Isafjordur, Iceland on an overcast day

On our morning arrival in Isafjordur we had temperatures of about 9°C or 48°F and a strong breeze and overcast skies. That did not preclude us from seeing the town and hiking and some of us even went horseback riding. The highlight of the hiking was the group of our kid passengers who literally ran up the steep slope from the highway to the edge of the Troll’s Throne. In Icelandic tradition the Troll’s Throne was formed when a large female troll sat and rested. From a geologic perspective the Trolls Throne was formed by a relatively small side or hanging glacier that flowed into the much larger glacier that once occupied the now large fjord valley where the town of Isafjordur is located.    

The center of town was an easy walk from the dock where the FRAM was tied up. The city streets and buildings were all neat, tidy and often brightly painted. There were small flower beds along the roadside and these colors added to our enjoyment. But the most spectacular was the typical Icelandinc nature which Isafjordur is surrounded by, with steep mountains, green hills and waterfalls.

The evening highlight was about 2030 or 8:30 pm when the announcement was made that the FRAM was crossing the Arctic Circle at 66° 33´ 39´´North latitude. Tomorrow we suspect King Neptune will show up on the FRAM. 

Snaefellsness Peninsula and environs

Our first first day in Iceland on Fram, and we have lots of things to do! Overnight we sailed in slightly loppy water to Grundarfjorder on the north coast of the Snaefellsness Peninsula. By the way, apologies to our Icelandic readers but your faithful blogger does not know how to type the 'eth' letter, which is the final 'd' in Grundarfjorder. The 'eth' is an old letter in the Icelandic alphabet that is pronounced 'th' as in 'the'. It looks like a 'D' with a little line through it. There is another old letter in Icelandic 'thorn' which is a softer 'th' as in 'thought'. The 'thorn' looks a little like a 'P'. Maybe by the time our Iceland adventure ends, I'll be able to produce these two interesting letters!

So back to where we were today. Several excursions were offered in the morning and afternoon and almost all of us took advantage of one or the other. The weather was very fine! Some Fram guests made a beautiful hike up to an great vantage point which afforded tremendous views of the area around Grundarfjorder.

Others took a bus and walking excursion over the Snaefellsnes (literally Snow mountain point or small peninsula) Peninsula. It's hard to believe that all the spectacular scenery was crafted completely by volcanic activity.Birds were abundant around the coastline including Northern Fulmar and Black-legged Kittiwake. Any ponds we saw had eiders on the water and shorebirds around the margins.

A Northern Fulmar displaying

A pair of Black-legged Kittiwakes

Over lunch our Captain repositioned the ship to Stykkisholmur, a little further along the north coast of the Snaefellnes Peninsula. There we had more great activities with some going on a small boat cruise to experience a few of the 3000 islands in Breidafjordur (wide fiord) and others hiking in a lava field called Berserkjahraun.

All in all we had a fantastic first full day of activities and look forward to tomorrow, and the day ofter that, and the day after that ......

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.” (R.M.Rilke)

What is that noise in the middle of the night? Sounds like a mild form of scratching wood. I switch on the light and squint into the room until I find the source: It’s two spare batteries that roll back and forth on my cabin table. The ship is rocking. Now my body is awake enough to feel it, too. Up and down, heaving quite a bit, being lightweight one moment, and pretty darn heavy a few seconds later. It’s inevitable, but gentle, smooth. I stash the batteries away and go back to sleep, smiling.

The morning starts with an announcement. Due to the strong movement the bridge visits have to be postponed to the afternoon. It is much shakier up there than on deck 4, so everybody understands.

Lectures, however, are being held, and the brave audiences cling to their chairs while listening. It’s actually quite funny when the whole group suddenly sways in unison to one side or another, many giggles are heard.

Not everybody’s stomach is up to the movement, many prefer to stay flat out in bed - which is actually the best thing you can do when seasickness hits you. Look at the bright side: One only gets sick on a sea day, and on a sea day you don’t miss much…

So, this is it, the final day of this voyage, huh? It’s incredible to remember the many different landscapes and places we have seen, from the various kinds of Norway’s paradisiac beauty to the barren hunches of the North Atlantic Isles. And now the windblown, wavy ocean, teeming with seabirds whose biggest pleasure it seems to be hovering around us. The gale takes off the white caps of the waves and blows them across the moving surface of the sea. It is a moving sight, and quotations of great poets spring to mind. See above.

A sea day is also the opportunity to finish up things on board, last chapters in diaries are written, books are finished, collections of photographs are ordered. It's also the time to visit the bridge, get a glance across the sea from the captain's point of view.

Karin’s embroidery class has the terminal lesson, and the ladies present their results with pride.

