Trains and boats guys! I could have named our Tuesday adventures for all the modes of transportation we took getting around the Norwegian countryside! Our day on Tuesday was spent riding a train to a wee little station where we caught the Flam railway - considered one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world - which took us to the small town of Flam, situated on the mouth of Sgonefjord! After a few hours exploring Flam, we boarded a boat where we cruised six hours down the Sgonefjord and back to the city of Bergen! It was a full day!
Our first train left from the Bergen station and rode about an hour and thirty minutes to the small town of Myrdal. Along the way, we passed through so many tunnels... and sped alongside lakes, rivers and little small towns; I especially loved seeing all the little boat houses situated alongside the train tracks with boats bobbing in the water! I took the time on the ride to have coffee and my Skolleboller - which is a school bun! It's filled with cream in the center and dusted with coconut and was apparently a popular breakfast item for kiddos to take as they make their way to school! It was pretty tasty!
The Flam Railway is only a twelve.six kilometer journey but takes about an hour to complete because of the steep grade of portions of the track. There are ten stations, twenty tunnels and one bridge and you also make one stop on the journey - a gorgeous waterfall that flows right along the edge of the tracks and under the train! It's called Kjossfossen and it's 738 feet tall and generates energy that helps power the Flam Railway; which is pretty cool! While we were there, music started playing and a woman in red appeared near the falls - dancing! She is meant to be a Huldra, a spirit from Norwegian folklore who sings and seduces men away ... thankfully no spouses were stolen away at this spot!
The Kjosfossen; because of the Flam Railway, is one of the most visited natural attractions in Norway! It's estimated that it receives 900,000 visitors a year! Its certainly a gorgeous spot and given that it's less than a mile from the town of Myrdal, where the train leaves from, I'm sure there are also hiking routes to see the falls! After leaving the falls, the train continued to descend into the Flam Valley and after about an hour - we made our way to the small town of Flam, located at the mouth of the Sognefjord.
The town of Flam is another teeny tiny town - it has about 250 year-round residents - and I feel pretty confident that they depend pretty heavily on tourism. While the town of Geiranger is only in play during the months of March - October, because of the Flam Railway, the town of Flam is open for business all year round! So you can take a train ride in the deep snow to this little town on the mouth of the Sognefjord to see all the things! The area we were able to explore has restaurants and shops - perfect for the floods of tourists that arrive each day via train and boat!
Around; if I remember correctly, 2:30 - we boarded our boat and settled in for the cruise up the Sognefjord and back to Bergen! The Sognefjord is the largest fjord in Norway, so the cruise provided a way to see yet another one of the fjords and we were also able to see so many sights while the cruise was in progress! We had comfortable seats with a table, all the accessory plug-ins we could want and there was a cafe on board that served food (not incredible food - but food nonetheless) - so we settled in for our voyage through the fjord!
Some of the pictures I am sharing were taken from inside the boat - and the windows of the boat didn't provide a very clear photo opportunity! So, some of them will look a little smudgy. Oh well. *shrug* While we were cruising along, Ryan and my Dad wandered off and when they came back, Ryan was eager to have me put on my coat and hat and come with him... They had discovered that you could go out onto the front and back decks of the boat and so away we went - and we were immediately almost blown away! The wind was incredibly fierce up on top of the boat, especially on the front! However, the views were also incredible and so we wandered back up to the boat decks several times during our journey!
The boat stopped at numerous places along the way - dropping people off, picking people up - some of the little towns it stopped in didn't look like they were even inhabited, it was wild! We were able to see so many waterfalls and teeny towns tucked into coves and fish farms and more from the boat; the way of life for Norwegians is truly something different from the life most people live! We also saw a farm perched on a rock outcrop and the boat captain explained that this farm was inhabited and they used a LADDER that hung over the rock outcrop and dropped down to the surface of the fjord to move supplies. Excuse me - what? It makes trying to get the groceries in on just one trip look like a joke. I cannot explain enough how high up this farm was... you'd be climbing the ladder for a good while...
The colorful boat houses that dotted the shoreline was another favorite sight for me! The country of Norway as a whole is a very colorful place indeed; I loved seeing all the reds, yellows, whites, blues and oranges - those seemed the predominant colors for buildings. Every one in a while you'd see something painted a green or purple - but not often! We saw giant homes perched on the edge of the fjord that probably cost millions and as we got closer to Bergen, the homes turned into buildings reaching for the skies. We arrived back in Bergen shortly after 8:30 in the evening and we were deposited a block up from our hotel - so that was really nice!
This day was such a great one - because we were able to see so many sights but we weren't ever in a huge rush. It was the perfect way to see parts of Norway we might not have been able to see otherwise but without the hassle of driving, ha-ha! We just got to sit back and ride on the train(s) and cruise on the boats - I'd definitely recommend taking a trip on the Flam Railway if you're ever in Norway!
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Stops and Stays Along the Way
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