We left the Stavanger port at around 11:00 a.m. The ship itself was very nice. The seats were incredibly comfortable, and the ride was surprisingly smooth as the boat glided through the water with ease. From Stavanger, we headed inland, towards the skyline of mountains. Everyone was in a state of awe at the sheer beauty of the scenery. As we drew nearer to the mountains, we all went to the upper deck to take pictures and marvel at the vastness of the landscape. We reached the end of the bay, and turned a corner around a peninsula to head up the fjord, finally allowing us to see what I consider to be the prettiest view of my life: Lyssefjord. The mountains on either side rose, almost perfectly vertical, with towering peaks that gave the fjord a sense of tranquillity. The mountain’s reflections were perfectly displayed in the still, calm water. A bridge off in the distance spanned the width of the fjord, and the captain told us over the intercom that it was voted one of Norway’s most attractive bridges. This is surely a route that we hope to drive one day. After passing the bridge, we reached our first specific point of interest, Vagabond’s Cave. I would describe it as almost a chute: it was a very narrow fissure in the cliff face, and according to the captain there’s a legend of a group of vagabonds that managed to evade local police by scaling the cliff, and throwing rocks down at the police until they left, hence the name of the cave. About two hours after leaving the Stavanger port, we finally reached Preikestolen. It was immediately noticeable, with its unique geometrical shape protruding against the general jaggedness of the cliffs. From the water it looked small, given the massive distance between the water and the rock shelf. We were able to make out a couple people way up there, peering over the edge as we thought to ourselves, “we could never do that.” Imagining ourselves in that position, standing over top of the cliff, we felt very comfortable with our decision to see it from below. The captain once again came over the intercom to direct our attention to a large waterfall flowing from the summit of a mountain. It was very beautiful and seemed to be the biggest hit amongst the group! When we turned around, we decided to stay below deck and enjoy the views comfortably inside. We got hot coffee to warm ourselves up and talked about what we liked the most about the fjord, as well as what we were most excited about in the upcoming travels. Overall this trip was an absolute success and we would recommend this cruise as a fun adventure to anyone.
