Making the most of Lysebotn
Use these notes to shape a realistic day ashore, then confirm any time-sensitive information for the date of your call.
Arriving at the port
Cruise ships do not stop here, but let you enjoy the surroundings while on board.
The Lysefjord is the most southern major fjord in Norway. The 40 kilometer long fjord is flanked by steep mountains, some rising over 1000 meters. The fjord was formed during the last ice age more than 10.000 years ago. More than 2000 meters of ice covered Scandinavia at that time. When the ice melted, the glacier eroded the rocks below.
Lysebotn is a small village in the municipality of Forsand at the innermost end of Lysfjorden. Around 100.000 tourists visit Lysebotn each year. The village has a small chapel with room for 150 people. Inhabitants have moved out during the later years and several of the houses are now used as summer homes. Lysebotn is a great place to start for mountain hikes.
Getting around
Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen, Prekestolen in Norwegian, is one of the areas most profound tourist attractions. This natural rock formation with a 25 meter squared plateau stands 604 meters above the sea. Thousands of tourists visit the Rock every year. The trip takes about two hours by foot, but the rock formation can also be enjoyed from the sea by boat. The original name of the rock formation is "Hyvlatonnå" - which means the tooth of a woodplane. Todays name could have its origin in the shape or possibly be due to that it might have been a place of sacrifice.
Money
The Norwegian currency is the Norwegian crown (norske krone), abbreviated kr. A 1/100th krone is called øre. 1.00 EUR = about 8 NOK
ATMs in Norway are called Minibank.
Nearly all stores accept major credit cards such as Mastercard and Visa (Bring your passport/driver's license, as you are required to identify yourself when using a credit card).
Staying connected
Norwegian is the official language of Norway. The language is very close and mutually intelligible with the two other Scandinavian languages, English widely spoken.
Most Norwegian households are connected to the internet in some way (often broadband), making Cybercafés hard to find outside major cities, due to a relatively small market. Most public libraries have free public access to the internet. WiFi is in many spots (not free).
Opening Hours and
Opening hours in Norway are better than they used to be, but many smaller stores still close early on Saturday (1 PM or 3 PM is typical) and nearly everything is closed on Sundays. You'll often see opening hours written as "9-21 (9-18)" on doors, meaning 9 AM to 9 PM weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM Saturday.