Undredal is a small village in

Aurland Municipality Aurland () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The administrativ ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The popular tourist destination of Undredal is located along the

Aurlandsfjorden Aurlandsfjord ( no, Aurlandsfjorden, ) is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord flows through the municipalities of Aurland, Vik, and Lærdal. The long fjord is a branch off of the main Sognefjorden, Norway's longest fjord. The fjord i ...

which is a branch off the massive

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

in Norway's "fjord-country." It sits along the Aurlandsfjorden, about south of the mouth to the

Nærøyfjord The Nærøyfjord (or ''Nærøyfjorden'', ) is a fjord in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The narrow fjord is a branch of the large Sognefjord, and it is featured on the "Norway in a Nutshell" daytrips for tourists. The long fj ...

. Undredal is home to the smallest

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts a ...

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

Undredal Stave Church Undredal Stave Church ( no, Undredal stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Undredal, on the shore of the Aurlandsfjorden. It is the church for t ...

. With a population of approximately 100 people and 500 goats, Undredal is famous for the brown goat cheese ( geitost) that is still produced the traditional way. The production of cheese is important to the local economy as eight farms produce of cheese each year. Goat sausage is also produced locally. Prior to 1988, Undredal was only accessible by boat, but since then a road connection has been made by constructing two lengthy tunnels as part of the

European route E16 European route E16 is the designation of a main west-east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, from Derry to Gävle, via Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel and th ...

highway. The

Gudvanga Tunnel The Gudvanga Tunnel ( no, Gudvangatunnelen or ) is located in the municipality of Aurland in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel connects the village of Gudvangen, at the head of the Nærøyfjord, with the Undredalen valley and is part of Europea ...

leads southwest to the village of

Gudvangen Gudvangen is a village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is a popular tourist destination and is located at the end of the Nærøyfjord where the Nærøydalselvi river empties into the fjord. The European route E16 highway p ...

and the Flenja Tunnel goes to the villages of

Flåm Flåm is a village in the Flåmsdalen valley which is located at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden, a branch of Sognefjorden. The village is located in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. In 2014 its inhabitants numbered 350. ...

and

Aurlandsvangen Aurlandsvangen () is the administrative center of Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the Aurlandsfjorden (a branch of the main Sognefjorden) where the Aurlandselvi river flows into the fjord ...

to the northeast. There is a brief long length of road between the tunnels that has an access road to Undredal to the north. This little village was mentioned in

Rick Steves Richard John Steves Jr. (born May 10, 1955), known professionally as Rick Steves, is an American travel writer, author, activist, and television personality. His travel philosophy encourages people to explore less-touristy areas of destination ...

' show about Norway.

History

Historically, Undredal was first mentioned when the Bishop of Bjørgvin (

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

) placed Pål Bårdson, a known scholar, there as a representative of the church. Pål Bårdson was the Chancellor to the court of King Magnus, and he later was the

Archbishop of Nidaros The Archdiocese of Nidaros (or Niðaróss) was the metropolitan see covering Norway in the later Middle Ages. The see was the Nidaros Cathedral, in the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim). The archdiocese existed from the middle of the twelfth centu ...

(

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

) from 1333 until 1346. The

can be dated back to 1147.

Media gallery

File:Undredal from Sognefjord.jpg, Undredal File:Undredal 1.jpg, View of Undredal File:Undredal stave church front view.jpg, Undredal stave church File:Undredal stavkyrkje frå fjorden.jpg, Undredal with church in background

References

External links

Undredal's web site
Villages in Vestland Aurland {{Vestland-geo-stub