On Saturday morning we awoke to the glorious scenery surrounding Flam. Little did we know of the astonishing beauty of the Fjord we’d just travelled through to get there but that treat was to come later.
The cold spring in Norway meant the snow melt had been delayed (until we arrived!) There were waterfalls everywhere – two visible in this pic.
Flam is very small, offering a few pleasant walks. The main highlight is to board the train which climbs up through the awesome Flam valley to the snow line. The very fast flowing river being fed by all the melt water.
The train stopped at the one of the most powerful waterfalls we’ve ever seen. The wind generated by the falling water, and the a mount of spray, made it difficult to stand still long enough to take a photo. In less than a minute you’d get soaked to the skin! Very exciting!
Water, water everywhere!
A view down the dramatic Flam valley and the huge amount of water flowing at the bottom.
The sun was so bright it was sometimes hard to get a quality photo.
Such a great train ride (and quite steep in places!).
At 5 o’ clock we left little Flam after another terrifically hot day. The square white patch, centre right, is the river flowing out into the Fjord. It was to take us six and a half hours to travel back down the Fjord.
We took a lot of photos of the stunning scenery during the long journey back to the open sea.
Our day in Flam was wonderful – temperatures in the upper 20’s, waterfalls to die for and spectacular scenery.
Today (Sunday) we woke up in Alesund. The town was completed destroyed by fire in 1904, which reduced 850 wooden houses to ash. In four years the present Art Nouveau style town had been constructed with the help of a very generous contribution from Kaiser Wilhelm II. We climbed the 418 steps to the top of Mount Aksla for a great view of the town below.
The town covers seven tiny islands connected by bridges and a sub-sea tunnel.
James’ new hip stood up to the climb to the top without a murmur but, instead of retracing the steps back down, we decided to take the longer route back to the town through the lovely shaded woods which adorn the huge rocky outcrop.
Alesund is very different from most historic Norwegian towns (due to the 1904 disaster) but the architectural style is very well cared for and quite fascinating.
The town is Norway’s leading fishing port and it, with the surrounding islands and snow capped mountains are a delight. We had another lovely warm and sunny day. As this is being written, as “Aurora” sails on towards our next port of call Trondheim tomorrow, the sun has just dipped below the horizon at 11:45 and risen again at 01: 45. As we move towards the Arctic Circle we could well see a full midnight sun!
Very surreal – 11:30 at night and wide awake!
Such a special moment.
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