Flam/Bergen
The tour’s itinerary included a railway trip to Flam, an outpost at the head of a fjord on the super-rugged west side of Norway.
The route followed a steady ascent from sea level through farmland up to 2800 feet at Myrdal, a mountaineering, hiking and cross country skiing area where glaciers are visible nearby in midaugust.
There one changes trains to the Flamsbana, a railroad enthusiast’s classic operation that descends along a hair-raising right of way down to the fjord
At one point the train stops briefly at a tiny curved bridge crossing over a wild cascade
Through the windows one sees the rushing river and numerous waterfalls
interspersed with isolated farms and homesteads, many inhabited for centuries
At the terminus, after walking through a riot of tourist shops, we arrived at a rustic-styled hotel fronting on a cruise ship wharf thankfully unoccupied during our overnight stay
I felt a cold coming on and stayed in through through dinner, but next morning took a walk on one of many trails surrounding the village.
I had to cut it short to board another ferry that carried us for the rest of the day through inland waterways
and for a short while in the open ocean to the historic port of Bergen. Again under the weather — now gray skies and intermittent rain–I went back to bed and slept until the next afternoon’s flight to Stockholm, while Jan explored the City’s preserved heritage of the Hanseatic League, established there by Germans in 1350.