Fjord

“ The white church of Ulvik now appears by the margin of the blue fjord beneath us. Clustering around the church are the hotels and brightly painted cottages in their orchards. Across the winding fjord rise range after range of snow-topped mountains, forming a panorama as fair as one could wish to behold, and a fitting termination to an enjoyable drive through such varied scenery as that which is found between the fjords of Sogn and Hardanger. ”

“ The Christiania Fjord has nothing of grandeur about it, like the wilder fjords on the west coast of Norway. It is smiling and gracious, with beautifully rounded and interlocking hills,—intervals of pine woods, with green meadows and fields, pretty villages and hamlets, farm-houses 325 and country-seats, and islands unnumbered, which deceive the eye continually, seeming to be themselves the shore. ”

“ Sailing down the Sogne Fjord from the sea coast, the scenery gradually assumes wilder and grander proportions as we advance. At Vadeim it is just beginning to be interesting and attractive, and when we come to Balholm we enter into the finest part of the fjord.
Here are prosperous farms, smiling orchards, and waving cornfields, and as an effective contrast, glacier and snow-field crown the high and steep mountains around. ”

“ This beautiful arm of the sea is second in regard to length, the Sogne Fjord being the longest; but what it lacks in this respect is more than balanced by the charm of the scenery and the greater area of land under cultivation—orchards gay with blossom, and well-trimmed farms with brightly-painted wooden houses, red, yellow, or white, perched high on the mountain's flank, or nestling nearer the fjord margin. This beautiful district of Hardanger has been the theme of poet and painter for generations. ”

“ The little study of one room, erected by the composer for perfect retirement, was perched half way up a rock and near the fjord. In the field above, the apple–trees were in bloom about an old farm–house, where the guests assembled. From the summit of the beetling cliffs not far away fell a beautiful waterfall, while the opposite mountain shore of the broad fjord, clothed with heavy forests of pine above and the feathery birch below, presented range after range of lofty peaks and domes, crowned by the great Folgefond with its eternal snow. ”

“ The rhythm of the leisurely swing and creak and plash of the long oars came back to us from either side as if we rowed amid an unseen fleet, and when the men broke into the rowing song they were fain to cease, laughing, for the echoes spoiled the tune.
The fjord opened out before long, and there was another passage to the sea, up which came a little swell from the open. The cliffs to our right had been those of a great island which lies across the mouth of the fjord itself, which we were but now entering. And then again the cliffs closed in, and we were in the silence. ”

“ A summer tour which he had made among the western fjords in July 1862, on a commission from Government to collect popular legends, supplied a crowd of vivid local and personal reminiscences; a ruined parsonage under a precipice, a little mouldering church, a wild march across Jotunheim in storm and snow, and then the dizzy plunge down into one of those deep lowland valleys that strike up like huge rocky rifts from the fjord-head into the heart of the mountains. ”

“ Like rivers, and yet so unlike them in width, depth, and placidity, with their broad mouths guarded by clustering islands, one can find nothing in nature more grand, solemn, and impressive than a Norwegian fjord. Now and again the shores are lined for short distances by the greenest of green pastures, dotted with little red houses and groups of domestic animals, forming charming bits of verdant foreground backed by dark and shadowy gorges. Down precipitous cliffs leap cascades which are fed by ice-fields hidden in the lofty mountains. ”

“ To sail up this fjord in the sunset is to wind through devious lanes walled with these jewels, and to look off, over and above them, to fields of purple and gray and green, islands on islands on islands, to the right and to the left, with the same jewel-walled lanes running east and west and north and south among them; the sky will stream with glowing colors from horizon to horizon, and the glorious silence will be broken by no harsher sound than the low lapsing of waters and the soft whirr of gray gulls' wings. ”

“ A golden and warm brown carpet of crisp, crackling leaves underfoot, the lap of the fjord as a steamer ploughs along, sending the water hissing through the bowing reeds which fringe the bank, make the soothing sounds which fall on lovers' ears as they wander through these pleasant glades. ”

