Monday, September 29, 2014

Meet-Me-Halfway Honeymoon: Part 8 - Geirangerfjord, Norway

May 21 (Wed): Gorgeous Geirangerfjord - Day 1
For the first 8 days of our trip, we were constantly moving from one city to another and didn't spend more than one night at one place. Since Geirangerfjord is known as one of the most famous and beautiful fjords of Norway, our initial plan was to spend 3 nights at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, taking into consideration of our budget (the accommodation here costs more than our next destination) and knowing that our trip is coming to an end soon, we decided to cut short our stay to 2 nights and spend the last few days of our trip just chilling and enjoy each others' company without overwhelming ourselves with too much activities.

Our 5.5 hours drive ended on a high note when we finally arrived at this AMAZING viewpoint - Flydalsjuvet. This viewpoint offers an excellent view over Geirangerfjord, one of the best in my opinion. If you look far ahead towards the mountains, you'll spot a zig-zag road and that's where our accommodation for the next 2 nights was located. 

Best of all...we had the viewpoint all for ourselves. =)

From the viewpoint, we drove on for 10 more minutes and tadaa...we have arrived at our destination - Grande Hytteutleige og Camping

We absolutely didn't expect that our cabin was right by the fjord and had such good view of the mountains and Geirangerfjord!! Instead of planning any activities, we decided to just chill on our veranda and enjoy the view for the next 2 days

Guess how much we paid to stay at such a beautiful place? Only NOK430/night (RM230) for a 4-bed cabin. =) The common practice for renting cabins in Norway is to bring your own bed linens/sleeping bag (or you can rent it) and clean up before leaving. Shower and toilet facilities are shared (but very clean) and you gotta buy shower tokens that costs NOK15 (RM7) for 5 minutes of hot shower. =P We wanted to cook so we rented the cooking equipment for NOK50 (RM27). All in all, this place is definitely value for money. 

May 22 (Thurs): Gorgeous Geirangerfjord - Day 2
Apart from visiting the famous viewpoints that are easily accessible by car, the 2 popular activities in this area are hiking and kayaking. We decided not to kayak coz it's quite expensive and we'll probably end up kayaking aimlessly anyway. And thanks to the recommendation of our Canadian neighbor, we decided to go for a hike at one of the many hiking trails around Geiranger. 

We've been pretty lucky with the weather so far on our trip but unfortunately, we couldn't escape the rain in Geiranger. Hubby wanted to be 'adventurous' so we got ourselves all 'geared up' to hike in the rain...lol!!

We randomly picked this 'Gomsdal' trail based on the vague description of our neighbor without knowing where it will lead us to. Btw, blue jacket + red umbrella rocks...lol!!


Saw this out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere house with a perfect view of Geirangerfjord after hiking for about 20 minutes. We continued hiking along the trail aimlessly for 10 more minutes before concluding that this trail ain't gonna bring us to any spectacular viewpoint. At this point, both our shoes were already soaked in mud and water. =.= 

Stopped by Ornesvingen viewpoint on our way back to the camp site for this magnificent panoramic view over Geirangerfjord. 

Went back to our cabin to rest and made hot dogs for lunch, while drying my shoes. =P

The rain finally stopped at 4pm so we drove back uphill to the Queen's Chair. This awesome viewpoint is just slightly further down from the Flydasjuvet lookout where we stopped by the day before. 

Perfect spot to enjoy a perfect view of the fjord. =)

We saw someone filming some stunt at the edge of the cliffs but they were done when we arrived so we missed it. But I have a feeling that it was this extreme artist doing the stunt.

Can't get enough of this breathtaking view.

Stopped by the Geiranger Fjord Center and walked along the boardwalk to feel the waterfall gushing under us. 

I wasn't satisfied with the gloomy picture that we took from the Ornesvingen viewpoint in the morning so upon my request, hubby drove up the zig-zag 'Ørnevegen' (Eagle Road) again. =P Ain't easy driving on this road coz the 5km road turns through 11 hairpin bends up from the Geirangfjord to the highest point 620 meters above sea level. =)

One more panoramic view of the fjord before we bid goodbye to this place the next day.

Now that we've seen the fjord from many different altitudes and angles, it's time to see the fjord up close. That's the best part about our camp site, this small dock is just 1 minute walk from our cabin and there's no better place to experience the beauty and tranquility of the fjord. Once again, I'm mesmerized by Norway's natural beauty. =)


That's it for Geirangerfjord. 2 more posts to go before I wrap up on our Meet-Me-Halfway Honeymoon series and move on to blog about our epic cycling trip. 

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