View from train
We left Oslo by train toward Bergen. This is the first step of our “Norway in a Nutshell” trip. 5 hours later we change trains at Myrdal station and leave toward our key destination of Flam.
Norway has extremely high rolling hills of tall green trees in the south; but not like mountain ranges we often see in the States. The topography may change as we continue northward. The trains route passes over rivers and cuts through the valleys surrounded on both sides of the track with expansive farms and crops, or modern hamlets of single-family housing, apartments, and commercial buildings. New construction is prominent.
As we move farther north, we pass large lakes, fjords, that are surrounded by the increasingly higher hills. We can’t tell if the water travels to the sea. We often go into short tunnels (just when I’m trying to photograph something nice). The hills are changing to mountain ranges.
We come through another tunnel and the mountains are grey, barren of trees and have snow caps. As we continue several large glaciers appear in the valleys. For the strong willed there are running trails and bike paths in the surrounding area. Look, several bikers. The train also passes through enclosed bridges constructed with metal siding and windows. Eventually we come out and the the mountains are enormous, covered in green foliage, swallowing up the light of the valley.
The whistle sounds, we are stopping at Myrdal and will change onto the “Flamsbana Express”, a train of old western vintage. It is cattle call on the platform everyone pushing to get on, we find seats and a place for luggage. We made it. Chug, chug off we go.
This train follows track that run in narrower valley between mountains. We sporadicly pass farmhouses, fenced pastures with Norge cattle, those with longhorns, all the time encased by the tall Nordic mountains. As we draw near to Flam the amount of housing increases and we again see the edges of the fjords
The track ends at the Flam station. The village is small, more like a trading post, but the surrounds are truly eye catching. On site you have restaurants, hotels, excursion vendors, tour bus and tour ship assembly points and railroad tracks. The service at the hotel is outstanding. We are greeted with sparking juice and a review of activities. Our hotel room was simple, but fashionable and overlooks the water and harbor and the mountain pathway we will walk through to the waterfall. We opt for a 90-minute break in the hotel and then off to the Stegastein Viewpoint.
View from our room
The Stegastein Viewpoint an incredible man-made overlook for the fjord, Aurlandsfjord, artfully constructed of metal and wood beams. This was a must see for us. It is the cover of our Rick Steve’s Scandinavia book (read and re-read over the last year). To get there we took an adventurous bus trip on a narrow one and half lane road with switchbacks twisting above Flam to arrive at the viewpoint. We were so glad our bus driver was the King of the road to get pass the traffic jams. This outing did not disappoint!
After a good night’s rest, we are off to our first hike of the trip. We tramped over a bridge that separates the Flam described and gets us into the residential farms. We see clusters of Norge cattle close as we walk by the post and wire fencing and reach the marked trailhead. We complete 38 fights and a vertical mile to the base of the waterfall pool, a great observation point. This first hiking trip was invigorating, we did get tired along the way. We took a slightly different route to come down and enjoyed passing through adjoining parts of town.
After lunch we depart from Flam on a large electric tourist boat. Joined by about 250 people on board, with plenty of comfortable seating in glass cockpits throughout, or you can choose to sit or stand on the several levels of outdoor decking. Either way you can enjoy the views, sights and sounds of your travels up through the fjords to the next destination. This is the last leg of the “Norway in a Nutshell” and it is long. We are so glad we split this up over two days. Once our fjord boat completes, we take a bus for an hour to Voss. Then a hot over crowded train where we sat in the “jump seats”.
We arrived in Bergen at 8:30 pm, found a grocery store, chugged up several hills on cobblestone sidewalks and found our Airbnb, what a day!
