Flåm

One of the areas I've most looked forward to visiting has been the fjords in Norway.  I'm definitely more of a mountain person than a beach person, especially in the summer. We've made our home in the village of Flåm, located at the end of the Aurlandsfjord which is a small offshoot of Norway's largest and deepest fjord, the Sognefjord. Originally, we were only going to be here for two nights as we were going to a different area and hike Trolltunga, one of Norway's most spectacular hikes.  However, the weather in that area isn't cooperating -- rain and snow for the last three days and more for scheduled hike day on Saturday, so we switched gears and extended our stay in Flåm for a total of four nights.  Our best decision yet on this trip.

Our Cottage -- #1 on the far left

We are staying in a cottage on the fjord with a large picture window that looks directly out onto the water.  It's a view I don't think I would ever get tired of. We're renting directly from the owners, Anders & Sue, who have a farm behind us and four cottages on the water.  I'm not sure how old these cottages are, but they have the typical Norwegian A-frame style of construction with red wood siding.  Inside, it has the feel of a log cabin with knotty pine wood walls and ceilings.

Flåm definitely caters to tourist this time of year.  The fjord is deep enough that cruise ships make it a port of call and we woke up to one in port on our first full day here. The two main things most folks do here is ride the Flåmsbana train into the mountains and take the fjord cruise over to Gudvangen.  We did both today and the views and scenery were incredible.

Cruise ship in port

The Flåmsbana is a 20km train ride to the village of Myrdal, with an elevation gain of about 2,850 feet meaning an average gradient of 1 in 18.  It's the steepest train ride in Norway and has been voted as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world.  We traveled through 20 different tunnels and saw numerous waterfalls, mountains, and valleys.

View from the train

There is a one-day tour that people can take from Oslo to Bergen called Norway in a Nutshell.  This includes the Flåmsbana train and fjord cruise.  There were lots of folks on our train that seemed to be doing this leg of that tour and got off at Myrdal to continue their trip.  We rode the train up and back, and there were probably only 1/4 of the people on the return as on the way up the mountain.

As soon as we got back to Flåm, we headed to the ferry dock for our fjord cruise.  We were on a modern boat that was specifically designed for these fjord cruises.  It's totally electric and emits zero pollution to the fjord.  That also made it a very quiet and smooth ride.  We sailed the length of the Aurlandsfjord and then turned and went down another offshoot of the Sognefjord -- the Nærøyfjord.  Just as the name implies, it's the narrowest fjord in Norway and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Fjord cruise

The pictures I'm showing here really don't do justice to capturing the incredible views and scenery we saw today.  One of the perks of the cottage we're staying in is that it comes with the use of a small boat with an outboard motor to go out on the fjord.  We enjoyed the cruise so much that Mom wanted to go back out on the water so we did that this evening before dinner.  Our brief boat ride gave yet another perspective as we were basically at water level versus being elevated as we were on the large ferry boat.

Boat selfie

We've been blessed with great weather while we've been in Flåm, sunny weather and highs in the 60s.  We're so far north that the sun practically never sets.  The official sunset is about 11:00pm and the official sunrise is about 4:30am, but it's basically twilight in between so it never gets fully dark.  It's tempting to not ever go to sleep so we can soak up as much of the views as possible.