Norway Photo Diary: Olden + Kjenndalen Glacier

I've already published my Norway photo diary focusing on Stavanger and Bergen but today's post is all about Olden, Loen and the breathtaking Kjenndalen Glacier. Olden and also Flam, the latter will be live soon, were two of my favourite places that we visited as they were both filled with beautiful lakes, rivers, mountains and fjords.

I love cruising as waking up to a new place or a view of the sea everyday is amazing and the sail down the fjord into Olden so incredible and unlike any other place I've visited in Europe! Small Norwegian towns, particularly those within the fjords and mountains are unreal, so ridiculously pretty and surrounded by the most incredibly scenery *can you tell that I liked Norway*. I'd love to live in Olden or Flam!

Olden 

The harbour/port at Olden was one of the most spectacular as when we went onto the top deck of the ship you had the mountains all around and a great view of the fjord, Olden and the misty snow topped mountains in the distance - it didn't look real!

You see the little red, yellow and white houses and cabins? Most houses back in the day were painted red as it was the cheapest paint to make and white paint was the most difficult so the colour of your house or cabin indicted your wealth and social standing but it isn't the case now. I definitely prefer the cute little red houses!

Lovatlet Lake 

We didn't stay in the town of Olden as we went on a tour which included the gorgeous Lovatlet Lake, Kjenndalstova, waffles and the Kjenndal Glacier that looks like it is straight out of Game Of Thrones.   The lake was such a gorgeous clear turquoise shade and almost glass like with golden autumn leaves floating on it, it couldn't have been more peaceful or relaxing. We had a guided tour of the lake via a cute little boat and our Norwegians guides for every tour were so nice but this one was especially! He told us about the little villages, farms and houses along the lake, one of which is his own and about the devastating snow and landslides that can happen in the area. Our guide also sang to us in Norwegians= which was so lovely and something you'd only really get on a cruise excursion.

Kjenndalstova

After the tour of the lake (which I didn't want to end), we went inside what seemed like the tourist information/local cafe for Norwegian waffles which are a cross between pancakes and Belgian waffles but not quite as sweet. There were plates with huge piles of waffles on and I'm not going to lie...I ate five waffles with lots of sour cream, oops. It's really no wonder that I managed to put on four pounds while on holiday. Our guide said that when you start eating Norwegian waffles, you won't stop and I can definitely vouch for that...

Kjenndalen Glacier

I'm surprised I was able to move after eating so many waffles *I'm drooling over the memory of them right now* but we got back onto the coach for the short drive from Kjenndalstova to the Kjenndalen Glacier. We had to walk for 15 minutes or so through the forest and across wooden bridges over glacial water rivers to get to the view point for the glacier. The walk was so relaxing and made me realise that I need to do that much more back home!

The glacier was unreal, unlike anything I've ever seen before and something you definitely have to see for yourself as photographs don't do it justice at all. Obviously as I'm a blogger, I had to get photos of me for the blog and as soon as we'd finished the weather came in and started raining, the wind picked up and it was so cold. Naturally I left my coat on the coach, my hair was going everywhere and the Norwegian guide said to me 'let it fly' about my hair, erm, no thanks.

Just when we thought we'd seen all of the beauty of Norway including Olden and the fjord in the morning then the lake and glacier in the afternoon, we headed to a photo stop on the way back from the glacier to Olden and were greeted by even more stunning views! I like to think that I've visited some beautiful places such as Scotland, the Italian Riviera, Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, Rome, mysterious Venice and many more but honestly, nothing comes close to Norway!

Jumper: Asos

Jeans: Asos

Bag: H&M

Boots: Clarks/Brantano

I'm jumping back in time here with a quick photo of me next to Lovatlet Lake and all of the many waterfalls we passed. You can't tell here *thankfully* but I have a serious waffle food baby going on! I wore the same outfit a couple of times as it was the warmest outfit I'd brought and it was definitely needed as the temperature didn't get over 15 degrees celsius and the coldest was about 9 degrees...in the summer.

Have you visited Norway? Or is Norway on your bucket list?