Engesundsvatnet

Buardalen Valley

Buarbreen glacier was one of the first destinations during the period of increasing tourism in Odda in the 1800s. Foreigners came by the thousands, mostly Englishmen and Germans, to the magnificent landscape in front of the glacier. Back at the hotel in Odda they could enjoy drinks containing ice from the glacier.

Odda- The tourist town

The pioneering tourists in the 1830s-40s brought a momentum in the tourist traffic to the fjord and mountain country Norway. At the time Odda was a hidden Shangri-La at the bottom of Sørfjorden; the farm and the church on the green headland at the fjord. But when the steamship traffic opened the fjord landscape for tourism, in a few years Odda parish in Søndre Bergenhus County became the focal point for travellers in West Norway.

Lysekloster- The monks and nature

Lysekloster was the largest agricultural property in the country when it was phased out during the Reformation in 1537. In its prime this cloister encompassed two-thirds of all the farms in Os. The monks introduced and cultivated new plant species and it was probably they who stocked the waters with fish not indigenous to the area. This legacy from the Middle Ages has left a lasting mark.

Oselva

Oselvo is the biggest waterway on the Bergen peninsula, with sources in Gullfjellet and Sveningen. There is a fall of only 60 metres along the entire stretch from Samdalsvatnet Lake to the sandbank in Fusafjorden. It is rare to see a river like this in western Norway. There is salmon along this entire section of the Oselvo river.

Ekso

In the late 1800s, Ekso was known among the nobility in England as having among the best salmon rivers. In summer the Lords could haul in big fish of up to 25 kg. In return, the townsfolk were paid for fishing rights, lodging and local assistance.