Unfortunately also luggage has to be packed, and the departure prepared. Tomorrow this journey is over. Shame.

But then again, many are looking ahead in excitement, as they have not planned to arrive in Iceland only to leave it already on the same day. Brand-new maps are unfolded and brooded over, addresses of rental car companies are verified, and of course the expedition team is questioned greatly about this amazing Island, born from the Earth’s molten interior.

Tomorrow Island, so not the end, but a beginning!
So many smiles at the Captain's Farewell toast. We will come back.

Land's End

This voyage offers the unique opportunity to experience Norway “from within”: After having had all these comprehensive insights from our Man of Fjærland, Olav, we are entirely in Expedition Leader Karins backyard today.

This is to be taken literally, as the landing site on the island of Atløy is in fact the yard next to her boat house. She even had an impeccable stairwell built for people to get off the boats, just before we arrived.

What a change of landscape we are experiencing! No longer are we surrounded by looming fjord walls, gushing waterfalls and the debris fans of the numerous avalanches that are a hallmark of the inner fjord land, an open sky is above us, unhindered and blue. The grey hills are round and gentle, peacefully sticking their heads out of lush pastures, populated by sheep of several generations. The mood is pastoral, serene, and it affects everybody who goes ashore immediately.

Not only we can visit the ancient fishing gear of Karin’s family in the boat house and take a sunny stroll to the old community church where guided tours are given and a little concert is played. For those who want to combine the feast for the eyes with a little amuse-gueule, our chef Eirik comes ashore with no less than 10 kilo of scallops, caught and bought only last night from a local fisherman.

Eirik is also an expert outdoor cook, and in no time he has a fireplace built with the local rocks. Five minutes later the scallops are sizzling in the pan, and we have the most precious, delicious seafood on an all-you-can-eat base!

And Karin’s smile reaches from ear to ear, because all her family is around, parents, brother, aunts. A full family gathering, all of them helping, explaining, showing, smiling.

What a start for the day, especially for the kayakers, who could explore this wonderland from sea level.

When glaciers reach the sea, they turn their erosional power from a narrow blade into a wide grater, serrating the coastline into many low, rounded individuals - islands.

Norway has an incredible number of them, and just after lunch we visit the absolute westernmost of those, Værlandet and Bulandet.

Værlandet has only 9 square kilometers but a striking geology. A deep green metamorphic rock crops out next to “Black Beauty”, a dark breccia that only occurs on this small island. Worldwide. And that’s not the end of it: On a very small area, the breccia is overlain by “Picasso”, a very, very colorful conglomerate. May these names not be overly scientific, they describe well what you see. 

Together they tell a fascinating story of supercontinents, ruptures and erosion, a wild chapter of Earth’s history. And as they are exceptionally pretty, they get fashioned into table tops and exported around the world.

Knowing this, our guests are very pleased as owner Hjerman presents them with a little piece of the rock.

Now we enter a strange world, the westernmost outpost of Norway - Bulandet. It is not an island, but an archipelago, consisting of 365 islands and islets (So you have one for every day of the year). Some of them are so low that they are under the water line at hight tide.

Our guide Ruth tells us interesting stories from the times when there was no bridge, no connection but the boat. Many of the islands accommodate a single house, because there is simply not more room for more.

Marrying into this place sometimes occasionally entailed a nasty surprise when the bride saw the smallness of it for the very first time.

But it is beautiful, no doubt, in a romantic, wild way. The thought that this is indeed the absolute end of the country adds to it, especially when you stand on the hill and face West.

Back in Værlandet we get more information/demonstration from Ruth, who is a walking encyclopedia of the island’s history, shown at its best in the small Peter Hansen Museum, next to the harbour.

Speaking of which: As we return from our fine excursion, we find Ralf there, playing his accordion together with a local musician. A wonderful atmosphere rounds up the day.

And now it’s time to weigh the anchor and go even further west.

Beyond Land’s End.

Blue Skies, Grey Skies - who cares, we are sailing again!

Before midnight the sound of the announcement bell goes into every cabin - this must be something BIG.

It is the captain’s voice, clearly with a timbre of ease. And indeed, he is the bringer of good news: The damage is fully repaired, testing successful, FRAM is ready to leave. And a short while after we feel the familiar vibration going through the vessel. Our stay in Eidfjord is over, we will be in Balestrand as planned.

All in all, not much damage. What a relief!!!

In the morning we pass the important landmark  - Sognesjøn, the gate to the second largest fjord in the world, only beaten by the unreal Scoresby Sound in East Greenland.

As if the weather is not approving of us leaving the Hardangerfjord, the skies are grey and cloud-laden. But the atmosphere could not be more serene, everybody is so happy to be sailing again. The morning lectures are very well attended, and there is quite a bunch of them.

