18 Sept Bergen to Balestrand

After a night's rest, Mari greeted us with a lovely breakfast, including muesli, fruit, goat's cheese, coleslaw (!), and other bits. Soon it was time to head down to the Bergen dock, and Mari was kind enough to accompany us as our guide through the drizzling rain. Soon we were ensconced aboard the enormous catamaran 'express boat, Vingtor. There were't many passengers, so we had our choice of seats. There was also access to the rear deck, making photography easy.

Leaving dock, we passed by the historic part of the city, which has a church built in the 1500's, also the Fish Market of which we have photos from when Pete visited as a child.

And the inevitable Viking boat!

Vingtor proceeded to thread her way along the channels dividing the numerous small islands clustered on this coast. There must be hundreds of them. As we got further north the vegetation changed to smaller trees and Rocky Mountains, many very tall. Wherever there is a flatter area there are houses, some only accessible by boat.

Reaching the Sogn Fjord was rather exciting for us. It is incredibly beautiful and the clouds cleared at times and we even had some sun so that the contrasts between the sno- topped peaks, the still water, and the pretty villages was quite stark. This is a picture of Vik which is just across the fjord from Balestrand.

We arrived at Balestrand at about MD, immediately being entranced by the famous Kvikne Hotel which Mother often spoke about. Mr Kvikne senior was a good friend of Grandpa Knoff.

We easily found the Midtnes Hotel and our cases again did a good job at being dragged over steep and cobbled road. Our friendly and very kind host, John, told us where 'Retiro' (Grandma's house), and so the first thing we did was to go and see it. It is just behind where we are staying. There was no one home and apparently the daughter of the policeman who now owns it has it as a holiday place - it is nice to know that an 'old' Balestrand family still owns it.

We walked around the village and met Arvid, an old local, who knew the Knoff's. He took us to see another house that Richard Knoff rented from Mr Kvikne when they first came here...his English was a bit difficult but wonderful compared to our Norwegian. We had asked John where the cemetery might be and he said he would take us there at 3 pm as he also wanted to go. The Lutheran Church is around the other side of the water. This is really an inlet here and there are quite a lot of houses around the other side. We had the most beautiful drive, seeing also evidence of a lot of avalanches which cause havoc blocking the road and destroying everything in their path. They can get one every year. We arrived at the church which is very pretty sitting right on the edge of the water, and beautifully cared for graves all around it. John directed us to where he thought the grave might be and Pete found it very quickly. Uncle Richard is in the same grave too. It was rather moving to be there with these special family connections. After taking this picture I weeded the grave and made it a bit tidier. It is such an incredibly beautiful, peaceful place.

St Olaf's church is just in front of the Hotel. They have English services and it is Anglican. Opened in 1897.

We're looking forward to a special dinner tonight at the Hotel here - 3 courses even!