Norway
The sheer power of water... everywhere! No wonder Norway's carbon footprint is so low; gravity generates more power than the country uses.
Geiranger and its fjord
A popular destination for cruise boats is the small town of Geiranger at the head of the fjord. Idyllic, perhaps, but spare it a thought...
The population of Geiranger is only 300, but it receives 600,000 visitors a year, and when three cruise ships down anchor at the same time, it can be inundated with between 5,000 and 10,000 tourists per day. It welcomes and maximises their custom, of course, but is less welcoming of all the pollution the boats spew into the otherwise pristine atmosphere. Only a few more years, and such pollution will be officially banned. Meanwhile, to prove your environmental credentials (or at least to offer a token compensation for whe pollution you bring) you can rent a little electric car from near the harbour to take a tour of the area.
My delight, in the town itself, was to discover the impeccable clarity of the water in the river at the foot of the town's waterfall, its surface skimmed by a whole flock of pied wagtains, of which one is perched, almost hidden, on the rock to the left of the centre of this image.
A dramatic but slippery path takes you behind the Storsaeterfossen waterfall at the end of a good hike up from Westeras Farm above Geiranger. Here, as everywhere, there is the sense that Norway is a land so obviously shaped by ice and water - from its waterfally to the ominous depth of the fjords.
Stavanger
White boarded houses in the old part of Stavanger.
With elegant doors, window boxes and...
The harbour at Alesund
Trondheim
Tromso
With the small triange of white lower right of this photograph being the cathedral.
