Friday 7th July
It was a beautiful morning for our ferry trip from Bergen to Balestrand. That was the first good thing for the day. The second good thing was the prompt arrival of our Porter Service gentleman who was taking our large luggage items, including Daffy Defy, on to Oslo.
This had been one part of the trip that I had been concerned about as we only had a narrow window of time to check out of the apartment, meet the Porter Service and, then, get to the ferry terminal. It all went so smoothly though that we ended up being the first people to arrive at the ferry and this then gave us the bonus of being first onboard and able to choose front row ferry seats. Lorraine and Geoff take note. It reminded us of our trip from Seattle to Victoria. One significant difference though being the objectionable short, but rather wide, man who sat beside me. In an environment where most civilised people in such circumstances are conscious about their personal space, this man proceeded to slouch side-on extending well into my seat. It was then that we realized how lucky we had been to strike Lorraine and Geoff as neighbors on a previous long ferry trip; they were so delightful and we are planning to catch up again with them when we get across to York.
The 3hr 50 minute ferry trip passed rather quickly and we enjoyed beautiful scenery throughout, thanks to our front row position, as the boat wound its way through Sognefjord and past the many islands of the archipelago. It probably wasn’t as dramatic as I’d been expecting, nothing like the mountain vistas we’d enjoyed throughout Canada, but it was still quite beautiful nonetheless. Mark went so far though as to say that he thought New Zealand scenery was more impressive. I do wonder if it would have made more impact on us if the mountains were covered in snow?
Balestrand is a small village located along the Sognefjord and our accommodation for the one night was at the Kviknes Hotel, located just a few steps away from from where the ferry docked. We weren’t able to get into our room at this early hour so we went for a bit of an explore. Just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel was Saint Olaf’s Church, an Anglican church dating back to 1897, that shared some history with our hotel. The English woman who lobbied for the Church to be built had been married to the co-owner of our hotel but, sadly, she died before the Church was completed. Her husband promised to follow-through with the build though and, to this day, the Hotel helps to support the mission of the Church.
Despite being a small village, as we wandered around, we noted a few other hotels and holiday rental accommodation options. We ventured back down to the pier area where the ferry docked and saw some people out enjoying the sunshine and having a drink at a cafe located out on a pontoon-type landing, which looked quite magical set against the fjord backdrop, so we thought we’d join them as we waited for our 2 pm check-in. This was another spot where everyone else was sitting out in the heat of the full sun; Mark and I were the odd couple trying to find a bit of shade.
It was soon 2 pm and we set off for check-in and found that our room was located on the 8th and top floor of the accommodation wing and, consequently, had quite majestic views out over Balestrand. However, I was desperate for a cup of tea but this was yet another hotel that didn’t provide any options for tea or coffee within your room. It was $500 AUD for our room for the one night and if I wanted a cup of tea I had to go downstairs and buy one at the bar. This was actually a feature we’d noticed at the hotel stays we’ve experienced on this trip; very few offer potential for tea /coffee in the room. It’s not that I’m complaining here, well maybe a little, but haven’t any of these hotel proprietors watched The Hotel Inspector (now up to series 17!)? I had and, at this price point, there is no way I would want to run an accommodation business where I didn’t offer in-room tea and coffee as you’d likely find a constant stream of unhappy campers, like myself, on the end of the phone down to reception. To be fair, the guy at reception did offer to give me a kettle but how I was then expected to magic-up some cups, tea bags and milk was a little bit beyond me.
We didn’t venture back out until about 3.30 pm and went downstairs to The Museum of Travel that we’d heard was worthwhile. The only thing that caught our attention though was the building itself as the museum is literally carved into the gneiss bedrock; it’s absolutely beautiful and fascinating at the same time. We were there just before closing so didn’t stay long and then went for a bit of a walk and stopped at a cafe to finally get my cup of tea. We then noticed the front balcony of our hotel was filling up so we decided to go and see if we could grab a spot as this offered great views out across Sognefjord. It was rather fortuitous that we did this as the waiter informed us that our restaurant booking, made some months ago, was actually for a 4 course set menu but we could, alternatively, stay on the balcony and order a la carte from the bar menu. The latter was much more our style and it meant we could eat earlier than our 7 pm restaurant booking slot so that is what we did and both the meal and setting were spot on.
We’d had a rather full day so retired early to our room for me to try and add Daffy Defy to some flight bookings and for Mark to prepare for his downhill Flåm bike ride that he was taking tomorrow. We depart Balestrand for Flåm tomorrow at 11: 50 and the ferry trip takes about 2 hrs. Mark then is taking the Flåm Railway and doing a downhill bike ride whereas I am taking an extra ferry cruise through Naeroyfjord.
Saturday 8th July
The morning was clear and sunny and so we set out for a walk along the road that hugged the waterfront. This was my choice as opposed to walking through dense forest. It’s a bit of a funny place as there was only one cafe in operation, but that didn’t open until 10 am, yet there was a tattoo parlor! Go figure! We headed back to the hotel and even managed to score a cup of tea and coffee which we enjoyed out on the balcony after our walk. Our ferry didn’t depart until 11:50 so we had a bit more time to explore after breakfast and so we went in search of some Viking burial mounds that I’d only read about by chance yesterday when doing some reading. Lots of people stay in this area for just one night and we were a little surprised the hotel staff at check in didn’t advise us of the few things there were to do in the area, all within a short walk. The location of this hotel was magical but I think they could do with a visit from Alex, the Hotel Inspector!
PS: apologies in advance: most of the photos are of scenery as, after all, that’s what we’re here for!