“ The beautiful district of Hardanger is particularly happy in this respect.
The moist and warm summers produce a vegetation unequalled in richness and beauty, and in the springtime, when the snows are melting, the warm and still air {35} is palpitant with the music of countless waterfalls. Some, appearing to shoot from the sky over high perpendicular crags into the fjord, or gurgling in deep gorge unseen, send mellow music floating in the balmy air above in delicious waves of sweetest sound. ”

“ There is no storm; the deep water of the fjord is silent and at rest. Not even the flight of a single bird ruffles its glassy surface. As the steamer glides gently along between the rocky walls, you hear no sound save the monotonous throbbing of the screw and the consequent splashing of the water. ”

“ The cutters' sea-bleached bows scarce find A shelter from the furious wind Under the inland forests' side, Where the fjord runs its farthest tide. In all the isles and creeks around The bondes' ships lie on the ground, And ships with gunwales hung with shields Seek the lee-side of the green fields. ”

“ When the real sunset came we were threading the rocky labyrinths of the Bergen Fjord. It is a field of bowlders, with an ocean let in; nothing more. Why the bowlders are not submerged, since the water is deep enough for big ships to sail on, is the perpetual marvel; but they are not. They are as firm in their places as continents, myriads of them only a few feet out of water; and when the sun as it sinks sends a flood of gold and red light athwart them, they turn all colors, and glow on the water like great smoke crystals with fire shining through. ”

“ Then the steamer shrieked once more, the echoes began a prolonged game of hide-and-seek among the snow-hooded peaks, and the boats slowly ploughed their way over the luminous mirror of fjord.
"Is there any farm here, where my servant and myself can find lodgings for the summer?" said the traveller, turning to a young peasant lad. "I should prefer to be as near to the glacier as possible." ”

“ Lofty and majestic in their grandeur, the mountains rise up on either side of the valley with their boldly-formed pinnacles, which, as the plain sinks lower and lower, and the fjord is approached, gradually present themselves in more and more remarkable outlines to the eye. ”

“ About the end of the month of May, and beneath cloudless skies—there had been no rain to speak of for the past three weeks—I left Falejde to take this charming drive by "kariol" and sure-footed pony.
After a lingering farewell glance at the beautiful fjord view, as seen from the little inn here, we commenced our journey. In the still and warm morning air one could hear the drowsy hum of bees and the clear notes of a song-bird. Sheep and cattle browsed on the hilly slopes, their bells tinkling as they grazed on grass still wet with dew. ”

“ A good road extends east and west along the fjord, affording agreeable walks, especially during the long bright twilight, when the fjord reflects the dark islands and shores in its clear waters, while over distant snow-capped mountains,158 and hills close at hand, is the beautiful, almost unnatural, light, rendering everything ethereal and unsubstantial. ”

“ On the west, the eye, glancing down the Björne Fjord, takes in the chain of lofty, dark islands beyond the channel pursued by the steamers approaching Bergen from the south. On the east the mainland half embraces the island, approaching at the nearest point within a few rods of the bold cliffs that fall sheer into the sea. On the south lies the broad entrance to the Hardanger Fjord, the most extended, unique, and famed of the Norwegian water highways. ”

“ Valleys all snow-filled and from which descend mighty glaciers. Below the miles of snow lay the deep green forests of the lesser mountain summits and sloping flanks, and then the dark blue waters of the giant fjord, dotted with many fir-clad islands. We agree that we have seen nothing in our lives so sublimely beautiful. Never yet nature on so stupendous a scale. ”

“ In one short hour the light on each ruddy top dies away, and their colour is slowly transformed to that of cold, silvery blue as they are one by one deserted by the sun's rays. All the peaks are now of blue, purple, and silver—cool and refreshing to look upon. Hardly has the last mountain taken on his silvery hue when a light zephyr breathes softly across the sleeping waters of the fjord in a steely glitter. But what is this weird light that is stealing over all Nature in softest and most delicate blush when we expected the cool twilight? ”

