When Drew was planning the Norway trip, everything he read said that the best Fjords to see in Norway were up near Flam. The only problem was that Flam was 7 hours away from Stavanger!
So we rented a car and had a plan set to drive up to Bergen Saturday morning, head to the next hotel, then on Sunday on our way back to Stavanger, hit up 2 waterfalls to break up the drive. Since we had a busy day Friday hiking up the Pulpit Rock, plus after checking the weather we found out that it was going to be raining the whole day in Bergen, so we decided to change our plans and head straight to the hotel and check out the waterfalls along the way.
We had to go on another ferry to cross the fjords, this time it was a larger/longer ferry ride, but we didn't have to wait long to get on it. It was an easy crossing. The sea was a lot calmer then the last time we were on a ferry crossing into Tangier.
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| Look at all that candy! |
The first waterfall we stoped at was Langfossen. The water falls down a towering mountain, a total distance of about 612 meters before the water leaps out into Åkrafjorden at the base of the mountain. European route E134 runs along the base of the waterfall, making access very easy.
The World Waterfall Database declared this waterfall to be one of the "best in the world". In March 2011 CNN/Budget Travel sat Langfossen as one of the worlds ten most beautiful waterfalls. The waterfall is one of the few in Norway that has not been used in hydroelectric power generation, so it is still in its natural state.
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| Haha he loved my selfie stick! |
It was an absolutely beautiful waterfall, the rain even stopped so we could take selfies!
The next waterfall we found was Låtefossen. The 165-meter tall waterfall is unique and thus it is a well-known tourist attraction in the area. It is special in that it consists of two separate streams flowing down from the lake Lotevatnet, and as they fall, the join together in the middle of the waterfall, just before going under the Norwegian National Road 13, making for a spectacular (and wet) view as one drives over the old, stone, six-arched bridge. We ended up stopping here for lunch. Nothing quite like having a picnic next to a waterfall!
After Låtefossen, we still had another 3 hour drive, it was an absolutely beautiful drive. There were so many places that had picnic benches and restrooms, literally right next to the fjords. We stopped off multiple times on the side of the road so we could take pictures. This is another time I'm glad we invested in the DSLR.
Along the way we saw lots of little waterfalls, nothing quite like the two massive ones we saw, but Drew loves waterfalls and mountains and lakes. It probably has to do with growing up in Canada.
When we were half an hour away we literally drove past another waterfall. The Tvindefossen. It is a many-stranded waterfall, usually said to be 152 m high, but likely only 110 m, is formed by a small stream, the Kroelvi, tumbling over a receding cliff. It is famous for its beauty. Buses coming from Flam often stop off.
In addition, in the late 1990s the water at Tvindefossen acquired a reputation for rejuvenation and revival of sexual potency that made it one of the most important natural tourist attractions in western Norway, with as many as 200,000 people a year from the U.S., Japan and Russia visiting and filling containers with the water. (I guess we should've filled up our water containers! haha) At one point it was Norway's ninth most visited natural attraction, with 272,000 visitors.
Of all the waterfalls we've seen the Tvindefossen was my favorite, you could actually go into the waterfall and take pictures!
Bridges and underground roundabouts! Norwegians sure love them
The day was spent taking pictures and enjoying the natural beauty of Norway. All of these waterfalls were free to visit and literally on the road so we didn't have to detour too far! Just based on this day, Norway has made the #1 spot for The Most Beautiful Country in the World for us! Hopefully these pictures prove my point.
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