We started out the 'northern Europe' part of our trip in Norway. We took an evening flight from Dubrovnik to Oslo, followed by another flight to Bergen, a city on the west coast of Norway. After picking up our rental car and driving to the hotel, we collapsed into bed near midnight. However, there was no rest for the weary (mostly because I planned it that way... do you see a pattern here?)
We woke up at 530am the next day and hit the road for a three-hour drive to Flam, a small town on the Sognefjord, the second longest fjord in the world. This picture, courtesy of Wikipedia, shows the Sognefjord extending from just north of Bergen to nearly halfway across Norway.
Instead of a fjord cruise, we booked a fjord safari from Flam to Gudvangen (on the bottom right of the picture above), which sounded much more exotic than a cruise. Essentially, it is a speedboat tour through the fjord. Here is a picture, courtesy of Google, since I didn't take a picture of the boat itself.
It was pouring rain when we started out, but thankfully started to clear up a bit as we went through the fjord. It was spectacular. This particular section of the Sogneford is known as the Naeroyfjord because of how narrow it becomes- 250m across at one point!
This small town on the Songefjord was one of the inspirations for the Disney film, Frozen.
After our fjord safari, we boarded the Flambasa, a 20km rail journey from Flam to the mountain town of Myrdal. The Flam railway was built between 1923 and 1940 and is one of the steepest railway lines on normal track. It has 20 tunnels, most of them excavated by hand. There is even a 180 degree turn in a tunnel, which from an engineering standpoint blows my mind. In 2014, it was named as the most scenic train in the world by Lonely Planet. When planning the trip several months ago, I had purchased us one-way tickets from Flam to Myrdal on the train with plans to cycle back to Flam. Even though we aren't major cyclers, the 20km trip back is mostly all downhill and along the picturesque Flamselvi River. William was uncertain when I told him about the plan, but I managed to wheedle him into it, promising him that it would be awesome.
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain again (we learned this was a frequent occurrence in Norway). The views from the train were obscured as we made our way up the mountain. When we stepped off the warm railway car into the rain in Myrdal, I realized this had been a terrible mistake. William glowered at me with a look that said, "I told you we shouldn't do the bike ride."
Instead of humbly agreeing with him, I decided that this was going to be the BEST BIKE RIDE EVER and show him how glad I was that I paid money for us to get soaking wet and cold in Norway. Anyone else do this with their spouse, or is it just me?
To add insult to injury, we had to walk 3km from the train station to pick up the bikes. Even though it was raining, the views were phenomenal. We walked right by a massive waterfall that we had only glimpsed from the train. We made it to the bike shop and hit the road. As promised, it was mostly downhill, and we started to have fun. The ride was easy and incredibly scenic. We came upon some goats who were blocking the road (a goat jam, if you will). We marveled at the hundreds of waterfalls and the lush green hills surrounding us. At the end, we were wet, filthy, and happy. William (not even begrudgingly) said he had a wonderful time. All is well that ends well.
From Flam, we drove to Odda, a small town about 3 hours away. We had plans to hike Trolltunga, a 10-mile trail to a famous rock outcropping that looks like a tongue. However, the weather was not cooperative, so we settled for a much shorter hike in the morning. The views were still beautiful!
Since this was such a short hike, we were able to squeeze in another walk to a lake nearby. About 30 minutes after finishing this walk, the clouds rolled in, and it poured rain for the rest of the day.
The glacier melt made the water look incredible.
Although I'm bummed that we didn't get to hike Trolltunga, we had a much more enjoyable day with our two short hikes than getting stuck out in the rain and trudging in the mud.
The next day we drove from Odda to Stavanger. We walked around the port city, dodging occasional bursts of rain.
The next morning, we had booked a car ferry from Stavanger back to Bergen, which would take us about 5 hours. The reservations told us to arrive no later than 6:30am for check-in. We arrived at 6:25am but the gates were already shut, and we tried in vain to find an employee. There was no one at the gate, the check-in desk, or anywhere we looked. So, we pointed the car north and started the drive, which took us only 4 hours. We did have to take two car ferries, each about 30 minutes, on the drive. However, these are a normal part of Norwegian travel and don't require reservations. On the busier highways, there are car ferries every 10 minutes or so. Norway is the land of tunnels and ferries.
We arrived in Bergen midday and walked around the city. It is a big cruise destination, so it was fairly busy. We walked through Bryggen, one of the historic parts of the city. These row houses on the harbor have been preserved for hundreds of years and are the quintessential picture of Bergen. We also walked through the fish market and ate delicious seafood.
I liked this door.
It rained in Norway every day we were there. It put a bit of a damper in some of our plans, but it made the scenery that much more spectacular. We saw thousands of waterfalls in the 5 days we were there. We drove 720km/450miles and barely scratched the surface of this wonderful country.
Or road trip was fantastic, but I cannot say the same about Norwegian breakfasts. This was one of the options at our hotel:
Mackerel in tomato with a side of caviar in toothpaste form. That is just wrong, and I could not bring myself to try it.
Regardless of the questionable breakfast items, we had an amazing time in Norway!
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