Haugesund, Norway

This was another new port for us.

Lots of white houses here.

There were interesting houses with steep slate roofs near the dock.

We crossed a high bridge above this waterway.

Another art-filled town...

Looking back toward the ship from the bridge.

We took a bus out to the outskirts where there were some hiking trails...

...and a lake.

No tourists were out here, just a few locals walking their dogs.

 
This church had a boat-shaped steeple.

We took another bus to this park/wildlife refuge.

Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

There were several small waterfalls along the path in this park.

Again, there were very few people here.

Looking back into the park as we headed back to the bus stop.

 
A church from the bus and a large wall hanging once we got back into the town.

We headed down to the waterfront area to walk back.

The bridge we crossed to get back to the ship. There were stairs up to the bridge level.

At the foot of the stairs up to the bridge. We wondered if there was some type of "thing" here about basses because of this and also because of that wall hanging with the man carrying a bass on his shoulder.

From the top of the stairs.

By the time we got back to the ship, we'd put on about 9 miles. And the next day would be the next Norwegian port, Eidfjord, and on the way, we'd cruise up the fjord to get there.

Eidfjord, Norway

This was another new port for us.

We were out and about early to enjoy the sail in through this fjord.

Steep mountainsides and waterfalls are beautiful.

The Hardanger Bridge is 4,530 feet long and is the longest suspension bridge in Norway.
It's high enough that our ship could sail under it, but some of the larger ships cannot.

 
The unique feature of this bridge is that both ends go into tunnels. On the south end of the bridge, cars immediately enter the 0.75 mile Bu Tunnel that goes under the village of Bu, while on the north side of the bridge, cars immediately enter the Vallavik Tunnel which begins with a 1,600 foot-long segment to a roundabout inside the tunnel. At the roundabout, cars can take another 1,600 foot-long tunnel to Ulvik or they can take a 4.3 mile-long tunnel to Granvin. There is also a lane for bikes and pedestrians.

Looking back at the bridge.

As we come to the town of Eidfjord...

There's only room for one cruiseship.

Our bow lines are out on the lawn next to the Eio River, a short but powerful river that runs from Lake Eidfjord into the fjord.

This is definitely one of our most picturesque ports of the trip.

 
Even the small villages in Norway have intereesting art.

Our plan for the day was to hike along the river to the lake.

The were a few old salmon traps like this where the salmon would swim into the trap and would be trapped, but these are no longer in use.

It was very mossy in the wooded areas.

The Haereid Iron Age gravesite is the largest collection of ancient burial sites in western Norway, with 350 graves dating from 400 - 1.000 AD.

 
The graves are marked with large piles of stones. We bush whacked through the woods to see the waterfall here, but is was underwhelming.

We walked back down from the gravesites to get to the shore of the lake. We wondered about the people who lived in this house because there was no road to it that we could see. But it did have a great view of the lake.

Some alders on the beach.

 
We headed back along the river.

Back in town on the shore of the fjord.

We called it a day after about seven miles on the pedometer.

The next day was our final Norwegian port, Bergen.