Balestrand is a scenic and peaceful fjord side town away from all the tour buses and crazy tourists in Flam – photo frenzies, pushing in front to be served first, frantic photo shoots.. I was reminded of why I don’t mind the extra effort, slower pace and occasional problems of travelling without a tour group. The police station is closed on weekends.
Above: the harbor, Viking burial mound, the church and our ‘rustic cabin’. It was a bit more budget than our budget cabin in Gotland.
We hiked to the top of a mountain to look down into the fjords. The 2.5km upwards hike 500m above sea level took about 1.5 hours to walk the short distance. the view was just brilliant - it was worth the steep climb. Craig proposed at the top of the mountain looking down into the fjords!
View 6/07/2013 12:59 Balestrand in a larger map
The Nigardsbreen glacier, which is a scenic two hour drive from Balestrand was great to walk on. This was an unexpected car hire because information on visiting some glacier off shoots were not clear about if you were viewing from a distance or actually able to walk on it. This resulted in a scramble to find a car to hire in the monopoly Balestrand rental car market which ended up costing about $200 for 8 hours! but was worth it – plus we got a spare tire this time.
Unfortunately not enough time to go on one of the organised hydro-electric power station tours on the route to the glacier – they are proud of all the hydro power stations in the country. The rivers are a unique milky aqua colour because of the fine powder suspended in the water from the glacier grinding on the stone.
Row boat hire was included in our visit to the aquarium (no public liability issues here…) to see the creatures that are in the deep fjords. The aquarium was attached to a a marine studies centre where school students come to catch and study the fish. Some parts of the fjords are more than 1300m deep! Not much oxygen down deep for them. Some were crazy looking and had big teeth.