Page 232 - WDT MAGAZINE PORTUGAL

about 800 feet to a connecting bus, marked "950
Gudvangen -- Norway in a Nutshell. "
That's where the fun began. For the first few
minutes of the hour trip this was an ordinary bus ride,
picking up and dropping off passengers with a few
scenic waterfalls thrown in along the way. Then we
stopped at a mountain resort before things went
downhill. Sharply downhill. The bus then navigated
through a series of hairpin curves in a forest as
passengers tried to get photos from the side-view
windows. In the distance we could see our destination,
the end of a lengthy fjord at the town of Gudvangen.
At the small town waiting a few yards away was our
cruise boat.
No time to take many photos because it quickly
departed after the bus arrived. Aboard there was a bar
selling drinks and snacks as well as toilet facilities. Just
a few of us were aboard to enjoy the two-hour cruise. I
thought back to the mob of travelers I had seen earlier
in the day.
Then it was time to watch the panorama unfold, at a
leisurely pace that made the nearly empty boat seem
like a personal charter. The smooth-as-silk waters of the
Naeraoyfjord were plied by our craft between sharp,
steep mountain cliffs. No wonder this is part of
UNESCO World Heritage Site. In a while we
transitioned into the wider Aurlandsfjord, and the
scenery flattened out a bit. We passed small towns with
homes painted in the distinctive red and yellow popular
throughout Norway. Here and there, there'd be a few
folks to wave at us.
Both these fjords are arms of Norway's famous
Sognefjord, which penetrates the country for 120 miles
while slicing through mountain ranges toward its outlet
on the Atlantic Ocean. To prove that, suddenly we came
upon real ocean-going cruise ships, making their way up
the fjord, like us, toward Flam. They were close enough
to for us to see passengers enjoying their happy-hour
drinks from observation decks.
As we passed by, Sharon and I wondered how much
the cruise passengers had paid to get the same
spectacular views we were afforded on our one-day
trip. When we tired of taking photos of the scenery, it
was time to contemplate the geologic forces that
shaped this part of the world, and to enjoy the seeming
solitude, with none of the noise usually associated with
civilization.
Then, as quickly as it began, the cruise was over. We
had reached Flam, the tourist-focused town that is the
start of many fjord excursions besides ours, and which
has a good supply of lodgings as well as tourist
infrastructure.
It was late in the afternoon now, just enough time to

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