From Gudvagen (featured in our last post), we traveled 3.5 hours North to the beautiful town of Olden. Nestled at the end of the Innvikfjorden lies this tiny little town, home to not much more than a few country-side farms, grocery store, the local church, and of course a few souvenir shops. It was the perfect place to spend a few days just relaxing in our adorable red bungalow next to the fjord, enjoying each others company, and exploring the beautiful surroundings.
Our home-base for our stay in Olden was locally owned Nesset Fjordcamping. Perfectly situated right on the edge of the water, this little campground had everything you needed; A cozy bed, helpful information about things to do in the area, an adorable little yellow fishing boat for rent, friendly local staff, and stunning views of the setting sun out of the window in our little bungalow. If you are in the area during the high season (June - mid August) be sure to book at this campground well in advance, as there are only a few of these adorable places available.
We ventured on two day trips during our time in Olden. The first of these was to the famous Briksdalsbreen Glacier, about a half hours drive from Olden. Briksdalsbreen is the most accessible and well known arm of the larger Jostedal Glacier, which is the largest glacier in the continent of Europe, spanning a vast 188 square miles. Near the parking area you find a cute little restaurant and fairly extensive souvenir shop, and helpful information about the glacier and hikes nearby. We took the well marked trail from the main parking area about an hours walk to the glacier with a few stops for photos and to take in the views. The trail takes you through the valley, across a river, and past a number of gushing glacier waterfalls and is fairly easy and accessible for all ages.
The trail ends at the foot of the glacier bringing you to a beautiful light blue-gray glacial lake. We spent an hour or two exploring around the lake, discovering pieces of the glacier floating in the tranquil waters, and stopped to eat our lunch right at the foot of this enormous wonder. As much as we would have loved to explore the glacier itself, it is fairly dangerous to get close and visitors can only get within about 500 meters of the glacier before being stopped by fairly humorous caution signs and metal fencing.
The glacier and surroundings are absolutely stunning and far exceeded our expectations for our first up close and personal glacier experience. If you are in the area this is a must see, and if you have a little extra time on your hands I would recommend trying out one of the other hikes in the valley.
Our second day trip from Olden was to lake Lovetnet, which was by far the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. Located in the Kjenndal Valley, its light blue waters are fed by the surrounding waterfalls and streams that flow down from the nearby Jostedalsbreen glacier, and sparkle in mid-day sun. Because the lake is surrounded by steep mountainsides it is fairly protected from the wind, and allows for absolutely stunning reflections of the green peaks that rise around you.
You can choose from a number of hikes that take you through field and forest for better views than you can get from the road, or rent a row boat, canoe, or kayak to explore by water. We were there in early September, at the tail end of the tourist season and were sadly not able to rent kayaks because Kjenndalstova, the tourist information center and restaurant at the lake, was closed for the coming winter. Although or plan was to kayak, our hike that started just up the road was absolutely breathtaking, and did not disappoint.
Labels: Briksdalsbreen Blog, Briksdalsbreen Glacier, Kjenndalstova, Lake Lovetnet, Lake Lovetnet Blog, Nesset Camping, Norway, Norway Blog, Olden, Stryn, The Road Less Traveled, Travel Blog, Travel Photography, TRLT
