Day 15 Friday, March13th "Norway in a nutshell"



agricultural area

For the complete whole day we
 had in Bergen we decided to do the "Norway in a nutshell" tour which has been given some decent reviews.  Our tickets were all purchased in advance and were up ready to catch the 0839 train from Bergen station - hence the recce yesterday afternoon to find the best route.  We had already had our first surprise in the morning when we went for breakfast.  We were just given a bag as we entered the dining room and were told this was due to new coronavirus regulations being enforced.  OK so we had a cold breakfast with some coffee and life did not seem too bad. 




waterfalls everywhere

from the train

We got on our train, settled down and we were underway to the town of Voss.  The surrounding countryside soon progressed from being snow free with evidence of agricultural activity to one of being a complete white out.  Both scenarios provided good photo opportunities.  We were soon at Voss (just over an hour) and we had to alight and find a bus to take us on the next leg of our 5 legged journey.

We found the bus in the coach park outside the station and we were soon motoring again.  Having climbed quite high on the first leg, this next trip was to take us back down to sea level to the head of a fjord.  It took us 55 minutes to drive carefully down from the heights to the port of Gudvangen.  We had to wait for nearly an hour before the fjord boat came in but that went very quickly as we had a quick look round at the stunning scenery and there was a coffee shop where we enjoyed a nice hot chocolate.  Outside the weather was below freezing and so we glad of thick coats, hats, furry trousers  and gloves.  Having warmed up it was time now to go out and join our smart looking boat which had just arrived.




route of boat trip

It had room for 400 passengers but

At Gudvangen

there was probably only a fifth of that for our journey.  The remarkable thing about the boat was that it was electric powered. It takes about 25 minutes to receive enough power to cruise 2 hours.  They are very much green conscious in Norway and have plenty of hydroelectric power.  We boarded and it had plenty of 

two good looking chaps

comfortable seats in two lounges and plenty of rail space outside (including on top) for people to view and photograph. Our 

snowy mountains all around us

voyage started and there was no motor noise and the drive had been designed so that there minimum bank erosion.  Our photos explain the views and give a bit of an idea of the 

Christine with a danger sign!

scenery but in the flesh one enjoys a much better 

another mountain with snow blowing

picture.  We were able to 

some narrow channels

dramatic gorge

have a cup of tea from the well stocked cafeteria.  Our two hourjourney passed very quickly and we passed from the Naeroyfjord to the Aurlandfjord before very long.   We were surprised where people would choose to live in this 

isolated community

even more isolated!

isolated, hostile climate.   We carried on in amazing landscapes as before and eventually arrived at Flam where the next stage of our adventure began.


We were due a 40 minute stop at 

one of the engines

Flam but after a time it became evident that 


the Flam railway route

there was a delay and we were told it would be 40 minutes late.  We wandered around the visitor centre and had a look at some rolling stock which was on different platforms.  We then found a museum which contained the history of building and development of the railway.  Several 

adjacent river to railway line

tunnels were dug in the 1930s/40s period and it was completed in 1944.  It rises 2800 feet in 12.5 miles by electric traction - some 

we like icicles

continuous gradient.  Goods could then be easily transported from sea level to the main cross Norway railway.  Our train arrived and we were on our way, again good views then at one stop for photographing

waterfall on route

a frozen waterfall some American youngsters enjoyed struggling in thigh deep snow which they were not used to.  When we got to the top at Myrdal there was train waiting to go to Bergen.


Getting to the train was easier said than done.  It was on a platform where we had to cross a train line to get to it. So 

plenty of snow

we had to climb down onto the track (with some help) and climb up into the carriage - again with some help.  I 

fjord near the end of journey

have never been encouraged to go onto a railway line ever before.   They had held this train up for us and we were soon off. The train home was a longer journey than the initial train ride but we were able to miss some stations and arrived at Bergen about 1/2 hour behind schedule.  It was now 1830 and we had had a really exhilarating day which we would recommend to anyone.  It almost rivalled seeing the northern lights!