Well that wasn’t a good start to today’s blogging. First I couldn’t get most of the photos to load properly. Then I couldn’t find the edit button. Then I managed to delete the whole blog instead of one of the failed photos! Let’s try that one more time.
I liked Flåm even if I didn’t get to ride the famous railway. I did watch a video of the train trip at the railway museum and learnt a bit about the construction and the prosperity it has brought this valley in tourist kroner.
I stayed at the Fretheim Hotel which preceded the railway by quite a long time. And you can see the different styles of architecture. My room was in the boxy section with balconies.
My room looked fairly old on the inside but clearly not in the oldest section. However my leather desk chair wouldn’t have been out of place in Amundsen’s cabin on the Fram.
So we left by slow boat, down the fairly wide fjord and then up the adjacent Nærøyfjord (which I suspect translates to something like Narrow Fjord). Lots of high thin waterfalls. Occasional small villages. Kayakers camping and touring. Hikers who have come over the mountains. To Gudvangen at the head of the N Fjord: bus stops and camping/caravan parks – at least that’s all I saw.
Our appointed bus also seemed to be the local bus and were hailed down by a handful of people, not necessarily at designated stops. So when we deviated to Stalheim, I assumed it was to another pickup. But we continued over the top and down the narrow, steep road with 12 or so tight switchbacks, to check out the scenery.
And so to Voss with 2 hours to wait for our Bergen train. A sizeable town. Can we leave our bags at the station? But there is a Bergen train there about to leave. One guy asked the conductor if this is outer train. No, but there is lots of space so we can get on. About a dozen of us piled on and the train left. So 2 hours early in Bergen and didn’t see much of Voss. (But there wasn’t any evidence of Left Luggage space.)
travellingkathy 