Utne is a village in
Ullensvang
Ullensvang is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre is the town of Odda. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Lofthus, Utne, Vikebygd ...
municipality in the
Hardanger region of
Vestland
Vestland is a Counties of Norway, 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 cit ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...
. The village is located on the northern end of the Folgefonn Peninsula, at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
Sørfjorden and
Hardangerfjorden. The village is the site of
Utne Church. The village of
Alsåker lies about to the west on the northern shore of the peninsula and the village of
Vikebygd lies about to the south along the eastern shore of the peninsula.
Utne is a ferry port with regular ferry routes from
Kinsarvik to Kvanndal via Utne, connecting the two sides of the fjord. Utne is also home to the
Utne Hotel, Norway's oldest hotel in continuous operation, founded in 1722.
Name
Utne, in
Norwegian, probably has some
pre-Germanic elements (i.e. before approx. 200 CE). Other place-names in the area also has an element of pre-Germanic and unknown origins. It has been suggested that it derives from "Út-tún", meaning the hamlet or farmstead that is "out". This fits with the village's position at the tip of a peninsula that sticks out into the
Hardangerfjorden. This is however uncertain.
Media gallery
File:Hardanger ferry.jpg, The ferry stopped at Utne
File:Utne Halfway stop.jpg, View of Utne from the ferry
File:Utne Hotell.JPG, Utne hotel
File:Utne 1933 Wilse.jpeg, Utne in 1933
File:Utne_in_sun.JPG, Utne as seen from ferry during summer
References
Villages in Vestland
Ullensvang
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