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m/s Marco Polo
EIDFJORD
TOUR C210 - EIDFJORD AND KJEÅSEN
| Duration: Approx. 3.5 hours | Price Range: TBC |
The village of Eidfjord is a small community with around only 1,000 inhabitants, but it is one of Norway’s richest communities owing to the production of hydro-electric power.Our tour starts with a drive through the village and continues up the Sima Valley where we shall stop for about an hour to visit the Sima Power Plant, which produces sufficient power for the daily needs of more than 300,000 people in southern Norway. We will have a 30-minute guided tour, and afterwards see a film showing how this massive power plant was built. After our visit inside the mountain, we continue along the valley and through the tunnel which takes us high up into the mountainside. Leaving the tunnel, we have a breathtaking view of the Sognefjord, the surrounding mountain ranges and the Jostedalen Glacier. We leave our coach and walk a few minutes to the Kjeåsen Mountain Farm situated 1,700 feet above the fjord, where we shall meet the two elderly sisters who live there. Before the Sysen Dam was built 20 years ago, which resulted in a road being built through the tunnel in the mountain above their farm, the only means of access was by climbing a very steep and dangerous path up the mountainside on foot. All the food and goods they needed had to be carried on their backs. This perilous climb was done for centuries as the first family settled at Kjeåsen in 1349. There are several stories as to how they came to settle at such an inaccessible place. One explanation is that they came to escape from the Black Death which took many lives in the area during that time. Since then, people have continued to live at this isolated farm, and the two sisters living here today lived here as children before moving to Oslo for twenty years. They decided to return, and spent a number of years here before the road came and completely changed their lives. After our visit, we return to the prosperous village of Eidfjord where we stop to visit the old church, before arriving back at ship. By coach/ferry, subject to a minimum of 35/maximum of 160. |
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