We arrived in the charming village of Flåm. It sits eight hours inland through the breathtaking Aurlandsfjord. It is known as one of the world’s most scenic places and gateway to sprawling green valleys, dwarfed by towering peaks. The landscape around the village is dramatically steep and the town is the starting point of the world renowned Flåm Railway.

Yea! Bob is feeling better today (so thankful). Today we’re going on the Flåm Railway. The railway is the steepest standard-gauge railway in Northern Europe. We will be climbing 2,800 feet in elevation. The steepest grade will be 55%. We will travel through 20 tunnels and 4 water tunnels. We laughed when we were told, if you’re taking a picture, snap the shot quickly because chances are, you’ll be entering a tunnel. Sure enough, I have several of those pics.

We’re climbing our way from sea level up a green valley, surrounded by gorgeous waterfalls in every direction. The valley’s had flat green fields of farmland next to a winding river. I wonder how high the water gets in the spring when the high alpine snow is melting?

The ride was dreamy! We were glued to the window, pointing out different scenes. Look, more ‘happy cows’. We both laughed. We saw one enormous waterfall and next to it a zigzagging trail to the top. At the very top, you could see a protected avalanche snow shed. I believe our train will be going through it soon.

The train came to a stop and we all climbed out to see the Kjosfossen Waterfall. It’s only accessible by train. According to Norse mythology, there is a forest spirit that lures men into the woods to seduce them. Sure enough, there was a beautiful woman dancing to music at the top of the waterfalls. You could hardly hear the music over the roaring of the falls. We all took pictures, but I didn’t notice one man making their way up the falls.

The charming houses throughout the trip had these pretty, fish scale, slate shingles. We made our way to the town of Voss. We exited the train at the Fleischer’s Hotel. It’s a historic hotel, not only because it was built in 1864 but sadly, because it was occupied by the Nazi’s after they bombed the town in April 1940. During WWII, Voss became a key mobilization point for the Norwegian resistance after the German invasion and the fall of Bergen. Large portion of Voss was destroyed. They did not bomb the historic hotel or the historic church that was built in 1277.

We continued our tour in Voss and went to their open air museum that had many old farm buildings. The sky got very dark and it started to rain. The group split up as we all ran into one of the farm buildings to get out of the storm. We wandered around and took some interesting pictures until it stopped raining. Next door was the museum with over 20,000 items from traditional farm life. Voss is known for great craftsmanship (a rich history passed down through generations). Many of these crafts were displayed in their museum. Some of those crafts include: woodcarving, rose painting, textiles and weaving and the very decorative Norwegian folk costumes.

Voss is also known through the years for famous musician, sculptors, writers, painters, composers, actors and of course, several Olympians! Voss is known as the adrenaline capital of the world and has ‘Extreme Sports Week’ every year. So many exciting things to do here.

Next we visited a local farm for lunch. We met the farmer and his wife. They owned a small inn and took us to their dining room. Soon they served us a hot bowl of homemade mushroom soup. Best I’ve ever had! What kind of mushrooms we asked? Trumpet mushrooms, just picked. Next, they served us a stack of fresh vegetables, sliced very thin and a lamb burger. Dessert was fresh berries. We thanked the farmer and his wife for their hospitality and such a wonderful meal. They were both very sweet people. We enjoyed our visit very much.

We left Voss and traveled the road back towards Flåm. A different route than the train journey so different scenery. We stopped at another waterfall. It never gets old! We saw some people kayaking the rough, blue waters and understand why this area is famous for extreme sports.

We arrived back at the port and could see our pretty ship waiting for us. We boarded and went to find a nice place to relax before sail away. Over on the beach, we see a crowd of people and yes, lighting another bonfire. Not a huge one, yet a nice size and then an orange smoke flare. What’s happening here? O, I hear someone saying, extreme sky diving. All of a sudden, you see these dare devils coming in very fast. Close to the side of the cliffs and then straight down to the beach. We watched several and then it was time to sail away.

We found a lovely spot to watch as we left the port of Flåm and out another gorgeous fjord to our next destination. The peaks were so high, water so blue and grass so green. What a day we had. I’m so glad we were together.♥️

I called this picture – “Bob’s cabin”. Out in the middle of nowhere with a huge waterfall, no people, no town….but a tiny cabin. He said ‘perfect’.

Farewell Flåm!

Note: if you’re interested to know more about the Norwegian resistance during WWII, there are two movies that we’ve seen that are very good. 1) The Heroes of Telemark and 2) Number 24.