Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The village of Fjærland, also called Mundal, at the head of scenic Fjærlandsfjorden, pulls
in as many as 300,000 visitors each year. Most come to experience its pair of particularly
accessible glacial tongues, Supphellebreen and Bøyabreen. Others come to be bookworms.
This tiny place, known as the
Book Town of Norway
(
www.bokbyen.no
)
, is a biblio-
phile's dream, with a dozen shops selling a wide range of used books, mostly in Norwegi-
an, but with lots in English and other European languages.
The village virtually hibernates from October onwards, then leaps to life in early May,
when the ferry runs again.
Sights
Supphellebreen
GLACIER
You can drive to within 300m of the Supphellebreen glacier, then walk right up and touch
the ice. Ice blocks from here were used as podiums at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lille-
hammer.
Bøyabreen
GLACIER
At blue, creaking Bøyabreen, more spectacular than Supphellebreen to the east over the
hill, you might happen upon glacial calving as a hunk tumbles into the melt-water lagoon
beneath the glacier tongue.
Norwegian Glacier Museum
MUSEUM
(Norsk Bremuseum;
57 69 32 88;
www.bre.museum.no
;
adult/child Nkr120/60;
9am-7pm Jun-
Aug, 10am-4pm Apr-May, Sep & Oct)
For the story on flowing ice and how it has sculpted the Norwegian landscape, visit this
well executed museum, 3km inland from the Fjærland ferry jetty. You can learn how fjords
are formed, see a 20-minute audiovisual presentation on Jostedalsbreen, touch 1000-year-
old ice, wind your way through a tunnel that penetrates the mock ice and even see the tusk
of a Siberian woolly mammoth who met an icy demise 30,000 years ago.
Activities
