I love how clean and punctual everything related to the NSB (Norwegian national railway system) is. It's easy to get tickets. The stations and trains are pristine. And each train leaves at exactly the time it is scheduled for. In other words - it's my kinda system!
The first leg of our journey was back to Oslo, where we had to catch our 5 hour train to Myrdal. We splurged for the Komfort seats on the trains so we had plenty of leg room, comfortable seats, a table and beverages.
The train journey west from Oslo to Bergen is understandably famous. The scenery you pass though is spectacular - forests, lakes, grasslands, mountains and even by a glacier. It was such a peaceful and beautiful ride.
The thing about Norway is that nature and your journey through it is what the country is all about. The cities and towns are great, but the unimaginable natural beauty of Norway is what makes it so special.
The Hardangerjokulen Glacier is the 5th largest glacier in Norway.
At the Myrdal station we jumped off our luxury train and onto a 12-mile spur train, the Flamsbana. It is an impressive piece of engineering; it has the steepest decent of any railway in the world.
Part of the way down, the train stopped at the Kjosfossen waterfall.
If you look closely you can see "Huldra" (in a red dress on the right side of the waterfall), a seductive forest creature of Scandinavian folklore who dances and sings to "tempt" visitors. It was goofy but entertaining nonethe less.
As we dropped further down and further down, we went past a number of picturesque little towns. This is a view of the Dalsbotn region.
While we generally appreciated the lack of tourists we encountered throughout Norway, it also meant that things tended to close early or not run very frequently. So, by the time we got down to the town of Flam the last boat to Balestrand (where we already had our accommodations booked) had already left and the next one wasn't until morning.
Not ones to fret, we searched for some helpful people and were able to figure out when and where to catch a bus to Balestrand. The bus ride would be longer but at least we would have a bed to sleep in and not miss the day trek to Vik we had planned.
In addition to being famous for its natural beauty, Norway is well-known for being super expensive. Being thrifty - ok, downright cheap - we tended to avoid restaurants in favor of grocery store picnics. I think I can count on one hand the number of times we ate out haha
Waiting for our bus to arrive, we plopped down in the grass next to the gorgeous Songnefjord for a long session of picnicking and photo taking.
One of my favorite pictures ever: us in our matching Norway coats, enjoying a summer evening together fjord-side. So memorable...
2 comments:
Oh my Kristen! This post makes my heart happy and sad at the same time. I wish you could have taken the boat from Flam because it was breathtaking. But you got to see so much or Norway that it's ok. That last picture looks fake. ;) Let's go back to Norway together one day ok?
Don't worry too much and do check back in a couple of days for a post I think you'll like (hint, hint) :-)
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