminative people, Ibsen observed, “The magnificent, but severe, natural environment surrounding people up there in the north, the lonely, secluded life—the farms are miles apart—forces them to…become introspective and serious.…At home every other person is a philosopher!”

A bit about fjords. A fjord is a long narrow arm of the sea, commonly extending far inland, that results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley. Many fjords are astonishingly deep; Sogn Fjord is 4,290 feet deep, and Canal Messier in Chile is 4,167 feet. The great depth of these submerged valleys, extending thousands of feet below sea level, is indicative of a glacial origin. It is assumed that the enormous, thick glaciers that formed in these valleys were so heavy that they could erode the bottom of the valley far below sea level before they floated in the ocean water. After the glaciers melted, the waters of the sea invaded the valleys.

Fjords commonly are deeper in their middle and upper reaches than at the seaward end. This results from the greater erosive power of the glaciers closer to their source, where they are moving most actively and vigorously. The bottoms of many fjords have stagnant water and are rich in black mud containing hydrogen sulfide.

We sailed up Hardanger Fjord at Eidfjord. Hardanger Fjord is an inlet in southwestern Norway. The country’s second largest fjord and one of the most scenic, it extends inland northeastward for 70 miles from Stord Island, at its entrance in the North Sea, to the Hardanger Plateau and has a maximum depth of 2,922 feet. Majestic mountains (rising to about 5,000 feet), from which pour many magnificent waterfalls, notably the Vørings Falls and Skjeggedals Falls, flank the fjord’s clear waters. There are many smaller branch fjords, including Kvinnherads, Granvin, Sør, Eid, and Osa fjords. From Sør Fjord there is a magnificent view of Folgefonna Glacier. The area is frequented by tourists, and there are hotels at the principal stations. Along the fjord’s shores are salmon fisheries, electrochemical and electrometallurgical plants, boatbuilding yards, and furniture and other factories. There are mountainside orchards, and at Rosendal, near the mouth of Hardanger Fjord, stands one of the few baronial mansions in Norway, built (1660–65) by Baron Ludwig Rosenkrans.

The Hardanger bridge connects the south (at Bu) with the north side (at Vallavik) of the Hardanger fjord. On a separate foot- and bike path, you can cross the bridge by walking or cycling.

The main span is 1380 meters, the towers are 663 feet high, clearance below is 180 feet.

Here are a few photos of Hardanger Fjord:

An interesting fact about Eidfjord is the length of the day. Because it is so far north, the sun didn’t set until after 10:00 PM and it would rise around 5:00 AM.

Next stop: Portree, Isle of Skye.