Saturday June 7th

A lazy start to the day today which was not spoiled by the arrival of a cruise ship. The fiord was very still with near perfect reflections. 

All I could hear from my balcony was the noise of the many waterfalls in the fiord. I made a last minute visit to the shops and found a couple of things I “needed” that I hadn't seen before then went for a walk as today involved spending a lot of time on trains.

The first train (the Flam Railway) took us from Flam to Myrdal – a 20 km trip with 20 tunnels, sections with a 1 in 18 gradient and an increase in altitude of just over 860 metres.  There were spectacular waterfalls (now accepted as the norm for Norway) and snow covered mountains. 

When we arrived at Myrdal it was quite balmy even though there were patches of snow right down to the station.  

The next leg of the journey took us across the Handangervidda Plateau which was almost completely covered in snow in the higher sections.  The average elevation is 1100 m and many of the lakes were frozen over.  

As we came down off the plateau and the snow cover became more sparse there were more huts and the vegetation became less sparse until we were travelling through fairly dense forests of mainly pine or fir trees with the occasional lake and river just to keep it interesting.

We arrived in Oslo on time at about 7.00pm and after a short bus trip were at our hotel where our large suitcases were waiting for us (we had travelled light from Bergen to Oslo because we were using public transport and handling large cases was a bit problematic).  Can't believe how tiring it can be sitting in a train for much if the day.  Off to bed for me!

Friday June 6th

It was lovely to wake up today to the view of the mountains and the clear waters of the fiord, but it was not long before I could hear the drone of the engines of today’s cruise ship with its thousands of visitors.  No sooner had the ship docked the crew had an emergency drill with alarms going off, and when that was over they proceeded to carry out maintenance work on the ship with power drills, sanders, etc.  So much for a peaceful environment! 

Luckily we had arranged a trip out of the village to Otternes, a farm village which has been continually occupied and farmed in the traditional manner for over 400 years.  The farm has a view to die for, perched on the mountains overlooking the fiord and the village of Flam. From here, it was even difficult for the large cruise ship to spoil the view.

Originally the village consisted of the homes and barns belonging to 4 families each with a farm that had some land in the immediate vicinity of the village and several summer farms up in the mountains to which the animals (originally cows, but later goats and sheep) were moved in the warmer months as the snow receded.  The farm is now run by a trust and is recognised as an important part of Norwegian heritage.  There are only 4 such villages still remaining in Norway.  

I made some new friends while I was there.

After touring the farm we were treated to sour cream porridge (not breakfast food but a special food served at celebrations and delicious), brown cheese made on the farm, salami from sheep from a neighbouring farm and dried and salted lamb, grown and cured on the farm, and delicious.

The day was rounded off by a visit to Aegir Brewery - a micro brewery built in Viking style and located next to our hotel - to taste their beers before dinner.  

They made a range of different beers

And the brewery was furnished with hand crafted timber furniture

And watched over by a fierce Viking.

The ship has left and peace and quiet has returned to the village - until tomorrow!

Thursday June 5th

We had an early start today as we had a train to catch.  It was a day of trains, planes and automobiles or at least buses, trains and ferries as we made our way from Bergen to Flam – bus from the ship to the Bergen Railway Station then a train to Voss.  

At Voss we boarded another bus which took us to Gudvangen where we caught a ferry which took us up the Naeroyfjorden and down the Aurlandsfjorden (both tributaries of the Sonjefjorden - lots of fjorden here) to the village of Flam.  

One thing that the Norwegians excel at is building tunnels.  The train from Bergen to Voss passed through many tunnels, the first of which was 7km long. It was difficult to get much in the way of photos as I would just get a photo lined up and we would be in a tunnel before I could press the shutter.

Parts of the bus trip to Gudvangen were spectacular especially the section from Stalheim down the Stalheimskleiva into the Naeroy Canyon.  This road is one of the steepest in Europe an winds its way down through many hairpin bends past two beautiful waterfalls into the valley below.  

The ferry trip from Gudvangen to Flam was no less spectacular with extremely steep mountains on both sides of the fiord which were covered with waterfalls.  It reminded me a bit of Milford Sound in NZ but the cliffs are probably higher and the fiord narrower.  There was still quite a bit of snow on top of the cliffs which made the while view that much more breathtaking.

We had been warned that there would be a cruise ship in Flam when we arrived, but I hadn't realised that it was almost in our hotel. 

We are staying at the Flamsbrugga Hotel which is only about 50 m from the shore of the fiord, which is also where the cruise ships dock. The ship left at about 6.00pm so I still had quite a bit of daylight in which to enjoy the amazing view. 

