Sail, Rail And Waffles

Click the headline to view photos for this post.

From Amsterdam we sailed over night and all day (July 1, 2005) to the northern end of Norway entering the Sognefjorden, the largest fjord in Norway, about midnight. Over night, while we slept under our down duvets, the Prinsendam cruised the 100 miles (160 km) inland to the tiny village of Flam, population 400.

Jan woke up (July 2, 2005) and put on the quilted housecoat the ship provided and stepped onto the verandah as we approached Flam, and called me. “Larry, you won’t believe this, it is spectacular come and see.” This photograph taken as we sailed through the fjord doesn’t do the real life experience justice. From the photographs you can’t appreciate the scale of these mountains nor how lush the vegetation.

The village of Flam is tiny, yet it is a major tourist attraction in Norway for one reason – The Flam Railway. Jan and I boarded the train for the climb from Flam to Myrdal. Flam is 2m above sea level Myrdal is 866m.

The scenery is stunning with dozens of waterfalls, the most spectacular of which is Kjosfossen Waterfall in which, according to local legend, a maiden dances to attract men with her beauty and steal their souls. The first photograph shows the falls from the crest to the railway tracks the second is a close-up. Both fail to convey the beauty, the roar of the water and cool crisp air the falls generate.

When we reached the top Myrdal stopped at a rustic and quaint hotel for miniature waffles with clotted cream and homemade raspberry jam and coffee and tea. Jan had several helpings but because of my diabetes, I only had a taste. Wonderful.

On the train ride down I got a photograph of one of the valleys.

When we returned to Flam we visited some of the handicraft stores. Two items captured my interest; a reindeer skin, which sold for 695 Norwegian Kroner about $120.00 Canadian and some trolls that reminded me of some of our Canadian politicians.

As I write this it is 10 PM and it is a light as day outside and we’ve been sailing up the Fjord since we left Flam at 6 PM. Jan and I must pull the drapes and get some sleep to prepare ourselves for a visit to the City of Stavanger tomorrow on the southern coast of Norway