Our Adaptable Adventure - At the bottom of the fjord

After having had the thrill of your life at the 27 hairpin bends of the Lysebotnvegen, you find yourself at the bottom of the Lysefjord. It is the most southern fjord of Norway and its name means light fjord, probably because of its lightly colored granite rocks.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the fjord:

The fjord was carved by the action of glaciers in the ice ages and was flooded by the sea when the later glaciers retreated. End to end, it measures 42 km (26 mi) with rocky walls falling nearly vertically over 1000 m (3,000 ft) into the water. Because of the inhospitable terrain, the fjord is only lightly populated and only has two villages on its length - Forsand and Lysebotn, located at opposite ends of the fjord.

Not far from Lysebotn, there are two hydroelectric plants, one at Lyse and the other at Tjodan. Most of the workers live at Lysebotn. There is also a small motel. To give you an idea of how powerful nature can be, Wikipedia says:

At the Lyse plant, the water falls 620 m to the turbines, producing up to 210,000 kW of electricity; at Tjodan, the water falls 896 m to yield an output of 110,000 kW. The two power plants provide electricity for more than 100,000 people.

Before coming to Lysefjord, you have to know that I had already seen Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. I had also spent a night in the Tunesian desert. And last year, I sat on the steps of the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa. All these were amazing experiences. And now the Lysefjord is amongst these!

I know that there are fjords in Norway that are more majestic than this one… But if you have never seen a fjord before, you are simply in awe of the Lysefjord. I don’t know what the rest of 2012 is going to bring, but this is definitely the highlight for me!

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