Geiranger Fjord and Homlongsetra

The following day we spend at sea, practicing doing absolutely nothing...not really our strong suit.

But as in sports, you should train the things you're not good at, so we pass the day with reading, playing games, and taking a long nap.

In everyday life, we long for laziness, but when given the opportunity, you can bet your bottom dollar that a swarm of bees appears that makes sitting impossible. Really incomprehensible.

In the evening, we let ourselves be enchanted by the Cirque de Soleil.

'Viaggio' may be a very slimmed-down program, but it's just as impressive as the other performances. As always, we don't know where to look first and forget about time and space. Just right for a day on the water. To our amusement, we realize that the main actor was at the gym the day before and helped us with the dumbbells. Beastly as we can be, we made fun of his Kaiser Wilhelm mustache (‘He deserves a beating for that!’). Oops - it's all part of the show, for which more than just applause is deserved.

All day it was foggy, windy, and cold, and at night it even got really foggy, and we're starting to worry that we might have to give up on the view during our planned hike at Geiranger Fjord. But it never gets really dark. At 3:00 am, it's still dusky.

But Frau Holle is kind to us: just in time for the arrival at Geiranger Fjord (which has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2005), the sun comes out.

And we crawl out of our beds to admire the truly breathtaking nature with waterfalls, steep slopes, and snow-covered peaks!

It was a good idea of the Mr. Unesco to pass this on to the world...

All of this makes everyday hygiene, getting dressed, and packing the backpack a lot more difficult. Because every ten seconds, one of us cries out from the balcony about the next wonderful thing that absolutely must be seen!

But if you get up at 6:30 am due to the early brightness, you have plenty of time for moments like these!

Fortunately, the breakfast battle is limited, so we can start our hike with four sandwiches and some fruit in our backpacks!

5 km up the mountain to an old shepherd's hut (Homlongsetra) and a few hundred meters further to a viewpoint overlooking the fjord! We're excited and, after a bit of waiting at the check-out, we are the first locusts to leave the floating base without being stopped by Grandma Erna (quoting the receptionist!!!!)... ;-)

We walk through the small fishing village, past the webcam (a 'hello' to our colleagues in Oberursel), numerous souvenir shops, cafes, and Norwegian sweater stores (there can't be as many sheep here as there are sweaters on display), and head into solitude!

And here we are truly amazed, or rather delighted!

The beauty sensor doesn't stop, no "my child learned to walk on board" noise, and no hustle and bustle anymore!

Only the sound of waterfalls, the screeching of seagulls, and our own chattering!

Glorious...

While the majority of our fellow passengers stay in the village for a stroll or book one of the excursions into the hinterland of Geiranger (certainly also beautiful, but you can't do everything), we take the path to the other side of the fjord.

First, along the water, to the village of Homlong (where you can camp with Gunnar Homlong - just like Hinacks in Hinackhausen), then steeply up the mountain into the woods!

Moment after moment, we are amazed and happy to have so much time to enjoy our hike.

We climb up the altitude on partially only rudimentarily recognizable paths and we can only rave about it;

We are impressed not only by the fantastic landscape but also by the weather...the sun is scorching, and we enjoy a little refreshment from every stream that crosses our path!

Arriving at the shepherd's huts (one for spring and summer, one for autumn and winter), the socks need to be dried first.

Not every melting snow trail makes itself felt in a hiker-friendly way. So, an innocent meadow quickly turns into a swamp area.

And so that one doesn't make fun of the other, we both stand ankle-deep in the mud, laughing out loud!

After the huts, we follow another path to the accessible end of the mountain, which ends directly at the abyss into the fjord! We don't want to go any further.

Fascinated, but also in awe (another word for frightened), we stand just 2-3 meters away from the edge, take a few photos, and hike back to Homlongsetra, where we devour our provisions.

Refreshed, we start the descent, which demands more from us than expected, as our concentration is gradually declining.

But apart from getting our feet wet again, we arrive safely in Geiranger and throw ourselves back into the crowd for boarding!

We spend the rest of the day on the balcony in a wool blanket and a thick jacket, enjoying the departure from the beautiful Geiranger Fjord!

Tomorrow, we will go a little further south to Flåm, with a 2-person kayak through the small tributaries of the Aurlandsfjord!

Until then...