HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR SCANDINAVIA TOUR: OSLO TO FLAM (NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL®) DAY 2

 Good day, everyone.  Hope you are well

It is early morning of our second and last day in Oslo which we are going to spend rather differently to what we did previously, we will be travelling by train for the most of the day in order to see the Norwegian fjords.  If you are just turning in, you can catch up with us here.

After a hearty breakfast at our accommodation, our group led by our tour leader walked to Oslo Central Station where our group boarded the Norway in a Nutshell ®, the classic railway and fjord journey from Oslo to Bergen.

This train ride has been voted as part of the 20 best train journeys in the world so we were looking forward to experiencing it.  Until this day, all our time was spent in the cities and apart from beautifully landscaped parks and gardens we haven't seen the raw nature which Scandinavia is known for so we were looking forward to see it with our own eyes.

The first leg of this journey was about 300 km long and took us about 4 hours by Norway in a Nutshell® train to go all the way up to Norway's mountainous "rooftop", Myrdal, perched 867 meters above sea level.

Very few people live in Myrdal and there only few wooden houses dotted  around the hills. This remote mountain railway junction is surrounded by rugged peaks, steep valleys and cascading waterfalls.

Completely inaccessible by car, this remote alpine hub provides the link between Oslo-Bergen line (our final tour destination) and the world-famous Flam Railway that we were about to board for our next and final leg of the journey.  This incredible 20 km ride with 900-metre descent to the picture-perfect village of Flam took us about an hour.  It is designed as a sightseeing experience, the train travels slowly so the passengers can appreciate the scenery unfolding around them.

When we reached UNESCO-listed Nærøydalen Valley, the train made a stop so we could take pictures outside historic Stalhiem Hotel offering sweeping panoramic pictures of steep mountains and waterfalls.

We alighted from the train and shortly afterwards boarded the Flam Railway for the next leg of the journey.  This incredible 20 km ride with 900-metre descent to the picture-perfect village of Flam.  This railway line is one of the world's steepest railway lines and we thoroughly enjoyed the views that we could glimpse through the windows while the trains was hurtling down towards our last stop of the day, Flam.

As the train was approaching its final destination, Flam, the rugged mountains were replaced by rolling hills covered with bright green vegetation, the waterfall and the deep river valleys. The place looked serene and very beautiful.

Flam is a village in of southwestern Norway surrounded the mountains and fjords.  It sits at the end of Aurlandsfjordm, a brunch of Sognefjord, the county's longest and deepest.

As soon as we dropped the bags at our accommodation, we went outside to explore this scenic village.  I have been looking forward to taste famous Norwegian heart-shaped waffles know as hjertevafler that our tour guide strongly recommended us to try.   So the first thing we did was to find the stand that serves hjeretevafler and placed the order.  Once the waffles are cooked, It is up to you which topping you would like to go with them.  Two options were quite obvious:  sour cream and jam.  The third, called brunost (Norwegian brown cheese) was unknown to me.  It looked like a big chunk of butter but had brown colour and was sweet to the taste.

I wasn't quite sure how the whole dish would work, however after the first bite I was hooked.  The brunost had a distinct caramel-like flavour, it wasn't reach or fatty and all three toppings together were a match made in heaven. 

As with every tourist destination all around the world, there were a number of shops stocked with local goods, produce, alpine equipment and souvenirs.  My eyes were attracted to these leather slip-on shoes but on second thought I decided to give them a miss 😊.

Soon after we all gathered at the dining hall for a traditional Scandinavian dinner full of yummy food followed by the easy stroll along the river bank by which time the darkness had settled in and we retired to our accommodation.

Stay tuned for more

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo