Norway Geirangerfjord in a Nutshell
Fri 25 July 2025
After our Gravel Adventure we booked UNESCO Geirangerfjord in a Nutshell
Day 9: (July 25th) Bergen
Beerandbike tour ended this morning, we transfered to a Fjord Tours ferry today. We over estimated how early we needed to arrive for the ferry. Breakfast at the hotel didn't start until 7am and we figured that we'd have to be at the ferry 30-45 minutes before it's departure at 8am. We could have snagged a quickie breakfast at the hotel. We ended up going to a local bakery and I got a Cardamom Roll and Spinach roll for breakfast on the boat.
The ferry was fun, going up to Maloy via the inner island passage. The transfer to bus in Maloy was very simple. However, the driver was a bit 'abrupt' which made for lots of lurching in the bus. The bus went from Maloy to Nordfjordeid, then we took a second bus to Alesund.
We stayed at the Hotel Waterfront in Alesund. It was a short distance from the bus stop, but easy to find. We went to the Molo brewpub for dinner and beers. Several good beer choices. Only down mark, was the 'tippy' benches on the outdoor seating, as Bob found out with a flip.
July 26th - Stay in Alesund
We spent our free day with a walk about town. We visited the Jugenstyle Museum, the Alesund Museum, walked the waterfront for the historic buildings. Lots of good city views. We lunched waterside and returned to the Molo brewpub for dinner.
July 27th - travel to Andalsnes
Today we have a ferry from Alesund to Geiranger at 8:30am. We rushed through breakfast, but again we over estimated getting the ferry early, could have taken a bit more time and had more coffee. The ferry arrives in Geianger a bit before noon and our connecting bus isn't for an hour of so. Not enough time to do any of the Geiranger hikes (to the waterfall), so we hung around the tourist/souveniour area and ate lunch (bratwurst).
The bus ride was fun, it made stops at a couple of places where we could hike and sightsee a bit. This was an interesting waterfall complex and the Troll Stairs. Driver had tales of the 'Trolls' and why this mountain area is the range of the trolls.
Hotels were booked in Andalsnes, so I found a 'hostel' like accomodation, the Villa Andalsnes. This was a good room with shared bathroom. The google mapping took us to the 'front door' of the house and I missed that the owner had sent 'contact' information a few hours before. We ended up ringing the bell and the owner's son seemed confused and asked why we didn't follow the email. I looked at my phone and discovered the recent email to enter the house from the back door and get to our room. It all worked out.
In Andalsnes, I prebooked the Gondola tickets. The plan is take the Gondola up the mountain and have dinner at the restaurant at the top. We hiked around the mountain top and hiked down to the Rampestriken. This ended up being a hike halfway down the mountain (500m) and of course we had to hike back up for dinner. Dinner was good, great view from the restaurant.
July 28th - Andalsnes -> Dombos -> Olso
Our journey continued with a substitute bus from Andalsnes to Dombos. The trip was supposed to be on the scenic railway, but there was a rock slide that took out a section of track, so the railway was providing a bus service to Dombos. The bus ride was okay, might not have been as scenic as the higher up the slope rail, but good valley views.
In Dombas, we had about 2 hours before the transfer to the high speed train to Oslo. We put our bags in a luggage locker and walked into town for lunch. We both ended up getting kebab plates, which was pretty good.
The train to Oslo was smooth and fast. We arrived at the city center around 4pm and our hotel was the Scandic Victoria. Also, in the downtown area, near the Radisson Blu's we'd previously stayed at. We had dinner at a Norwegian restaurant. I had a reindeer, lingonberry pizza and Bob went more traditional with Cod in a wine/cream sauce, broccolini and quick pickled cucumber. We finished by going back to the R00R bar for people watching and beers.
July 29th Flight back
A few snags with finding the train back to the airport this morning. Mostly my fault because I assumed where the train dropped us off would be where it would depart. The departure was track 13 and it took as a lap through the train station to find the ticket kiosk and track info for the transfer to the airport.
Our flight to Munich was delayed by about 20 minutes, could have been worse.
We made our connection in Munich and flew to Denver. Again, Bob was booked on Groome and I was on Landline. Bob's transfer was on time at 7:50pm and I didn't get going on Landline until 8:20pm.
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Gravel Adventure Norway
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Central City Opera - The Barber of Serville
