More on Balestrand

St Olaf Church in Balestrand

There is a story about this church.  Women from Boston falls in love with a man from Balestrand in the Fjord.  Her father was a priest so she loved her faith.  There was no church here in Balestrand so he told her he would build her one.  He didn't get it finished until 2 years after she died but he went ahead and then sent for a priest to live here.  The still hold services especially in the summer in this little church.  It was open and we looked inside. 

We walked around this little village Saturday night.  Most everything was closed.  But we talked to several people who live here year around.  The population is 1500 and it has this beautiful hotel that we stayed in that is family owed for hundreds of years.  Infact the story I told was owed by that man named Kvikne.  The hotel is so large like a spralling castle.  They have built 8 stories to the side of it.  It looks out over the Fjord.  You can't even discribe the beauty.  It is hard to belief that people live here. 



Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand

 As you can see it is beautiful.  We were on the 7th floor room 752.  This is the picture that I got from the ferry as we were leaving for the glacier part of our cruise.  

m-So far, this has been my favorite little town. It is just so pretty.  Everything is lush green. The mountains are covered with trees.  The flowers are still blooming.  We had the most beautiful view from our room window looking out over the town and the fjord. There were several little apple orchards we saw as we took a walk through their little town.  I couldn't resist picking up an apple that was on the ground and outside the fence, mind you, and eating it. We came to this little green knoll that had a statue on top.  It was called the Viking Age burial mound. The statue was the legandary king Bele.