Day 7 - Eidfjord

 Day 7 - Eidfjord 

In the morning we were still hours away from the Norwegian coast, and our breakfast was enhanced by a rising sun turning broken clouds glorious colors.   Along the way dozens of wind turbines and offshore oil rigs came into the view, some close to the ship.  It turns out that the north sea between the Netherlands and Norway covers a shallow continental shelf with water depths of 50 meters or less.  Like the shelf off for New England, this fosters great fishing as well as energy opportunities.  As we approached the coast and entered the Hardangerfjord the clouds lifted, providing sunny views of the many small towns clinging to the steepening walls of the fjord.









Our long cruise up Hardangerfjord to Eidfjord was nothing short of glorious.  The weather was high broken clouds with lots of blue sky, providing spectacular reflections in the calm water of the fjord.  Waterfalls laced the steep cliffs bracketing the water and rising 1000 ft and more. The highlight was passing under the Hardanger bridge, one of the longest and tallest in Norway.  We were told that the underside of the bridge deck was only 5-10 meters above the highest part of the ship.  Given the impossibilities of optical perspective, we could not tell.  But it was thrilling!

We arrived in the late morning, with warm sun making the harbor water sparkle.  Eidfjord is a smallish town nestled into a narrowing section of the fjord, with quaint houses and hotels.  The warm day made our walking about comfortable and we explored the town in several directions, enjoying the surrounding cliffs and waterfalls.  We reveled in what seemed like a quintessential Norewegian town, with minimal pretension and simple, comfortable living.  Serendipity sometimes happens in travel - we climbed up to a ridge a bit above town for a view and happened upon an almost lego-like contraption gliding across grass with no supervision.  It was a robot grass mower making its rounds near a housing building!  Somehow that resonated with being in Scandivania!

The ship made its way down the fjord in the evening, providing some lovely views of the town lights and the setting sun, including the Hardanger bridge at night.

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