Interesting local stories
HYSKJET IS TODAY A NATURE RESERVE
The name comes from the Old Norse words for horse and race. Maybe here was a horse market and horse races? A legend tells of a flat beach lying here, a beach that crashed into the fjord along with houses and homes.
LJØSURA - WIKIPEDIA
The house was next to a big rock. The glacier, Fonna, nevertheless did damage several times here, and the last time in 1830 it swept the house down the fjord. Ljøsura became a deserted farm after this. Today there is a lighthouse there, and it may be a good fit since the name Ljøsura came from the ancestral name of the nearby waterfall; Lysa, Ljøsa.
UPPER LJØEN
is OUR farm. Bonseye lives here. Of course, we have modern tools today, but the slopes are steep and the soil is dense. We still exploit the mountain grazers and the other animals on the farm, and we are hunters and fishermen as our ancestors were. Grandpa/great-grandfather Ole Karl was a lift guy and drove tourists by horse and cart. He also helped to make geiranger's tourists feel comfortable, and we in Bonseye follow the family traditions.
LJØEN
At Ljøen there has been agriculture since the Viking Age. Over the centuries, there have been 11 farms here; Øvre Ljøen, Nedre Ljøen, Ljøbakken, Ljøvik, Ljøfoss, Naustberget, Kvieplassen, Lindane, Bjørkneset, Kleivane and Nakhammaren. Ljøen was connected to Route 60 in 1962. The first three farms are in operation today.
GRANDE
Oluf Grande travelled out and participated in the Kalmar War (1611-1613), together with farmers from between anna Årset and Syltavik. They thus became important pieces in the history of Norway's Constitution from 1814.
LUNDANES - WIKIPEDIA
In 1929, an arrowhead was found 66 metres above sea level at Lundaneset. Several discoveries have been made at two separate excavations since the first single discovery. The arrowhead is 9300 years old and was found at the bonfire site of hunters. They had probably followed reindeer herds on migration.
SKAGEFLÅ - THE 1990S
is one of Queen Sonja's favourite places in mountain Norway. She is particularly fond of the old wellhouse that protected the drinking water from contamination from the livestock, of which there were many. On her 70th birthday, the Queen received a copy of this wellhouse set up by a small lake on Kongsseteren.
MOUNTAIN FARMS ALONG THE GEIRANGERFJORD
On many of the farms, the farmer is referred to as an odelsmann from as early as 1603. To get the right of nobility, the farm must have been in the family for at least 4 generations. We try on our trips to convey stories that explain why people settled here, and how they made a living as farmers, fishermen and hunters.
LJØEN SKULE
was built in 1891 and was a typical social school with a week of school on and a week off. Here all the children from Åkerneset, Matvika and Ljøen went to school. The last school year here was 1949, and the school is now a privately owned museum.
BLOMBERG
Before 1950, tuberculosis was a widespread disease throughout Norway, and most families had personal losses. At Blomberg, two young girls lived alone for many months to avoid infection, while many in the families at home on the other side of the mountain were sick.
MATVIK - WIKIPEDIA
was vacated in 1961. The farm has little land around the houses and in winter they could be waterless for long periods when there are severe cold periods. On the other hand, there are long sunny summer evenings in Matvika. This made the space excellent for fruit cultivation. The fruit was sold and shipped from here, departing from scheduled boats.
MEGARDSPLASSEN
The same year the Horvadrag people moved, those who lived in Megardsplassen also chose to leave their farm. Without good neighbors, everyday life would be far too difficult. The following summer a Megardsplass farmer walked up the old path up the mountainside to look for the houses. The sight that met him caused him to fall to his knees...
LJØKAIA
Located on the boathouse, it marks the start of the Trondhjemske Postvei, the “post road to Trondhjem.” It winds from the fjord, visits all three Ljø farms and then over the mountain towards Stranda.
GOMSDAL
On a hot July day in 1894, a mother with six children died. Three years later they lost their father when the eldest boy was 19 years old and still not of legal age. How'd it go with these kids?
BRINGA
is a small farm in the valley of Gomsdalen, close to the Bringefossen waterfall. Ragnhild, the best beer brewer along the fjord, lived here. Today, Geiranger Bryggeri has resumed this tradition. Only the walls of the old farm remain, testifying to life here.
SYLTAVIK - WIKIPEDIA
Sølfest Syltevik sold this farm to a neighbour, Ole Blomberg, in 1894. He went to Sunnfjord where he bought a smallholding and was a fisherman. But the longing for his childhood fjord became too strong. He came back and lived the winters with nice people he knew, while in the summer...
MOTH
At the end of the 19th century, a little girl of 5 years came from Eidsdalen to Møll. Why did she come here and where did she end up as an adult?
HORVADRAG
In the year 1900, the people here had to leave the farm because of rockfalls. This was hard, says one descendant; - when grandpa had his moving load down to the boathouse, he cried, and the cow that stood beside him cried in its own way-
KNIFE-WIELDING
The people who lived on the mountain farms had to deal with many challenges and heavy roofs. It was good then that the fjord bred stubborn females and strong men. One of these was Ole Knivsflå, called Storekniven, because he was extremely fit and strong.