July 1

You can only sit on the porch of your idyllic cabin and stare at amazing fjord scenery for so long. Time to get out and experience the surrounding villages!

But getting anywhere in Norway’s fjord country is a circuitous experience; no direct routes here! We first had to drive around our little arm of the fjord to Dragsvik and then catch a car ferry across the fjord to Vangsnes via Hella. You just learn to go slow and enjoy the journey because you won’t get anywhere fast. And the scenery is postcard perfect everywhere you go here so the time goes quickly.

In Vik I wanted us to experience a couple medieval churches: the wooden Hopperstad stavkirkke (stave church) from 1130 AD and the stone Hove church (1170 AD). [I will combine all our stave church experiences into one post so won’t get into detail on Hopperstad here].

From the website of the National Trust of Norway (who has owned the church since 2019:

Hove is one of the oldest stone churches in Norway. The church was erected on land owned by the large farm Hove. It is small, but its exquisite forms show that it was built for a wealthy owner. [After the “modern” Vik Lutheran Church was built in 1877, the stone Hove] church was at risk of being torn down. Architect Peter Andreas Blix (1831–1901) bought it with his own money in 1880 and started extensive restoration work. This church is a monument to the man who saved it.

When architect Blix was in charge of the restoration of Håkon’s Hall in Bergen, he was offered soapstone from Hove church, which was to be (demolished). Blix bought the church to prevent it being torn down, and he restored it according to his own plans and funded the work himself. The church interior is characterized by Blix’s choices, and the decor and furnishings reflect how he imagined the church may have looked in the Middle Ages. The church walls are covered in colorful decoration, and the nave has a dado painted in imitation ashlar. The chancel is lavishly decorated. The altar area is framed by a painted ashlar pattern, and the ceiling of the dome above the altar is painted in a vivid blue like the sky with sun and moon. The medieval stone altar is preserved, and the altar stone contains a reliquary covered by a slab of marble. Blix owned the church at the time of his death in 1901 and is buried beneath the church floor.

It is naïve of me to think the interior would have survived from the Middle Ages, but knowing the interior was recreated from the mind of an 1800s architect takes a bit of the awe away. But the stone shell itself is original and that is what is really impressive to someone like me, from America, where a building from the early 1800s is considered ancient.

You walk from church to church along a pleasant path bordering a creek and skirting some farms. Friendly cows and cats enjoy some petting from the passerbys.

An hour and a half drive up and over a mountain and back down to sea level brought us to Gudvangen at the tip of the world famous Nærøyfjord, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s actually hard to drive the last 10km to town since your are trying to take in the magnificent scenery in this steep-sided and very narrow valley. Many people enjoy the boat leg of the Norway in a Nutshell tour down this fjord.

We were also here to visit “Viking Valley,” a pseudo Viking village populated by reenactors. It is a bit cheesy, but overall a fun experience. It is NOT a historic site. I wish we would have taken the guided tour from one of the costumed interpreters. We eavesdropped on one guide and his tale of the incredible importance of a sword to a Viking, and the difficulty in making one. The day-to-day existence of a Viking family is what is portrayed here.

The gift shop has really high quality merch and is worth a visit…no “rubber swords” here.

It was now late afternoon, but since it is basically light until 11pm we decided to push on to the tiny and remote town of Undredal. It is famous for its locally produced goat cheese (gjetost) but we just wanted dinner.

Winding your way down to the fjord through town you can stop at the adorable white and red Undredal Stave Church, the smallest in Norway (more about this in a future post).

We ate down by the harbor and enjoyed the view of the old fishing boat shacks along the fjord. An ultramodern passenger ferry appeared at the docks but only a couple people got off. Next to the kafe was a sauna; two younger guys made the dash from the sauna and plunged into the chilly fjord water. I couldn’t tell if they were exhilarated or about to have a heart attack!

NEXT—Norway #5 LILLEHAMMER—OLD NORWAY, OLYMPIC NORWAY