Our second stop in Norway is Flam, which is situated at the end of Aurlandsfjord, an extension of the 127 mile long Sognefjord. The name itself means “little place between steep mountains”, and it couldn’t be more appropriate. Unreal towering mountains, huge waterfalls, and spacious valleys can be found here. The depth of the fjord is 4000 feet and the entire area is filled with farms, sheep, goats, snow glaciers, sparkling cold rivers and lakes, and stave churches.
Flam itself is a town with hiking trails, cafes, a supermarket, a very lovely hotel, hostels, and a tourist info office. They even have wifi. But the biggest attraction here has to be the Flam Railway that attracts one million tourists and 150 cruise ships each year. This modern train climbs from sea level to 2800 feet over rivers and through 20 tunnels. The ride is 12 miles and traveling slowly, it takes 50 minutes to Myrdal Station. A few stops are made along the way for photos, then the train returns to Flam. Shore excursions offered four time slots to take their 3.25 hour tour today for $180. Of course, that included a snack of waffles with sour cream and jam at a local hotel with tea or coffee. We know of many people that bought tickets online months ago to take this train ride, and we bet their price was less. Since the train only has a few cars, these tickets can be sold out before the world cruise even started, as it is not exclusive to HAL guests.
While we are on the subject, other tours offered today included a 7.25 hour tour with two train rides, a lunch in resort town, Voss, and a bus ride through scenic countryside and tunnels. One of these tunnels is 6.8 miles long, due to the fact that snow and ice can block highways to here, and boring through granite mountains to create tunnels kept the roads and towns accessible year round. We have done this particular tour and enjoyed it. But this was back in 1996, and we are certain the price was not $310. Everything in this part of the world is extremely expensive. Shorter excursions were rides to nearby villages, waterfalls, and neighboring fjords on a sight-seeing boat. They even had two kayaking tours. Wonder if anyone did that?
At breakfast, our waiters had saved some Troll Rolls for us. These were filled with an apricot filling today and so good. Then around 9am, the housekeeping crew came to shampoo our carpet, which took 10 minutes. Now it is really clean, since this had been done two days in a row during the big flood.
We decided to stay in town, leaving the ship around 10:30am. Bundling up in layers, we never shed anything today. It was not in the 60’s but more like in the 50’s or less. Snow could be seen on the mountain tops all around us, and the wind chill was cool. The ship was literally docked right in town and walking through the compact area brought us past a mini mall, restaurants, a bakery, shops, a museum, cafes, and the Train Station for the Flamsbana tickets and visitor center all-in-one. Restrooms were there as well.
The town offered seven different types of accommodations, but the Fretheim Hotel had to be the most attractive. Built in the 19th century, this hotel had stunning views of the fjord. Picking up many brochures in the visitors center, we headed up the road, past the train platform, and towards the Flam River. As we followed the road by this fast moving glacier river, a little open-air orange train passed us with some guests going up the same road. Following a map, we walked into a most beautiful setting with guest houses, homes, and mini farms of the locals. Here we saw countryside on both sides of the river with ranches of cattle, sheep, and goats. A huge waterfall called Brekkefossen could be viewed from here. It was accessible by a steep trail, and you were warned to be careful not to get too close to the trail’s edge due to the steep terrain. We would get to this site later, since we were on the opposite side of the river.
Every riverside house had some fruit trees, mostly apples, and they were just beginning to bloom. We noticed these mature trees had been pruned differently from the way we prune ours. The main trunk had been cut short, letting the side branches create an umbrella shape, making it easier to pick the fruit. Some daffodils were in bloom, but the roadside dandelions were just as pretty. As in Alaska, with the extended daylight hours this time of year, everything grows twice as large.
The loaded train passed us more than once, and people we know waved as they went by. The same happened with the little orange train with a group of Cruise Critic folks. About 1 ½ hours into our hike, we came across the housing estate of Lunden. These homes were more like an assortment of summer homes, although with the stacks of firewood, we assume most are year round residents. Some businesses were located here and also the school. At this point, there was what appeared to be a new bridge over the river.
Alongside the road, we spotted some wooden catwalks with wire railings around some boulders of the river. A sign was posted showing that the King had come with his family in the early 1900’s to fish for trout and salmon in this river while on summer vacations. Along with this info, they mentioned a flood that had destroyed the bridges in 2014. It took two years, but the bridges were rebuilt as well as the fishing catwalks.
Continuing onward, we reached a very old Stave Church and graveyard, dating back to 1670. Surprisingly compact, the interior had a pulpit brought from Bergen and an altar built on site. Art work and decorations were done later. One of the oldest bells dated back to the 1500’s. In the entrance, we signed a guestbook. In October of 2014, this church was damaged by a flood, but was restored in two years. At that time, the church was raised over seven feet to prevent another disaster in the future. The surrounding graveyard revealed ages of the locals that must have endured a hard life in these rugged regions. Most of them reached 70 if they were lucky.
Backtracking, we crossed over what looked like a new bridge by the school. The scenery on this side was most rural with farm houses complete with pastures of sheep with many spring lambs. Some ranches had cows, chickens, and some Scottish fold cattle with long reddish fur and wide horns. One young resident was tending his vegetable garden, greeting us as we passed by.
We should mention a little about the wildlife in this wilderness. The largest animals are wild reindeer, but there are wolverines, foxes, pine martens, cairn cats, mink, and otters. In the ice cold rivers and fjords are sea trout, salmon, cod, haddock, and whiting. We did see two very furry cats, and one sheep herding dog.
One of the destinations of the guests and crew was the nearby Brekkefossen Waterfall cascading down from the jagged peaks. There was a rocky path to get closer for photos, but it looked steep. There was a sign warning of slippery paths and dangerous narrow trails. It looked just fine from where we were standing. Many local Norwegians come here with trailers and motor homes to explore the many fjords in this area. Hiking trips can be done from every village and town in and around the main fjord.
Finally back at Flam, we looked through the shops and the restaurants that were totally full by now. One place that was popular here was called Flamsbrygga with beer tasting and a full menu. The beer pub was the most crowded with many folks testing the various beer choices. Since fish was the most prominent entrée, we decided to dine on the ship. By now it was past 3pm, so the Lido was not too crowded, except for those folks that took earlier tours.
Since we did not go outside at 6am for the scenic sail in this morning, we did go to the bow to watch the sail away. We were among a handful of passengers and crew members watching from this absolutely cold and windy spot. Ian gave his narration from the Crow’s Nest, so we did get some good photos of the villages on both fjords as we passed by. Even the Stave Churches were visible, but these days are surrounded with homes and businesses. The snow on the mountaintops was most impressive, but downright bone-chilling with the wind. At one point when the Aurlandsfjord met with Sognefjord, gusts of wind about blew us off of the bow. Despite some light rainfall, we stayed until after 7pm. Ian continued his narration well past that.
There were the original three of us at dinner, since the fellows accepted a last minute invite to another table. Our entrees of a typical turkey dinner were very good for a change….perfect comfort food. Barb had stroganoff that also looked tasty. The good news was that the clocks finally went back one hour tonight as we head towards our next port in Scotland. During his late talk, Captain Mercer mentioned that we were going to have some rocking and rolling due to a storm coming our way. Nothing worse than what we have endured already this cruise.
Bill & Mary Ann
Friday, May 3, 2019
Report #103 Flam, Norway May 1, 2019 Wednesday Cloudy & 61 degrees
