I visited Urnes in November 1983 primarily to see the iconic carvings i'd studied in an old Larousse art history book. I had no idea of the difficulty in getting there from Oslo but guessed at the nearest train stop on the Bergen rail line and hitchhiked to a town in the right direction. In Solvorn by lunchtime the next day I found myself on the last ferry across to Urnes. The wonders of the exterior almost made a night in a boatshed along the edge of the fjord worthwhile. Although the church had been closed to tourists when i was there, a death in the village (and a lift back to town with the local builder who turned out to be a contracted gravedigger) allowed me to gain access the next morning. Highly recommended. I doubt it would be so beautiful if it were not so isolated.