Although our outbound trip from where the Crown Princess was docked had taken us underground through the world’s longest road tunnel en route to the Borgund Stave Church and Lærdalsøyri we returned to the ship over the top of the mountains and headed towards the village of Aurlandsvangen with a stop along the winding road at the Stegastein Lookout.
Stegastein Lookout
The Stegastein Lookout is a viewing platform jutting out 30 metres from the cliff edge and situated 650 metres above sea level. I won’t lie: the name Stegastein really appealed to me. I think the combination of dinosaurs and robots from 2000 A.D. comics I read when I was younger just works well to make me instantly like a place. As luck would have it, though, the view was fabulous regardless of the awesome name although, as you can tell from the photos below, it was absolutely throwing it down with rain when we hit the location. I always find it amazing just how many people will stay on the bus in circumstances like that. We never do; rain can make for some truly atmospheric pictures and always helps with memories – “Do you remember that time we got utterly drenched stepping out onto that viewing platform?” – and in this case the sight of low cloud in the fjord valleys was breathtaking.
Aurlandsvangen
At Aurlandsvangen we had a short stop to wander around at our own leisure. Many people headed straight for the souvenir shops but we made our way instantly for the Vangen Church, the largest of the medieval stone churches in its county in Norway, having a free-standing, wooden, bell tower. It’s not that we don’t like buying souvenirs but when you have the choice between a historical monument and a store selling soft moose toys in red and blue jumpers we just find ourselves leaning in favour of the former option. We’re weird like that.
Outside the Aurlandsvangen church we braved the Norwegian drizzle for a little while longer, grabbing a final photo, but coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t a whole lot of things to see or do in this village. Of course, if soft moose toys in red and blue jumpers are your thing then you’re probably covered.
Our day trip concluded with a return to the ship at the village and cruise port of Flåm.