Ireland, Greenland, Iceland and
Norwegian Fjords
30th June 2008 - 18th July 2008
Home Page    


14th July Olden (Norway)

The peaceful village of Olden has the perfect Fjordland cruise setting - nestling at the southern end of one branch of the beautiful Nordfjord and at the entrance to the gorgeous Oldedalen Valley.

A lake in the valley has been turned a rich, deep green by the river pouring down the mountains from the vast, million-years-old Briksdal Glacier. Giant waterfalls also cascade down making the views even more spectacular as you travel through the valley to the foot of the glacier - one of the offshoots of the vast Jostedal Glacier now designated as a national park.

Other tours head overland to the inner Nordfjord area with its wind-blown rocks, towering mountains and verdant valleys. Also in the area are folk and glacier museums, a skiing centre on the glacier plateau and northern Europe's deepest lake - Hornindalsvatnet.
 

Photo Gallery:
 
Two days relaxing at sea brought us to Nordfjord where we enjoyed a sail through some sixty miles of spectacular scenery. Along the way we passed lots of little villages like this one, which beg the questions; 'how on earth does everyone make a living' and 'where do the go for their shopping'.
 
 
 
 
 
 As the fjord twists and turns its way further inland the ship gets surprisingly close to the shore at some of the narrower points.
 
 
 
 
 
Despite the fact that there were over 1800 passengers on the ship it never felt crowded. Although I did need to stand for a couple of minutes to get this picture with only five people in it.
 
 
 
 
 
 The view into one of the fjords leading off from the main one we followed to Olden.
 
 
 
 
 
 I should point out here that 28 decrees C is the temperature of the water in the swimming pool, not the air temperature. It wasn't too cold when we were walking about, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near 28 degrees.
  
 
 
 
 
 Olden Old Church
 
 The present, sturdy, cross shaped church was built in 1759. It is the only cruciform church in the Nordfjord district and there are very few in western Norway. A building of this shape resists strong winds.
 
 The church has neither heating or lighting and in order that it could be preserved in it's original form, a new church was built further through the valley in 1934 for regular use.
 
 One of the carved hat racks found on the end of the pews in the church. These racks, known as "krekser" are made from the tops of young birch trees with the bark and some branches removed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Traditional Norwegian houses with their turf roofs.
 
 Inside Olden New Church.
 
 
 
Now that's what I call a fast flowing river.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Last time we were in Olden we booked onto an organised tour which took us to the Birksdal Glacier. On route we passed this small Lake, and decided then that if ever we came back we'd walk from the village to Floen Lake; which was exactly what we did.

Our walk through the valley had been along a surprisingly quiet main road, once we got this far however, we crossed a bridge and headed onto a track which took us to the far end of the lake. It is possible do a complete circuit of the lake by crossing back onto the road at the far end, but we thought it was much nicer to return by the same track rather than end up back on the road again.
 
 
 
 
 
 What a lovely spot.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Part of Olderdalen Valley.
 
About four hours after setting out on our walk we were back in Olden.
This is a lovely little village; one of those places where lovers of the outdoors are more than happy to spend hours simply wandering about taking in the gorgeous scenery. This is quite possibly one of the nicest places we've ever been to on holiday.

Not what you'd expect on a holiday to Norway, but when we were here three years ago, it was a blue sky and sunshine day which was so hot that people were getting back on the ship.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I don't know what these two were laughing at as we walked past.
 
 
 
I know I may look strange, but there was no need for this group of locals to come out and stare at me like this. Anyone would think I had a long nose, big ears and only four toes on each foot.
 
 
 
 
 
Obviously this means something different in Norwegian. Then again, perhaps "dempere" means prohibited.
 
 
 
Well that was good timing. Shortly after returning to the ship the rain started.
 
A close up of another traditional Norwegian farm. This one was taken from the ship as we started to sail back out through the fjord.
 
And the final picture from a fantastic day, showing a view back through Nordfjord.