“ When I meet the tingling sledge caravans with merry, fur-clad men and women, when I hear the gaily ringing laughter and the shouts from the children tobogganing down the snowy slopes of Rough-Hill, when I see the fjord black with skating figures, and when in the evening I hear songs and dance music pour out through the festively-ht windows, I remember the severe winter of many years ago. After the town had laboriously dug itself out of the snow, it went to the fjord and kept carnival through weeks and weeks. ”

“ But so it was hour by hour, all of our way up the Hardanger Fjord, till we came, in the early twilight at half-past ten o'clock, to Eide, our journey's end. The sun had set—if in a Norway summer it can ever be truly said to set—two hours before, and in its slow sinking had turned the mountains, first pink, then red, then to an opaline tint, blending both pink and red with silver gray and white; all shifting and changing so fast that the mountains themselves seemed to be quivering beneath. Then, of a sudden, they lost color and turned gray and dark blue. ”

“ The fjord is in places a mile wide; a lofty peak guards the entrance on the right, and in winter its falling avalanches break by concussion the windows in a farm house perched high on the opposite side of the fjord. ”

“ The weather was magnificent, and thus, though it was rather late in the year, we enjoyed all the pleasure offered by Nature to visitors of this delightful arm of the sea without the disadvantages of mosquitoes and crowds experienced by those tourists who pay their homage of admiration in the usual season. We sat on deck the whole morning, enjoying the wonderful panorama that unfolded itself before us at every turn of the fjord. ”

“ For a moment we pause, just to enjoy for a brief space the silence profound.
Ulvik, Hardanger Fjord
The pony's hoofs no longer click on the hard road; only the faintest murmur of some distant stream can be heard, or the rustle of a crisp leaf as it falls from the graceful silver birch near by, which stands—singly of its kind—a striking contrast to its more sombre companions the pines—a harmony of gold, silver, and deep warm green—in the bright sunshine of this perfect October morning. ”

“ The scenery increases in grandeur the farther we penetrate, and the mountains and valleys are more densely wooded. We dip into narrow branches or ramifications of the main fjord, where beautiful vistas open out, and as we sail down Gloppen Fjord to the hamlet of Sandene the views are especially charming. ”

“ Our church-bell is the icy wind howling over glacier and snow-field, howling fiercely as it whirls the drifting snow on high in cloud after cloud, and sweeps it down upon us from the crest of the mountain up yonder. Far in up the fjord you can see the clouds of snow chasing one another over the ice in front of the gusts of wind, and the snow-dust glittering in the moonlight. And the full moon sails silent and still out of one year into another. She shines alike upon the good and the evil, nor does she notice the wants and yearnings of the new year. ”

“ In approaching the capital of Norway by sea from Gottenburg, the Christiania fjord is ascended for a distance of seventy miles to its head, bordered on either side nearly the whole way by finely-wooded hills, and its surface dotted by emerald isles reflected in the deep mirror-like waters. It must be understood that a fjord is not a sound, nor is it a thoroughfare in the full sense of that word; it is a cul de sac. This of Christiania at its débouchure is just fifteen miles in width, and like many other Norwegian fjords is much deeper than the sea beyond its mouth. ”

“ Here and there along the more open parts of the fjord were bits of green slope with snug farmsteads, a fishing boat swinging to a tiny pier or tied to the very house itself. Sometimes, perched on a rocky shelf, grass-grown and high-up a thousand feet, we would discern a clinging cabin, and once we espied a grazing cow that seemed to be hanging in mid air. No patch of land lay anywhere about that was not dwelt upon, tilled or grazed by some man or beast. The climate of western Norway is mild and humid, tempered as it is by the Gulf Stream. ”

“ We now come to a broader stretch of fjord: larger valleys open out to the view, and the sky seems brighter. This open space crossed, more frequent signs of civilization meet the eye. The farms are larger and the stretches of cultivated land are more extensive.
We now discern hayfields, cornfields, and potato patches. The houses and farmsteads are larger and more substantial, showing that there is a more prosperous people in these inner parts of the fjord.
Frequent waterfalls are passed, some of which send their spray even over the steamer's deck as they leap down the precipitous cliffs. ”