Kaupanger stave church

This nave is supported by 22 staves and the church dates back to the middle of the 12th century. Apparently most of the medieval parts are still intact apart from the roof truss above the nave. Signs of two earlier churches have been found, one of them destroyed by fire.

The name Kaupanger comes from kaupang which means trading place and the mean King Sverre has ordered to burn the place down because of a farmer's revolt. According to dendrochronology, the church is older than this documented fire.

Urnes II

The first post of Urnes stave church showed pictures with an open door since they were doing some restoration work inside so here is the add on with a picture of the closed door which also shows nice ornaments. It's a pity that not more churches of that style have been preserved - the carvings are really beautiful.

Petroglyphs at Bogge

A few more rock carvings which are ~6000 years old. Some animal carvings and boats. There were also some fishes but they had lost the red colour with which they are repainted and are thus extremely hard to see on the picture. The place is not so easy to find since there were not really any signs from the road from Eidsvåg and there are for sure more impressive rock carvings to be seen but a nice stop if you are in the area anyway.  

Nesset Prestegard

This is the childhood home of the Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson (1832-1910; Nobel Prize in literature, 1903). Seven of the buildings are apparently still from his time but the place was deserted so just a few pictures of the buildings. I really like the vegetation on the roof :)

And to conclude some wise words from the man:

"I valg mellom falske venner og åpne fiender har jeg alltid foretrukket det siste."

 When chosing between false friends or open enemies I have always preferred the latter (my rather poor translation).

Molde Panorama

In Molde, you can hike, bike or drive up to Varden and get a glimpse of the famous Molde panorama of 222 partly snow-covered peaks. It was a bit hazy but you can't really pick the weather when travelling. Looks a bit like dawn or dusk but I think it was around mid-day.

Action in the pond

Every spring, the small pond in the garden is full of alpine newts. It's quite entertaining to watch them but not so easy to take pictures without a water proof camera. The other day they didn't seem to care if the big shadows from above were dangerous or not so I got a few nice shots.

Male and female next to each other:

Another male coming along:

Take me!

Seconds later the female had enough and was gone leaving the two guys a little perplexed. Tough.

Marble

Marble is not really that spectacular but this is the first orange coloured marble I have seen. And quite a bit of cat's gold plus a few mines the geologist just has to explore ;)