A bit tired still, but bluebird skies compel me to head out after a yummy breakfast spread, which includes deviled eggs with little shrimp on top, caviar in a tube (more like smoked salmon spread?), assorted cured meets, fresh made croissants and whole grain breads, etc etc. Pictures tomorrow morning.
Packed up all possible gear and hit the road for the ferry at Solvern. This was a much smaller, 20-minute ferry that shuttled us across the way, where we exited and walked uphill (yes, both there and back) to the stave church at Urnes. On the way we passed a little table with umbrella and cartons of plums and raspberries and payment by the honor system. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but Norway seems to be the wild berry capital of the world! You’e already seen us stumble upon berries on the roadside, and as we walk up the hill, there are cultivated raspberry plants that are taller than I! See here:
We also passed apple orchards. I might have thought that cultivation was limited due to the mostly cold weather, but the seriously long days of sun evidently more than make up for that.
At the hilltop sits the church, and this happened to be the oldest stave church in Norway, dating back to 1129. Evidently, the stave church is Norway’s most distinctive architecture – arising in medieval times when wood was plentiful and cheap and locals had an expertise with woodworking (from all that boatbuilding). in 1300, there were as many as 1,000 stave churches in the country, but after a 14th-century plague, Norway’s population dropped and many churches fell into disuse or burned down. But the 19th-century, only a few dozen had survived, but quickly became recognized as part of the national heritage and were protected.
Back to the ferry and the 20-minute crossing (and always so chilly onboard, but the shining sun compensates today), then a stroll around Solvern, the charming village that has grown all the way up the hill (as seen from the ferry):
A cute little art gallery that is a converted from an old cow barn with some very interesting sculptures. We sit at a picnic bench in back of the cafe and sample from food we brought (cheese, some of the bread still from Aurland, carrots, tallegio stinky cheese and a small container of raspberries that Lance picked up) in the sunshine before heading back into the car and on the road up north to the Breheimsenteret Glacier information center and a close-up visit up the road from there to the Nigardsbreen (literally: ninth farm glacier, so named because long ago it reached all the way down valley, and in grinding that far, it crushed eight farms but stopped at the ninth). Here are some pictures, but it’s hard to appreciate its true vastness without seeing humans nearby for perspective.
Sated shutterbugs then headed back down the valley and up another backroad to check out the “wall of ice” at Bergset. The ice was massive, certainly, but the granite sentinels were at least as impressive. Much more snapping of photos was heard (can I really capture the color of that glacial stream?)
and then back to Nes Gard, our little idyll, for relaxation, writing, and gazing over the inland lake with the sound of the waterfall in the background.
Dinner at the inn again tonight – why not? said Henry B. Swap, since this gourmet delight is only 12 steps from the room? A long day planned for tomorrow, driving from here, through Lom and to the Geirganger fjord, another Unesco Heritage site, and then on to Alesund, on the coast. Salted cod anyone?