Haganes

The gneiss landscape west and north of Bergen viewed in profile can remind us of a saw blade of the kind that has long, slanted sides that get broken off shorter transverse sides. It has taken several hundred million years to file this saw blade, an enduring interplay between various geological processes.

Li

Vatlestraumen

There are coal bits hidden in the sand under Vatlestraumen. These remains from a geological layer from the Jurassic Period were discovered when the undersea Bjorøy Tunnel was built in 1994. Oil- and gas reservoirs in the Troll Field in the sea west of Hordaland are from the same time. It is, nonetheless, quite surprising to find bedrock from dinosaur time inside of the outer islands of western Norway. On the Scandinavian mainland north of Denmark, there are only a very few places where one f inds rock from this time in earth history.

Fleischers Hotel

Gjernes

Raundalen

Thousands of years ago - when the climate was warmer than today - there was probably a lot of moose in Hordaland. We know this from finds of bone from Stone Age settlements. In modern times moose have been almost completely absent from western Norway, until this "King of the Forest" began its come-back, about fifty years ago.

Stalheim

Stalheim is situated between Stalheimsfossen and Sivlefossen, in a community with the farms Sivle and Brekke. The most likely explanation of the name is “the farm by Stadall”, from “standa” (stand), probably with background in the steep Stalheimskleivi. The farm has for a long time been divided into several units. At Stalheim there has been a transport exchange from the Middle Ages and the farm has been a postal farm since 1647.

Vikafjellet

The largest reindeer herd in Hordaland - outside of Hardangervidda - lives in the mountainous area between Voss/Vaksdal and Sognefjorden.