Geirangerfjorden, Norway

Another cool card I've received recently... This one is from the lovely Iina, she sent this to me from her holiday in Norway. I have such lucky friends - they get to visit such cool places! Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited to get to go to Finland in two weeks but it's hardly exotic (and everyone already has tons of postcards from Finland :P).



The Geiranger fjord (Geirangerfjorden) is a fjord in the Sunnmøre region, located in the southernmost part of the county Møre og Romsdal in Norway. It is a 15 km long branch of the Storfjord (Great Fjord). At the head in the fjord lies the small village of Geiranger.

The fjord is one of Norway's most visited tourist sites and has been listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site, jointly with Nærøyfjord, since 2005, although this status is now threatened by the disputed plans to build power lines across the fjord.

The Geirangerfjord is under constant threat from the mountain Åkerneset which is about to erode into the fjord. A collapse would produce a tsunami, hitting several nearby towns including Geiranger and Hellesylt in about ten minutes.

Along the fjord's sides there lie a number of now abandoned farms. Some restoration has been made by the 'Storfjordens venner' association. The most commonly visited among these are Skageflå, Knivsflå, and Blomberg. Skageflå may also be reached on foot from Geiranger, while the others require a boat excursion. The fjord is also host to several impressive waterfalls.



The stamp is gorgeous, too. It's from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2008, depicting Wildlife in Norway. Here you can see the Elk.