As luck would have it there is another ship due in tomorrow.  These ships are not small ones, like the one I travelled on, but huge things with 12 decks used by passengers and I guess one or two below that. 

Flam itself is a very small village which today serves as a stopping point for cruise ships which bring tourists to see the amazing views and to travel on the Flam Railway (which we will be doing on Saturday).  I find myself wondering how the village can cope with regular influxes of 5000 people from a shop plus the many others who come on a day trip by bus or ferry.  

Wednesday June 4th

The weather in the North Sea was not as bad as I had feared. We had a few hours of rough weather but by about midnight it had settled and by morning it was almost a mill pond again and the sun was shining.  The max temp in Bergen was predicted to be 22 degrees.  Eventually we reached land and made our way up the Byfjorden to Bergen. 

While we have been on the ship, I have been impressed with the way the Pilot transfers to and from the ship, but this was the first (and last) opportunity I had to get a photo.

As you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful day.

There was also a submarine making its way into the harbour, but it docked in a different area so I was not able to get really close photos of it.

Once the ship had been cleared by customs we were free to go ashore to explore Bergen. There was a bus trip on offer that took us around Bergen then out to the Fantoft Stave Church in the south of a Bergen. 

This church was originally constructed in about 1150AD but in 1992 it was burnt down by vandals.  It has since been reconstructed using timber sourced from the same location as that used in the original church and using all of the same methods. Even though the church is now nearly 20 years old, the smell of the timber In the church is still very strong.

There are many intricate wood carvings, all done by hand and some with a mix of Viking and Celtic influences.

We returned to Bergen passing the Royal residence on our way

and went to the Hanseatic Museum which is in one of the old trade houses in Bryggen, in what would have been the old wharf area of Bergen. 

Much of the building in Bergen is quite new as some of it was destroyed in by German bombs in the Second World War and many other buildings have been destroyed by fire as the Norwegians insist on building in timber.

After this I spent a bit of time just wandering around the streets of a Bergen before returning to the ship

And came across this beautiful three masted ship used by the navy as a sail training vessel.  

It was built by the Germans as a sail training vessel prior to the Second World War and forfeited to Britain after the war.  The Brits gifted it to Norway after the war as a thank you for services rendered by Norway (who I gather maintained a neutral status during the war).

Tuesday June 3rd

Today we had a bus trip arranged that took us from Lerwick down the east coast of Mainland (the largest island in Shetland) to the southernmost point then back up the west coast. 

First stop was Hoswick where there were two craft shops selling knitwear and a visitor centre and museum.  It is interesting that everyone seems to pronounce Lerwick as Ler-wick but Hoswick is Hus-ik.  I asked a local and she explained that they all call Lerwick “Leric” but when people are speaking “proper” they pronounce the “w”.  

Back on the bus and down to Jarlshof where remains of a village have been excavated. On the way in there were three Shetland ponies, one with a goal who was very cute. I had wanted to get a photo of a Shetland in its native land so grabbed the opportunity.

A bit of trivia for you, although Shetland ponies and Shetland sheep do come from Shetland, the Shetland sheepdog (which looks like a miniature collie) has nothing to do with Shetland.  They use mostly border collies here and when I asked our guide about the Shetland sheep dog he claimed that the dog was a cause of embarrassment to the people of Shetland because they considered it useless. 

Some parts of the village are very similar to Scara Brae in Orkney, 

but the Shetland village has evidence of buildings from several different ages – late Neolithic houses, a Bronze Age village, houses from the Iron Age, Norse long houses 

A medieval farm house and a 16th century baronial mansion were represented in the one site.  

I am used to coming across level crossings on roads in Australia with warnings to "look out for trains" but in Shetland you have to look out for planes as the road crosses the main runway of their main airport.

Our guide was very knowledgeable, giving us information on a wide range to topics including the islanders views on independence, the economy of the islands, employment, education, as well as history and the sights.  I won't put all I learned here, but if you are interested, ask me.

This afternoon we were to have had more zodiac trips to visit bird cliffs on Noss island but the wind was up above 60 km/hr and the swell about 3 m so they were cancelled and we had to make do with viewing from the outer decks of the ship. Still quite spectacular. 

Enlarge the photo below to check out all the birds.

I think it will be a roughish crossing tonight if the weather now is anything to go on.  We have the Captain's Cocktail Party tonight and we arrive in Bergen tomorrow about lunchtime. We must have some sort of excursion arranged for the afternoon and we remain on the ship tomorrow night, disembarking on Thursday morning after breakfast.