Norway in a Nutshell
6/9
The Norway in a Nutshell tour was created to give people a snapshot of Norway in a day long tour that takes you between the two biggest cities in Norway... from one side of Norway (Oslo), to the other side of Norway (Bergen).
Oslo-Bergen Train
Without our heavy suitcases we walked over to the Oslo train station and boarded our train. The first part of the trip is the high speed train that runs between Oslo and Bergen, we would take it as far as the small town of Myrdal before transferring to the next train.
We passed the Aass Brewery on our way out of Oslo, and then the train ride consisted of a lot of farmland, sheep, and small towns.
It was a bit of a dreary day, but the further North we got, and the higher the altitude, the better the scenery got. I wasn't really expecting this much snow in June though, not even sure I was expecting any snow in this part of Norway.
Flåm Railway
When we arrived in Myrdal, we changed trains to the historic Flåmsbana. This train runs 20km from Myrdal to the small town of Flåm, it has the steepest grade of any European railway that runs on standard gauge track. Over the course of an hour, it passes beautiful mountainous scenery, and goes through 20 tunnels.
It all starts out very weird, we find a couple seats with a nice open window view facing what we thought was the right way. A family with 4 kids comes and takes the two seats facing us, and the seats on the other side, a little annoying, but that wasn't the weird part. Some girl from the next car comes and stands right in our window between us and the 2 seats across, bawling her eyes out, and saying she needs a moment. We can see her glancing back at a boyfriend or husband who obviously said something to upset her. No responses to the "are you OK's". We're all trying to figure out what to do as she is almost in my lap, then finally after the train starts moving she apologizes and goes back to the other car.
That's when the little kid across from us starts swinging her legs and kicking Norine. When Norine sticks her arm out and says please stop kicking me, we get the dagger stares from the mom... I was so tempted to say "Control your offspring!", I think she saw the look we both gave back and did the "now now dear, don't kick the lady".
The views are stunning as we descend almost a kilometer in altitude. At one point the train stops at the end of a tunnel so we can all get out and see the Kjosfossen waterfalls. These waterfalls produce power for the railway and they drop around 225 metres (738 ft). The waterfall is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway, and that was obvious when we get to the viewing platform, it took most of our time there to wiggle up to the front and get a picture.
The view you want to see
What you actually seea Huldra trying to lure me
In the distance you could hear some music and singing, up above a girl in a red dress is dancing on a cliff edge overlooking the falls. Apparently she is a Huldra (a seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore), they are like mermaids singing and dancing to tempt travelers to their death in the water. Safely back on the train, we start chugging along again.
For some reason the family decides they need to eat lunch on the 1 hour train ride. Fair enough, kids get hungry, but they all start pulling out hard boiled eggs... seriously, on a crowded train, were they all out of raw onions? At least the one older kid didn't eat one, he was too busy looking all EMO with a totally bored scowl and his face down into his smartphone the entire scenic journey.
A short while later, train cabin smelling like egg farts, we arrived in Flåm. It truly was a beautiful scenic train ride, even with all the oddities. We had a short little while to explore the town, grab a bite to eat... no, not eggs, and not Curry with rice or a giant vat of fish soup.
(Quick financial check, that bowl of fish soup with bread works out to over $30 Canadian)
Sognefjord & Nærøfjord Ship
From here we boarded the Boat/Ferry for our trip through Sognefjord and Nærøfjord to the town of Gudvangen. It was pretty funny how everyone ran to the top view deck, all crammed in, Norine and I had the entire lower deck to ourselves, complete with unobstructed views and bathrooms.
From Flåm we head up the Aurlandsfjord, an arm of the Sognefjord, and towards the main part of the fjord which is considered the King of Fjords. The Sognefjord runs 204 km from the coast and is one of the deepest with depths of up to 1300 metres.
So many waterfalls.
After a very brief stop in the town of Undredal (we bumped into the dock, a guy jumped off, we left), we started the turn into Nærøyfjord. Undredal was only accessible by boat until 1989, and is world famous for it's goat cheese.
Nærøyfjord is the narrowest arm of the Sognefjord, only 250 metres across at some points and with shallows of 12 metres, the mountains and cliffs seem to go straight up from the shore. Perfect conditions for more waterfalls.
Some of the signs on the boat make sense, others just seem rude.
Are you getting tired of waterfalls yet?
The last waterfall as the boat pulled into the tiny town of Gudvangen.
Bus to Voss
After we disembarked, a row of buses was waiting for us, we all loaded up... so glad we didn't have our suitcases with us, or we might still be standing outside the bus. The only trouble was the overhead storage didn't fit our packs, so we had to have them in our laps for the ride to Voss, a minor discomfort for convenience.
Not so great views when the scenery is on the wrong side of the bus. We are on the right side as we pass the Stalheim hotel car show.
The most interesting part of the bus trip is driving the Stalheimskleiva, it's a 1.5 km road that twists down the mountainside towards the Nærøyfjord. With up to a 20% grade and 13 sharp hairpin bends, it's just a little exciting in a giant tour bus.
The twisting road was built in 1846 and runs between two waterfalls; the 140 metre Sivlefossen and the 126 metre Stalheimsfossen. Fortunately we had already seen quite a few impressive waterfalls that day, because the view was a little more obstructed as we passed the Stalheimfossen.
The rest of the bus ride was pretty uneventful, I was a little disappointed the bus driver didn't even slow down for this waterfall on the side of the road, but I'll talk more about that later.
Train to Bergen
Once the bus arrived in Voss, it was a short wait for the train to Bergen, we found a little store and grabbed a couple sandwiches and drinks to get us through the last stretch of our journey. A train pulled up, nobody said anything, no announcement, so Norine and I got on figuring there was no other train listed on the schedule board. Every few minutes a couple more people would get on and ask us if this was the train to Bergen, our response was "we hope so".
As we expected, it was the right train, the scenery was beautiful, and the ride was way more spacious and comfortable than the bus.
An hour and a half later, and we were pulling in to the Bergen train station... and that, was Norway in a Nutshell!
It was a short walk to the Basic Bergen hotel.. .At $200 a night it was one of the cheaper hotels, and it didn't even include the usual free breakfast. At least our bags were there in the room already when we arrived, THANK YOU Porter Service!
A Queen size wouldn't fitOur amazing viewBigger than the bedroom
6/10
It wasn't a great nights sleep with the bass-thumping bar/disco 2 floors below us...
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a picture of the words I typed in our review of this hotel.
We had a slight delay in our departure, because there was an Avis car rental office just down the street, but apparently I accidentally booked at the airport instead of in the city. So we hailed a cab and picked up our car at the Bergen Airport and headed North for our driving adventure through the Western Fjords of Norway.