Greetings from the smallest port we’ve visited, at least so far, on this nine month odyssey. Olden, Norway, is home to a whopping 666 residents, yet it’s a popular tourist destination. How popular? Last year it was visited by more than 130 cruise ships, lured by its proximity to the Briksdal Glacier.
The glacier is only 16 miles from the village, and you can get almost all the way there by bus and then dune buggies that they call troll cars (trolls are a thing in Norway). Only the last 1600 feet require the use of one’s feet, making it one of the country’s most accessible glaciers.
So, what did we opt to do today? Why, go to the glacier, of course, and did it ever turn out to be a good decision. Not only were the views spectacular, but we had a lot of fun doing it. And as the weather worsened (more on that shortly) the fun quotient only increased.
Part one of the excursion was the bus ride, which was scenic in its own right. The Oldeelva River, which flows directly from the Briksdal Glacier, is gorgeous, with that beautiful chalky blue color that is a hallmark of glacial rivers. The lakes along the river between Olden and the glacier are postcard perfect, there are small glaciers peeking down from the mountaintops, and snowmelt far above produces long, ribbon-like waterfalls everywhere. We made a couple photo stops on our way to the glacier, and only the promise of more to come made me want to get back on the bus to continue on.
The ride itself probably took about 40 minutes, after which we arrived at a combination restaurant, gift shop, and large parking lot, the latter being necessary to accommodate an armada of tour buses. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but there was a much larger cruise ship in Olden today in addition to ours, one capable of carrying well over 4000 passengers. Throw in our 1800, and between us we disgorged 6000 tourists on this tiny village in a single day, and most of them wanted to visit the glacier. That required a lot of tour buses, and there was a constant stream of them rolling to and from the glacier all day.
Our excursion included a snack at the restaurant, which turned out to be an all you can eat buffet of different cakes, and the four I sampled (small pieces, honest) were all good. Then, after some free time to explore the gift shop, we boarded the troll cars for the trip up the mountain to within 1600 feet of the glacier observation point. These glorified all wheel drive vehicles, complete with roll bars, made easy work of ascending the steep, narrow trail and switchbacks, depositing us when even they could go no farther.
At this point we finally had to engage our feet and hike up a steep dirt and gravel trail to a small lake directly below the glacier, which is as far as you can go. As recently as 1990 there was no lake, as the glacier completely covered it, but since then the glacier has retreated dramatically, and now ends high above the lake. It made me wish we had been able to come here on our earlier Scandinavian cruise in 1993. Still, the view was wonderful, so no complaints.
While we were there the wind picked up and the rains came, making us very happy that we had packed complete rain suits. And truth be told, we had a lot of fun up there in the wind and rain. There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices, and we were fortunate to have made the right choices. Along with some friends we put our hands in the freezing lake water, took some fun photos, and just reveled in our good fortune to be able to be here and do this. Maybe seeing wild scenery in wild weather enhanced the experience.
All too soon it was time to trek back down to the troll cars, ride them back to the restaurant/gift shop, and find our bus for the trip back to the ship. One of the things I’ve learned on this cruise is that you can never tell in advance which tours will be special, no matter how detailed the descriptions are. This one was definitely special.
Tomorrow we’ll continue our northward journey up the Norwegian coast to Alesund, where more adventures await, including a ferry ride and a cable car ride to the top of a mountain. I’ll be back with another full report, so stay tuned.
We arrived in Olden to a very pretty morning.
On our way to the glacier we passed the “old church.”
Then we passed the “new church.”
We were following the Oldeelva River, which flows down from the glacier.
In some places the river is quite lively.
Notice the classic blue color that is often found on glacial rivers.
In a couple other places the river widens out and forms lakes.
A peek at one of the lakes.
Didn’t get a photo of it, but a lot of people kayak on the lakes.
But I did get a photo of a paddle boat.
Great spot for a photo, and the weather was still nice.
Even some of the newer buildings we passed had grass roofs, though I think some of it can be put down to marketing to tourists.
Michele found a troll in the gift shop before we climbed aboard the troll cars.
In the troll cars, ready for the ride up the mountain.
You get really wet from the spray crossing this bridge. Fortunately we already had our rain suits on.
On the walking path. It was pretty steep in some places.
Almost at the top.
At the top. As recently as 1990 there was no lake here. The glacier came all the way down past where I was standing when I took this photo. I would like to have been here then.
And then the rains came.
Move over, John Travolta.
Definitely a pretty spot.
I’m pretty sure this water is barely above freezing. My fingers were starting to go numb while I posed for this photo.
We had a good time at the glacier.
On our way back down to the troll cars.
The river is pretty violent up this high.
I spotted a Norwegian red deer in the woods.
Back on the troll cars. Fun with friends.
Look carefully at the bottom of this photo and you’ll see the bridge we would cross on our way down. The mountain is really steep here, but the troll cars handled the steepness and hairpin turns easily.
And finally, at the gift shop I found a Kvikk Lunsj, the Norwegian version of a Twix bar.
Comentários