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The highlight of this day was the fjord ferry trip from Flåm to Gudvangen. When you plan a trip to Norway, you are almost certain to encounter many advertisements for the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. What is Norway in a Nutshell? The participant begins in either Bergen or Oslo and rides a train halfway across the country to the small town of Myrdal. Disembarking in Myrdal, the tourist boards the famous Flåmsbana (The Flåm Railway) which is an old electric train that runs down a steep track down a grade to the fjord at Flåm. The train ride takes the viewer by waterfalls and cliffs and the finest Norwegian scenery. In Flåm, the "Norway in a Nutshell" tourist boards a ferry that takes you to Gudvangen. The ferry cruise takes you through two arms of large Sognefjord - Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord. Nærøyfjord is famous for its steep canyon walls that crowd close to the water - this fjord is 11 miles long, but at its narrowest is only 1,600 feet wide, which makes for dramatic views. When the passengers disembark in Gudvangen, they board a bus that takes them to Voss. In Voss, they board a train that carries them to Oslo or Bergin. It is a long day, but it allows people who have only limited time in Norway to see the famous fjord and some of the beautiful interior of Norway. We, however, had our own car and plenty of time to see interior highlights. Our plan for this day was to drive to Flåm, take the ferry cruise and the train ride, and then spend the night in Flåm. It was our own mini-version of "Norway in a Nutshell." I was pretty happy with all of the breakfast buffets we enjoyed in Norway, and the spread put out by the Voss Hostel was no exception. They seemed to be proud of their organic and local food stuffs, so there were a lot of plant material along with the traditional fare. It was raining and overcast when we left Voss. I was disappointed by the weather - I was hoping to enjoy the famous scenery of the fjords, but it didn't look promising that morning. Our first stop was at Tvindefossen, which is a big waterfall that splashes down near route E16. Next we were looking for a pair of waterfalls called Stalheimsfossen and Sivlefossen, but we couldn't spot them. The air was full of low clouds and fog, but I thought we would be able to see two big waterfalls. Our planned stop after those two waterfalls was the Stalheim Hotel, which is supposed to have a fantastic view up the valley toward Kjelfossen. I accidentally drove past the driveway for the Hotel because I was still looking for those two waterfalls. We found ourselves in two steep tunnels, so there was no chance to turn around until we got to the end of the second tunnel. I pulled off to the side of the road so we could turn around - and there, behind us, were the two waterfalls Stalheimsfossen and Sivlefossen. If I hadn't stopped for the turn around after the tunnels, we never would have spotted these two falls. Unfortunately, to get the best view of these two waterfalls requires a short walk (maybe a kilometer?), and because it was raining, I decided not to hike to those viewpoints. I especially didn't want to be late getting to Flåm and miss our ferry ride across the fjords (we had prepurchased tickets). I drove back through the tunnels to Stalheim Hotel, so we could see the marvelous view of Kjelfossen. But the clouds were so thick that nothing at all could be seen from the hotel's balcony. There was zero visibility, it was solid clouds, and again I was disheartened that our scenery on our fjord trip might be completely obscured. We drove on to Flåm. Just before entering the tunnel near Gudvangen, we did get a glimpse of Kjelfossen between the clouds. Kjelfossen is listed as the 18th tallest waterfall in the world, falling almost 2,500 feet! I wish we might have seen more than only see a portion of this falls. We drove through the tunnels and reached Flåm. The hostel is within easy walking distance of the boat dock, so we parked there. The clouds started breaking up, and the rain stopped. The weather turned nice - we didn't get blue skies, but we were fortunate enough to have good weather the rest of the day. So we were lucky after all. We bought our train tickets for the evening ride (Flåmsbana tickets can not be purchased in advance) and then boarded the boat for our cruise. We took the option of traveling to Gudvangen and then back again. You can see my many pictures, this was indeed a scenic spot. Although the fjord cruise is mostly a tourist activity, it does serve as a functional transport, and our boat stopped at several small towns to let passengers get off or climb on board. At points of interest, the loudspeaker would turn on and play a recorded message describing what we were passing. I think the recordings were played in eight languages - Norwegian, English, German, France, Spanish - and I am not sure what the other languages were - Russian? Japanese? One of these announcements informed us that the boat had a mechanical problem, and now could only proceed at half speed, so we would be late arriving at Gudvangen. When we did reach Gudvanger, everyone had to leave the boat, even though we were scheduled to take the return trip to Flåm. They told us to run over to another boat that was ready to leave, and show them our tickets. We weren't the only people who had to transfer boats, and they let the whole lot of us on board. We sailed back up through Nærøyfjord. It was now afternoon, and sunnier. We met a couple from Vancouver, which was fun, since we live in nearby Seattle. They had been all over the world - Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland, New Zealand. They met while taking vacations in Peru. I think they said this was their fourth or fifth trip to Norway. They had been teachers in the Canadian public schools, and now were retired. They had obviously done a good deal of travel during the summer months. When we docked in Flåm, we checked into the hostel. We cooked an early dinner in their kitchen and then walked over to the train station for our ride on the Flåmsbana. Taking a trip later in the day turned out to be a good plan, because the train was less than half full. This made it easy to change seats and move from side to side of the train car, so we got nice views from both sides. The train goes through a bunch of tunnels and climbs steeply by some waterfalls. There is only one track for most of the route, so the downhill train pulls over onto a siding and waits for the uphill train to go by. Near the end of the ride, the train stops at Kjosfossen and lets everyone out at a nice viewpoint. They started playing some traditional music, and young woman stood up on a rock and started dancing. I am not sure why they do this, the waterfall is certainly impressive enough on its own to merit a stop. The girl is supposed to represent a Huldra - a mythical Scandinavian creature that lures men into the deep forests. When the train reaches Myrdal, everyone gets off again. This is a big train station; all the mainline trains from Bergen and Oslo pass through here, and all the "Norway in a Nutshell" tourists board the train here. This late in the day there were only a few people boarding the train - clearly they were doing the Nutshell trip over multiple days, probably spending one night in Flåm. The down hill train also stops at the Kjosfossen. We rode back down the steep incline and soon were back at the Flåm station. We stopped in at the tourist shop and bought a Norway magnet. We officially had our souvenier! Today we drove 75 kilometers. MapsHere is a map of everything we did this day, showing our drive into Flåm, the route our ferry boat took over the fjords, and then the railway up to Myrdal and back. 
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Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Flåm Photos
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