Published on Oct, 2024
I was visiting my daughter who is studying in Bergen for a year and we did this trip to see a bit more of Western Norway. I can only say that it was absolutely awesome.
We started in a rainy Bergen and made our way to the Steindalfossen waterfall that you can actually stand behind. Because it had been raining for a couple of days, the waterfall was really powerful and it was something we were looking forward to and really enjoyed. On the way there, our brilliant guide Bas was telling us stories about the landscape, Norwegian culture and pointing out things that we would maybe not have noticed like the fish farms and the Hydro power waterfalls. The landscape was beautiful and on the way there we were thrilled to drive into a snow storm up high and Bas explained that this was the first snow of the year.
Next we went on to the ferry that crosses the Hardanger Fjord. The rain had stopped and we were treated to views of snowy mountains and quaint little villages along the shore. This took about twenty minutes and after we were soon on the way to Folgefonna. This is a national park that is nestled between some very large (and on our day, snowy mountains. We hiked up to the glacier lake and were lucky that the rain had stopped and the visibility was good. This was a relatively easy hike, always uphill but never too steep and on a decent surface of compacted stones and gravel. It would have taken us 40 minutes but we stopped so many times to take photos as every corner we turned there was a picture postcard view that we had to capture. I think I nearly filled up my phone storage. Upon arriving at he glacier lake, we were treated to a beautiful emerald green lake surrounded by snowy mountains. It was truly stunning and the highlight of our trip. We had about an hour or so to take photos and eat lunch that we had brought and then began to make our way downhill again to the bus where we were a bit early so we carried on a bit to get some stunning pics of the fjord below us and some of the gushing rapids.
Next up, we travelled back on the ferry via a different route where we were surrounded by the snowy mountain ranges. On the trip back to Bergen we had a couple of unexpected photo stops. One at a really beautiful waterfall and one at a huge suspension bridge that goes to an Island where Bas explained that there had been a sighting of one (and only one) Moose !
We got back to Bergen at around 7pm....a 10 hour day filled with the most amazing views I have ever seen. However, what made this a very special tour was our guide Bas. For the whole time we were travelling, he told us so many stories of Norwegian life, history, politics and the physical attributes of the majestic landscape we travelled through. We had some Christmas music when we were driving through the snow storm and some Edvard Greig music on the way back (he was a Bergen resident). We even got to learn about the story of Pier Gynt and the Halls of the Mountain King. Bas was a legend and also took photos of myself and my daughter at various photo spots so we didn't have to mess about trying to do selfies....and special shout out to Rolf our driver who kept us safe and on time through the whole day.
This was a very memorable trip and I highly recommend it and can't speak highly enough about it. Thank you Bas and Rolf.
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