Viking Cruises

viking.com | 65 W I N T E R I S S U E 3 0 League took over the country's stockfish trading empire. BEAUTY AND A CURSE "It's the Viking blanket," an American guest declares, his wife nodding while a smiling waiter hands us a glass of champagne as we board the ship. "They wrap you up and look after you every step of the way." We are settling into the easy swing of "ship life", flopping among cushions for port talks, our favourite server never far away with a preferred glass of wine (he always remembers). We try local flavours: gravlax, lamb stew and orange krumkake, the desserts always a highlight. Heading north, dramatic fjords begin appearing as steep mountains rise from the sea, and today our tour guide, Sagueva, will take us to the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord from our port in Eidsdal. Sagueva is wearing a bright, red and yellow Norwegian jumper she knitted herself, passing the cold hours indoors. "Some people call it meditation; we call it knitting. You are there, looking into the nothingness, it's beautiful!" she laughs. Later, Sagueva and Maddie will swap knitting notes. We snake up the mountain, around 11 hairpin bends and into the clouds towards Geiranger Skywalk, Europe's highest fjord view from a road at 1500 metres. Surrounded by mist, the bus ride takes on a dreamlike quality before the clouds part and patches of snow and scrubby grass give way to a glassy lake on top of the summit. A charcoal-coloured house set on the edge of the lake and doubling as the visitor centre makes for a magnificent photo opportunity before we begin our descent. Ninety per cent of the energy produced in Norway is hydroelectricity. Water can fall from anywhere - the sky, the glaciers, the mountains. Melting snow cascades down ridges into patches of foxglove. The haze clears for a rare glimpse of sunshine at Eagle's Bend Overlook, where we gaze down at green farms dotted among lush valleys and streams, goats sunning themselves on jutting granite overhangs in the cliffs. This is troll country, if you believe in the myths, which many of the locals do. Today, the landscape looks lifted from a picture book, but Sagueva reminds us of the harsh lives of some of these farmers; pockets of the valleys never enjoy direct sunlight, hidden from warmth by the jagged peaks of the towering slopes—the region's beauty and Sommarøy, Norway Geiranger Skywalk, Norway

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