Europe > Norway > Balestrand
Balestrand is a small village on the north side of Sognefjord, but it carries more history than its size suggests. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it became one of Norway's classic fjord resorts, drawing artists, British climbers, and Kaiser Wilhelm II before the First World War.
That old travel culture is still the best way to read the place. St. Olaf's Church looks like a small stave church but is Anglican, built for the English-speaking summer community. The Norwegian Museum of Travel and Tourism explains how villages like this helped sell Norway to the world.
Balestrand also works because the scenery is immediate. You can walk up through Kreklingen for views over the fjord, take a short boat trip, or detour to Kvamsøy Church, a medieval stone church on a little island south of the village. It is a gentle place, but it is not empty.