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Kewtie Bird - Come View My Photo Journey 21h ago

Fall Break – Sørsidevegen & Solvorn

Last autumn, we stayed for a week along the Lustrafjorden in western Norway. On one of the days, we decided to do a donut around our arm of the fjord to explore the villages of Skjolden, Ornes and Solvorn.

Sørsidevegen is a tiny road that winds along the fjord from Skjolden, a town at the very end of Lustrafjorden, past Feigefossen (the waterfall we could see from our rental across the fjord) and ends at the village of Ornes. We wanted to check out the Urnes Stave Church but there was a construction crew outside so we just took a quick peek before we boarded an old ferry that chugged us across Lustrafjorden to the very cute village of Solvorn.

Here are some images captured along Sørsidevegen as well as in the village of Solvorn last fall.

White houses in Skjolden across the turquoise waters of a river that is about to enter the Lustrafjorden Looking from Skjolden over Lustrafjorden The tiny Sørsidevegen Farms with a partial view of Feigefossen (our view from our rental was better, actually) Some shaggy friends on the hillside Signs of fall (which came late again this past year) A small set of twin falls along the roadway Urnes Stavkyrkje apparently having gotten some beauty work done Looking through a porthole in the ferry at the village of Solvorn (most car ferries in Norway are now electric so this old chugger was a bit of a throwback) A large tree next to the oldest family-run hotel in Norway Some of the trees in Solvorn were just starting to turn as colorful as the rorbu Rocks and red rorbu Looking the other way from the beach Close on the colorful rorbu Just a couple of buoys having a break Someone’s tiny cottage Another look at rocks and rorbu The diving platform Can’t get enough of rocks and rorbu See how the turquoise water looks in the shallow, sandy areas near the beach #Architecture #church #Churches #Fjord #Norway #Ornes #Photoblog #Photography #Sheep #Solvorn #Travel #Waterfalls

Ann Oct 9

Autumn at Ornes, Norway.

#norway
#norge
#høst
#fall
#autumn
#ornes
#vestlandet

Ann Sep 29

Some of the Norwegian stave churches seem kind of … just like any wooden building. Like Urnes.
Until you see its decor.

A couple of years ago I was driving around Lusterfjorden, early September and just looking at a landscape I didnt really know. And suddenly, as it happens, I saw a sign to Ornes. It reminded me of something, I just couldn’t place it. So, I drove on and ended up at a ferry quay. The sky was blue, the water green, the trees in all colurs of autumn, and in the distance I saw a peninsula and maybe a … really, could this be Urnes, the most famous of all the Norwegian stave churches?

Being late in season I had to do a longer hike while waiting for the not-so-frequent ferry to the other side of the fjord. I was totally alone. Everything was closed, the cafe, the toilets, the tourist information, the church itself - it was just me and this UNESCO monument.

Urnes is the oldest of the stave churches we have left in Norway, approx. 1130, and it might be an even older church beneath it.
Urnes has given name to its own decorative style, and, yes, there are dragons. I am not sure if this is keeping Christ awake at night.
The style is found in Denmark, the British islands and Ireland.

I still have this happy/hot/excited/unbelivable feeling inside me thinking back at this day.
Taking the ferry back I shared it with farmers and their apples. This is The Apple Country of Norway.

#ornes
#urnes
#vestlandet
#norge
#norway
#stavkyrkje
#UNESCO
#arkitektur
#architecture
#bygning
#kirke
#church
#landscape
#lusterfjorden
#skjolden

Wood is the Nordic language