Travel Notes,Norway, Chapher#3, Flam

We arrived Flam as the last destination of Flamsbana,

Flam  is a very small village and when I first saw it I thought, how it is a lovely place. It does have a lot of tourists from cruise ships, but mainly the crowds are around the pier and souvenir shops. After a long touring, visiting shops and small museum we had a some sneaks in pier area. Afterwords went to Fretheim Hotel to have coffee. It was a lovely day, hotel garden was so nice while sun was shining and drizzling time to time. I wondered how this hotel and its surroundings look like in the winter time, especially with Christmas decorations. 

When we are touring in pier area, I noticed a small private museum in a store, of 

course I loved all those oldies. I loved the decoration of small room, all those dusty, oldies were so pretty.

 

 This lovely small town must so quiet and lonely in winter time. It was so crowded and busy in this  sunny day.

 There are many things to do in Flam, one of them is fjord safari. Teams get ready and leave pier as scheduled.

When we started to plan our journey we also checked cruise tour programs. We checked cruises and their schedules and decided to make our own program to have more free time and visit places freely as we wish. One of them was cruise  Koninsdam. It was a surprice for us to see it there at Flam pier because we've totally forgotten it and its program.

We got a chance to review how are things works in these cruises, how passengers have to be acted according to program, etc.

 

We are sure once again that big cruise tours are not our kind, it is impossible to feel the nature, serenity in that big vessel with thousands of people. We like small scale, more independent tours.

We left Flam in the afternoon with our scheduled Norled express boat, “Vingtor”.

 In that cool and windy weather we were all on the board to take photos and breath that amazing freshness.

If you ask me describe fjords with a few words, I say, peaceful, magnificient, green, lonely, and blue. It gives you different feelings and rejuvenate with amazing nature.

Our destination will be Balestrand, I'll tell it later....

Travel Notes, Norway Chapter#2, Myrdal-Flam

So, our second day started so early, in Bergen, Norway.  In the morning our train adventure begun, all early risers were waiting departure with great excitement.

We started our journey from Bergen by Bergen Railways changed to Flamsbana scenic railway at Myrdal station.  No reserved seats, from the beginning to end of the journey! 

Myrdal Station is a mountain railway station and junction, located on the Bergen Line  regional mainline inAurland, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. The  railway station is also the upper terminal of the Flam Line local railway, which ascends from the valley floor of theSognefjord to the mountain-top junction, providing a vital public transport link, but deriving a majority of its passengers through tourism. Most passengers using Myrdal station are changing trains between the two lines.

 All those little villages breath taking fjords views, waterfalls were amazing.

There are many  small stations so nice, peaceful, quiet places! 






The most important issue of this The Flam Railway adventure is the train stops at Kjosfossen in the mid way, which is a very impressive waterfall. 

You’re able to get off the train to see view and take photos. But be sure that several hundred people will get off the train at this stop! I know this is only once of life time experience for those who come from so different places, from other continents but at least they can be more respectful to others who also tries to take photos or videos. I hope there must be a solution to avoid this disorder. 

 Kjosfossen is a waterfall located in Aurland municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The waterfall is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway. Its total fall is around 225 meters. There is a small power station on the waterfall which is used to power the Flam Line railway.

When we were trying to take photos a music and lyric performance of an actress dressed as legendary Huldra (a seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore)  started, she was dancing on the that old shack with a wonderful music, foggy weather and water particles from the water fall was making her performance more interesting.

We've learned that this is only summer time tourist entertainment and the Huldra actresses are all students from the Norwegian ballet school.

 But, I must admit that the crowd and noisy of tourist groups doesn’t allow you to take photo and enjoy the sound of the waterfall and music. I still couldn't find the name of the song!

It was raining but we felt the mist from the waterfall, it was refreshing.

 If you do this journey yourself as we did, there are some things you should be prepared for. Follow cruise tour programs and select a free time other than high season.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable trip! 

 It was really beautiful ride takes you through spectacular Norwegian scenery with snowy peak mountains, green valleys, water falls and of course  lush fjords landscapes. To able to see both  mountain and fjord on the same journey and the train follows the river all the way up is an amazing experience.

Our Flam tour and  Balestrand journey is later.....