Norway in a nutshell - Part 1

You have not seen anything in Norway if you have not been on the Flåm Railway, or cruised through the beautiful Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord. This is not the original Norway-in-a-nutshell tour, but a shorter version of it.

Flåm Railway or Flåmsbana is a 20.2 KM railway line between Myrdal and Flåm (å is a pronounced as in -ball-). The line's elevation is about 2800 feet which makes it one of its kind. Besides the valley is beautifully dotted with waterfalls, and the small village of Flåm is the gateway to the even more beautiful Aurlandsfjord.

The Bergen Line

So we packed our bags and boarded the train to Bergen from Oslo S. The ticket prices may vary just like the flight prices, and hence it is always suggested to book in advance. Tickets over the counter are always costlier in Norway, so we always bought tickets on the Internet. Being a Sunday Morning, the tickets were cheaper. We were travelling till Myrdal from where we will change to the Flåm rail.

The Bergen line in itself is one of the most beautiful lines and by the time we reached Myrdal, we were already overwhelmed by the natural beauty of Norway. We finished out breakfast with waffles and coffee before boarding the Flåmsbanen. Sitting on the left-side is recommended. The compartment looked like it has been taken from a Museum, complete wood, aesthetically polished, and modernised and even had LCD screen to show our path. And then our downhill journey began.

The Flam Valley

Inside the train

The valley has winding paths and we decided that next time we will be taking a bicycle down the path. 

Huldra at Kjosfossen

The train stopped at Kjosfossen and we were guided to get down to look at the waterfall. Then a music starts and a lady dressed as Huldra was seen singing and dancing by the waterfall. 

And we reached Flam. 

Flam: just like a painting

We inquired about the cruise to Gudvangen at the Tourist office and were told that the next cruise its at 3:00 pm. We did a small walk around the town after keeping our luggage in the cloak room. Flam is a such a pretty village, as if someone has placed the houses by hand, just like a painting.

It is suggested to queue up for the cruise as everyone will be targeting the upper deck from where the view is awesome. There were a huge group of tourists from the original Norway-in-a-nutshell tour and I was happy to find some Bengalis in the group (they sure travel a lot). As soon as the cruise opened (or the people got down), we almost ran to the upper deck and secured two seats. Although, if the weather is bad, you would be freezing in the upper deck, but then, if that was the case, you would not be touring the fjords anyway.

Not a minute in the long 1.5 hour cruise will be boring, the sights are too much to miss. You will keep on looking at the lush green mountains, made more interesting with the clouds.

Cruising

Where the sky is a painting

And we reached Gudvangen. 

To be continued ...