Geiranger

The town of Geiranger is located at the very top of the Geirangerfjord. It is a tiny place, home to some 250-300 permanent residents. It is also situated in one of the most beautiful natural settings I have ever seen.

As such, it is a popular tourist destination. There is a monsterous campground, 5 separate hotels each capable of housing the entire population of the town and it is visited by more than 200 cruise ships during the short season. The town plays host to ¾ of a million tourists every year and the vast majority of them are there during a 2-3 month window before the roads close and the cruise ships stop coming. To say it is a tourist driven economy is a breathtaking understatement. There were no fewer than 5 cruise ships in port the day we were there and they disgorged upwards of 8000 people. Here you see a panoramic view of all of the ships. Ours is the closest and also the largest, although not by much. The ship to the right in the distance is nearly as large. 

Unfortunately, this was the only port where we had to tender in. Amy and I eschewed the canned excursions and chose instead to walk the little town. There was a magnificent fall cascading right through the town, seen to the right next to one of the hotels.

We also walked our way up to a nifty octagonal wooden church with painted wooden interior and then further on to the Fjordcenter and Museum.

Geiranger gave us our first taste of the cost of living in Norway. We assumed that the $50 pizza, $35 burger and $12 beer were the cumulative result of being in a tourist trap off in the middle of nowhere, but we were wrong. That appears to be the norm everywhere. From large cities to tiny towns, north to south, it would seem like eating out must be as much of a luxury as owning a car in Norway.