Bergen and the Western Fjords
Geiranger takes three cruise ships a day in July, and a village of 250 people absorbs six thousand. The fjord itself is untouched by it: the abandoned ledge farms at Skageflå and Knivsflå are reached by boat and a steep path, and there is nobody on them.
We come in the long way, by the coastal express from Bergen and the mountain road over Stryn rather than the motorway tunnels. The route is the product here; the tunnels save two hours and cost the entire point of it.
It closes at Ålesund, which is an art nouveau town because it burned down in 1904 and was rebuilt all at once. Clients rarely expect it, which is exactly why we finish there.
Into the Bryggen wharf houses, the fish market at closing, and the funicular up Fløyen for the evening light.
A morning among the Hanseatic warehouses, then east to the orchard slopes of the Hardangerfjord for cider with the grower.
North to the longest fjord in the country, the Nærøyfjord arm by boat, and the stave church at Borgund.
The old mountain road with the Briksdal glacier arm below, arriving into Geiranger from above at Dalsnibba.
A boat down to the Skageflå landing and the climb to the ledge farm, with the Seven Sisters opposite.
The narrow valley under the Sunnmøre alps, a night at a wooden fjord hotel taking guests since 1891.
The eleven switchbacks of the Trollstigen, then west to the art nouveau streets and the Atlantic light of Ålesund.
The Aksla steps at dawn over the islands, then the flight south for the connection home.
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