Tuesday: Vikings and Voss, Norway

We had a quiet Tuesday morning at our budget hotel in Gudvangen before going to the Viking Village of "Njardarheimr" right when it opened at 10am. This meant we missed the crowds from the first ferry boat, which hadn't docked yet, and that we could juuust catch an 11:40am bus to Voss, a 1-hour drive along a picturesque stream. While waiting for the 10:30 tour (in English), we looked around, tried the target sports, and sheltered under the eaves during a particularly heavy shower.

Viking Village to the left, bridge over the stream to the visitor center on the right.

Explanation of weaponry and how expensive it was to be a Viking. Our guide was an immigrant from Spain, if I remember correctly, whose English was reasonably good. Online reviews of the Viking Village were mixed, but we enjoyed it well enough.

The Norse women were able to make a variety of vivid colors using natural dyes and used handlooms to make intricate patterns.

Inside of the main long hall.

Learning about their totems and gods.

Partially buried style of house, with humans in the center and animals under the eaves.

Once on the way to Voss, there was a photo op at a hotel, which also gave us a snack:

"The adrenalin capital of Norway,"  Voss hosts an "Extreme Sports Festival" every year. We weren't interested in paragliding, rafting, or skiing--we just wanted to take a hike. So after dropping our stuff at the lake-side motel, we rode the gondola up Mount Hanguren.

Above: lower station, right next to the train/bus station.

Below: getting ready to step on board the continuously moving gondola car.

Above: the view on the 9-minute trip up the mountain.

Below: the view from the restaurant (hint: the windows look white not because of over exposure but because we were in the raincloud).

Above: we stayed at the budget motel with just a soccer field between us and the lake; each unit had a small kitchen, a bathroom, an open living room/bedroom, and a back patio with table and chairs.

Below: Fleischer's Hotel, the fancy-schmancy Swiss-style establishment built in 1889 that now owns and runs the motel where we stayed, and behind which is the train station.

Once back at our digs, I wanted to dry off and stop moving for a while, so I read a book on the couch while enjoying the lake view, and R.E. hiked to a waterfall. Then she cooked us a delicious dinner, and we turned in for the night.