Stranda, Norway: Fjordland.
Stranda is a small Nordic village that is situated on the crossroads of iconic, heavenly scenic beauty. From this tiny place of wooded cabins and warm-hearted locals, all of Norway’s Fjordland highlights are not more than two hours away.
Stranda is surrounded by snow-clad mountains in the colder months but they soon reveal their lush, green carpeted layer of deciduous trees when the snows recede to the top of their mountain peaks. This evocative image is the very essence of nature, and looks inspiring and pristine in equal measure; a magnificence that would no doubt be a worthy relocation for the shades of the warriors in the fabled Valhalla of Viking mythology. The abundant salmon river running adjacent to the village eventually empties into the greatest fjord of all Norway: Geirangerfjord, a location that one could easily conceive was once the site that cooled Thor’s Hammer after its manufacture in his godly furnace.
The views, one can imagine, are breath-taking. Following the main road alongside the fjord’s course, there is a picture to be enjoyed - and stolen - worthy of any two Kroner postcard that can be found across the long, serpentine length of the country. When one witnesses the nature of Norway, it becomes apparent that it is as unique as it is fast-changing, morphing like a chameleon, yet never ceasing to imbed a sense of wonder, leaving only a sense of loss when you leave.
For all the other beauty that blesses Norway, it is the fjords that truly inspire: Geiranger, chief among them. These great railroads of nature challenged and natured the inhabitants of this Fjordland to incredible feats of courage and exploration under a series of hardened kings. And a sense of that fabled warrior spirit still graces Norway with each sea-salted breath. In this new age, however, the ferry of the tourist industry has replaced the Longboat of old; yet one can still imagine the Viking hoards and the men that rowed the gauntlet thrown down by Odin and his thunderbolts across the North Sea. The Geirangerfjord is the third most visited place in all of Norway, and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is not difficult to see why. Geiranger has an aesthetic beauty and prehistoric aura which gives this site its status – and fame.
This majestic part of the world brings out the creative part of the soul. If you ever did wish to write that novel, play or concerto, Stranda, Fjordland is the place is the place to be.
