16 | Scandinavia & Northern Europe Destination Guide
Spectacular views, pretty towns and significant sites of
ancient Viking history greeted James Holland on an
unforgettable journey around Norway.
Land of
THE VIKINGS
HARDANGERFJORD, NORWAY
All morning I had felt a sense of wonderment:
at the majesty of the Hardangerfjord with
its inky dark waters, at the imposing might
of the mountains that lined it, and at the
deep azure blue and utterly cloudless sky. It
was Day Three of my journey, but seamlessly,
effortlessly, the Viking Sky inched alongside
the low quayside at Eidfjord, a small village
some hundred miles inland from the open
North Sea. I half closed my eyes and imagined
Vikings of an earlier millennium mooring their
ships here, and pictured a settlement of round
houses, a long hall and a community of an
earlier age. It was also hard not to feel awed by
what those earlier peoples had achieved and
not least from here in Eidfjord; it's a long way
from the North Sea and it is impossible not to
feel humbled by the spirit of adventure and
curiosity that must have marked these people.
It was a quest to learn a little more of these
earlier generations that had spurred me to
