Fjord Tour

Day two of our Bergen trip was scheduled for our fjord tour called "Norway in a Nutshell", the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy but we lucked out with a beautiful day (almost).  The tour started with a 2 hour train ride from Bergen to Myrdal.  It was a nice trip with lots of tunnels.  Then in Myrdal we transferred trains to the Flam railway.  This railway is a major tourist attraction- it was built in the 1920's and took over 20 years to build. It has 20 tunnels of which 18 were excavated by hand- I guess that explains why it took over 20 years to build!  It is very steep and very scenic- the train stops along the route at good vistas and even lets you out at a waterfall for 5 minutes.  The trip is 20K but takes almost 1 hour.  It was a neat experience.

View from the train over the Flam Valley

Along the train route was Kjos waterfall with a 305 ft free fall- it is also used for hydroelectricity

We arrived in the tiny town of Flam around lunch time and enjoyed some fish and chips in a restaurant comprised of old railway cars.  Flam is home to 600 people but is a very busy cruise ship and tourist location.  There was a huge cruise ship in port when we arrived.  After lunch we took a nice walk then boarded our ferry for a 2 hour tour of the Naeroyfjord (Unesco World Heritage site)  and Aurlandsfjord which are both narrow off shoots of the longest and deepest fjord in Norway, the Sognefjord.  The ferry boat was packed but we got great seats, thanks to Jason, to enjoy the trip.  The first hour is spent in one fjord then you change directions and head into then next fjord- when we changed directions we literally hit a cloud.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees and it started raining.  Luckily we were prepared with rain gear but the top deck of the boat completely cleared out!

View in the Aurlandsfjord

Before

After

We exited the boat in Gudvangen and took a bus back to Voss to catch the train.  The bus ride took us on a "serpentine road" called Stalheimskleiva that leads down the side of mountain with 13 hair pins turns and a 18% grade.  It was built by manual labor in the late 1800's and is closed in the winter.  Thankful now it is only a one way road!  It was amazingly steep and scary (see picture section) - thankfully I think our bus driver did the trip every day so I was confident in his abilities.  The road is between two huge waterfalls so it is very scenic.  After that hair-raising section of road it was smooth sailing to Voss then back on the train.  Although I thought the bus ride was smooth I think Judy was praying we were not going to hit oncoming cars - I have gotten used to the narrow windy roads I guess!  The train took longer then expected due to signal issues we had to slow waaaay down which made for a longer day.   It was a long day but very beautiful.  I am glad we got to show Robert and Judy some real Norwegian nature and beauty!