Olden, Norway

Our second day in Norway found us in Olden. Not that we were surprised. This was the scheduled port on our itinerary.

We slept in though and almost missed this dramatic view of the port.

We grabbed our house robes and slippers and rushed out to our front balcony to capture some images and video.

Here is a video of our day in Olden. Everything you might want to know in three minutes or so.

We were disappointed in the shore excursion. There were two stops, one for about 30 minutes at a tourist centre — souvenir shop and cafe — and one for about 45 minutes at a ski resort — coffee and waffles. We thought that we would have time to explore the Briksdalsbreen glacier on the excursion by foot. That rally didn’t happen.

I did get this shot of a Norwegian style building near the tourist centre. Before the days of insulation, Norwegians would build their homes with sod on the roof. This would help to retain the heat within the building during the cold, cold days of winter.

A few hundred metres from the travel centre was this old church.

I did not see any homes anywhere near this church. The graveyard was unusually well maintained. In front of almost every marker? Fresh flowers.

Our second stop on this glacier excursion was a ski resort. We passed some amazing landscapes on our way to the top of the glacier and then wound up here in an old, rundown ski resort.

The entire area was literally barren rock. Nothing in the way of vegetation. No trees. It had the look of an abandoned property.

45 minutes for the local restaurant to serve waffles and coffee. Perhaps that is the only way the resort can keep the place running.

We elected to leave the ski resort and take in the views of the glacier itself in the limited time we had available. So glad we did.

On our way back to port, the driver did relent and allow a 5-minute photo stop. I was able to catch some dramatic lighting of an incredible vista.

I think the trip was worth it for just that one shot.

Once we were back to port we had our lunch aboard the ship. We also had a chance to change into some summer clothing as the weather had turned very warm and humid.

We spent the afternoon walking around Olden. A shot of the ship from Olden.

And a shot of Olden. Olden is a village with a population of about 500 people.

The Old Olden Church was built in 1759 and seats about 250 people. There is another church in Olden that we did not visit. It is called, surprisingly, the New Olden Church, built in 1934.

And a parting shot of Nordfijorden.