Saltaskjer

If Norway is mile-high mountains with dozens of milky waterfalls plunging into sapphire blue fjords, then today we saw Norway. If Norway is massive granite cliffs with thousand-foot fissures made by some gargantuan force splitting rock the size of a small city, then today we saw Norway. If Norway is unblemished glaciers spreading to the horizon over miles of unfathomable canyons, then today we saw Norway. If Norway is small farms perched precariously on green slopes carpeted with yellow, red and blue wildflowers, then today we saw Norway.

Eidfjord is the second-largest fjord in Norway. We started at the little town of the same name at the waterway’s source and rode a bus through scenery that only God could have created. At the town of Voss we hopped on a cable car that carried us nearly vertically to a mountaintop. We were at the top of the world with other snowy peaks, paragliders, and eagles dancing on the wind below us. An immaculate restaurant served us a generous portion of salmon with bernaise sauce, fresh vegetables and potatoes. After lunch we boarded a train that took us up into the mountains, where traces of snow still cling to the peaks. The Hardanger Glacier peeked out from several mountain crags. The face of a massive cliff only a few feet away rose vertically more than a mile above us, blocking out the sun. We stopped at an observation platform above two waterfalls that clashed with unimaginable turbulence to form a river shadowing the highway back down to Eidfjord. The whole way, we passed a hundred nameless waterfalls that splashed into transparent pools and sang their joyful song.

The beauty we saw today cannot be photographed. Perhaps a three-dimensional video might give some idea of what we saw, but the sheer mass of the mountains, the brilliance of the white snow on the glaciers, the sparkle and transparency of the water through which we are cruising cannot be captured in any photograph. It must be seen to be believed. And even after seeing it, Norway’s beauty is still unbelievable.Read more