The first day of cruising comes to an end in Balestrand and our hotel, Kvikne Hotel. This is an elaborate gingerbread house hotel built in 1913. We have time to walk around the town before dinner. Just a short walk is the Church of St. Olaf, built to resemble a Stave Church in 1897 by English expatriate Margaret Green of Leeds who married mountaineer and hotel owner Knut Kvikne. A few steps further are two Viking burial mounds, one with a statue of King Bele erected by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was a regular visitor prior to World War I and was obsessed with Nordic mthyology.
Dinner is a large buffet.
Again anyone will find it appealing to their taste buds with the large variety. This route is called the waterfall route, as I saw on an information sign, there are 35 named waterfalls. One, Vallestadfossen, is a photo stop for us. The farmer at the bottom of the falls has harnessed the water for his use of electricity and sells also to his neighbors. Further on the drive we come to what looks like a picture used for a puzzle.