Eidford

Eidfjord is a very small town on a small fjord the Eid that feeds into the Hardanger fjord, the 2nd longest fjord in Norway and the 5th in the world. We wandered around a bit before we left on a bus to visit aViking village.

In the bus the driver told us lots of things, some of which I wrote down but his English was a little lacking sometimes and my attention was sometimes taken by trying to take pictures out of the bus' windows while dodging the reflections. So I donot guarantee the accuracy. 

Someone discovered that the water used to cool the turbines to make rushing water into elecricity ( and thus became warm water) made fish in hatcheries grow twice as quickly. The Norwegians put roundabouts into tunnels to keep drivers awake.  People in Norway are now often roofing their homes with  a layer of birchbark, then something else I forgot, then 2 layers of grass, the first face down , the second face up. We drove past an area that is a UNESCO world heritage site because anorthosite, an igneous mineral that is mainly feldspar, is found there. One of its uses is to lighten asphalt . Public have the 'rite to roam' on anyone's property as long as they are 150m from the house and any road. They also have the right to any food they can pick and eat on the spot, but not to take away. The gulf stream flows down the Norway coast so some areas are warm enough to grow fruit. The hardanger area produces 40% of the countries apples.

It took us a while to get to the Viking village. We passed many high snow capped peaks, some had ust recently closed ski runs, some of the lakes were still iced over, small farms of sheep or goats, gushing streams, waterfalls. A wayside  stop that sold petrol, souvenirs etc had a loo that was accessed by a credit card .  We went over the Hardanger Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Norway. 

We were a bit worried that the village would be touristy . It was for the tourists but it was very well done.People in viking costumes were wandering around doing things, our guide was excellent - very funny, but also informative.  We saw an Old Norwegian short-tail landrace , a sheep that is thought to be the first sheep breed in Norway. It has 2 layers of wool - an outer layer, good for weaving, and for protecting the softer underlayer.  Even the sails of the Viking ships were made from this wool. The ram we saw was a bit lethargic. He was hot, waiting for his yearly shearing.  We also saw a replica of a Viking boat and were shown various weapons and tools and shown how they were used. Lunch was good - all foods that would have been eaten. 

We met some Australians at dinner time.