Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 5 - Flam 2

Today will be a great day! I am looking forward to my boat tour around Nærøyfjord and Stegastein tour, which is fjord viewing tour. Woke up at 7:30 to see outside and clouds had settled into the fjord in Flam. It looked really nice. Today I had tea in the room and time to have tea, so I had some and then got ready. No rush for breakfast as it is available till 10 am and my first tour is at 10:50 am.

I went for a short walk to see the clouds on the fjords. What I did not realize is that I would see them more even at 11 am in my boat tour. Anyway, it looks really pretty in Flam. Breakfast was quite a spread, so many things to eat but so little for me. Bread was a bit boring. Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs....same old stuff. There was a lot of meat stuff. Salads were there...why? There were many different kinds of milk alternatives, lots of jams and some cheeses (I tried the Norwegian brown cheese - meh). There was pancake which looked like a crepe, and hash brown! Thank god for potatoes. I had a bit of everything. Did not like the brown cheese, pancakes were hard, hash browns had a strange flavor. For all the huge spread, the food was not that great for a vegetarian.

Went for a little walk before the boat tour. A lot of shops are open and there are a lot of people around now. 

At 10:30 am I went to the RIB boat tour place and they dressed us up in water proof clothes and gave us goggles, and life jackets. The clouds had settled in a lot so there was some discussion that we go to the end of the fjord by the RIB boat (which is a fast motor boat on inflated rubber), and come back by bus in case the boat is going slow due to invisibility in the fog/clouds. We did go a little slow, I did not mind it. Took a lot of photos. It was kind of spooky going through the clouds on the water. There were many many waterfalls, some really small villages, one of just one person! He was taking care of the few houses there so no one forgets that they existed. There was another one of 17 people! Norwegians really like their isolation. They seemed to have what they need there - goat milk, farms and meat. For the rest they have boats to get around and get stuff. I would have loved to see the inside of their house. Each little village had their church. They are big on Christianity here.

By the time we reached the end of the fjords, it had cleared up a lot so the view was quite good. But the guys did not want to bring us back on the boats because they had lost a lot of time riding slow. The bus drive was a short 10 min drive from Gundvangen and mostly through a tunnel. 

I had some time before the Stegastein tour at 2:30 pm so went to the rail museum. It is always interesting to see how they made these kinds of challenging railways. Lots of great engineers, hard working men and horses and of course money.

The Stegastein tour left on time at 2:30, there were only 5 of us. The drive was a pretty 30 min on the mountain to get to the top point. The road is only one lane, occasionally there is some space provided so if another vehicle is coming from the other side, one can kind of be on side. The Stegastein point is really pretty. It overlooks the Aurlandsfjord. It may be a bit overrated but its okay if you are not doing any other tour. This view can be seen from the road too. The clouds are all gone now. (Apparently the tour that went in the morning did not get a good view because of the clouds).

30 min drive back and we are back in Flam. There are fewer people at this time in Flam than morning. I think the trains were coming in, the ferry from Bergen came in, so a lot of day visitors were there. It is now about 4 pm - perfect time for lunch. I had some pizza. Ate  half and kept half for tomorrow. Had to walk back to the hotel to keep the pizza in the room. Now all my evening is free. 

I went back for a walk to the fjord. Not much going on from Flam there. Another walk recommended was along the train tracks. So did that one - it was nice. I walked up to a place where I could see a beautiful waterfall. On the way back sat near the Flam river for while and just enjoyed the sound. It is a very shallow flowing river with fresh water from the glaciers and strangely green in color. Really pretty.

Came back to the center of Flam and went to the Coop for snacks. Decided against it as it might be more expensive, but wanted to try out some chocolate. They had them in the bins, so you can mix and match, which I did and it was not that expensive (about 1.25$ for about 10 small pieces). I tried some and yes they are good! I may go back tomorrow and get some more.

That is it. It is about 6 pm and Flam is like a ghost town. No one is around. I came back to my room, had some tea and that's it! That was my lovely day.

I should mention that I did see a lot of little places to stay around here. I am not sure how it works that you rent them, but they are there. My hotel, Freitheim, is an expensive hotel. I am just enjoying it this time because I don't know when I will be this free with my money :-) 

It was cold here in the morning. I am glad I wore my warm jacket to the boat tour and it is cold again in the evening. Except for the bit in the morning with the clouds, the whole day has been sunny and just perfect.

TIP: I would recommend doing both the tours in the afternoon once weather is cleared up.