And then we have a extra excited Olav today, as we are visiting his roots, which lie in the scenic Fjærlandsfjord. His family has been there since the 16th century, and today we get a first-hand account of everything that has happened ever since.

The afternoon finds us arriving in Balestrand, basically just around the corner from Fjærlandsfjorden.

This is the center of art, youth education, and cider. There is statues and monuments galore, and Ralf has a handsomely sized group for his cultural walk through the town.

Balestrand is also the departure point for a lovely hike into the adjacent mountains, a pretty steep thing to do. Quite many of our hikers had given up in the past, long before we reached our goal, Orrabenken, nearly 400m above the fjord and with a breathtaking view.

Not so today: Everybody not only makes it, but also continues further up towards Balastøylen, until the deep wet snow of springtime forces us to return.

By the way, the senior member of our hiking group is 87 years old… what an inspiration!

A Grieg-ish Day

The Fjord of Hardanger is enormous, nearly 180 kilometers long, a maze of dramatically steep valleys, reaching deep into the landscape of western Norway.

Literally at its very end, at the finest tip of this wonder world we awake with the golden light of the morning sun, as it starts to caress the snow-capped mountains.

This morning mood is so beautiful, so romantic - so Grieg! How can it be easier to get out of bed…?

The day’s activities start with the Eidfjord community walk, guided by Katja, Arne and Olav, a powerful trio if it comes to history, culture, and everyday’s life in Norway.

However, last time I gave here to the esteemed follower a short account on the presence of the Vikings and their graves, a mean wife being punished to donate a church and the blessings of owning a waterfall.

So, in order not to be too repetitive let me please focus on a different subject, evidently tightly connected to Norway’s past. Let’s talk about a few traditions.

As we are standing next to the church, I discover an open door to a tiny workshop. Inside I am confronted with the most beautiful violins - excuse me, fiddles - I have seen, carefully kept in a glass shrine.

The owner is not overly keen at first to have pictures taken, but after a brief explanation of our motives he happily agrees.

A very special instrument it is, first mentioned in the middle of the 17th century. And take a closer look: Contrarily to the normal violin there are two sets of strings: the normal ones and very thin ones who serve only the purpose of resonance, giving the instrument an unmistakable, pastoral sound.

There is a old connection between wedding ceremonies, a rowing boat and a man with the salute rifle, preserved for all times in the famous painting “brureferde” by Tidemand and Gude. A wedding only was worthwhile when the fiddle was played…

We are approaching a very important day in the Norwegian calendar - the 17th of May, National Day, commemorating the independence of the country.

Whereas the national day in many countries is merely a welcome occasion to have a day off, it is a milestone in Norway’s identity, and literally every countryman and countrywoman partakes in the many festivities. The dress code is very specific - whoever owns a “Bunad” will have to wear it.

The Bunad is a very conservative garment, often handed down by the elder to the later generations. (Which is fortunate for the younger people, as a traditional Bunad is hellishly expensive.)

Every region in Norway has specific cuts and tissues and bangles and brooches, and they recognize each other right away. A women’s dress is by far more precious than a man’s Bunad - the bride  had to be pretty for the groom and the man had to do more practical things, so the garment wore off more easily.

We have four Norwegians on the expedition team, and of course! They all have their Bunad on the ship, so they can celebrate the 17th of May in style.

These precious things have to be straightened out, aired, and checked, which gives us the fine opportunity to take a closer look. Beau-ti-ful!

If you go really close you discover the finely woven decoration, and the embroidery. And here’s the next topic.

The handling of needle and yarn has a very long history in Norway, as the dresses and garments also were meant to send a cultural (and economical) message to the beholder.

Especially the Hardanger Embroidery developed into an art form that became famous also beyond the borders of Norway.

And no-one else but our expedition leader Karin is a skilled instructor for this craft. So she gathers ten keen students around her and shows them the first steps - it is trickier as it looks.

Everybody is utterly pleased with the first half of the day, so now it is time to head for the mouth of Hardanger Fjord.

The surprise is not little when suddenly there is an announcement over the PA system that our departure is delayed due to a glitch in the portside engine electronic. We have to stay, for the time being.

But what nicer place to be delayed than this one? We are at pier, we can go out for a walk, to one of Eidfjord’s charming cafés, or just stand on deck and look into the evening sun.

The evening comes with no news, still the problem could not be solved. But fortunately the expedition team came up with a wonderful Plan B for tomorrow: Instead of having paid excursions, everybody will be invited to go on the famous ride with the Flåmbana, only we go there by bus and not by ship. Theme with variation, and there is a big round of applause as the new plan is presented.