As we sailed away from Gothenburg harbour we witnessed the most incredible sunset that lasted longer than home due to the extended twilight. Our photos were incredible. Our next day was a sea day that saw us sailing up the coast until we made our way into the 126km Hardanger fjord to the township of Ulvik with a population of 1100. The fjord is one of the longest the world. Only smaller ships can access the end of this fjord due the the Hardanger low suspension bridge. The bridge connects the municipalities of Ullensvang and Ulvik. Ulvik is nestled in a corner of a 1000m deep, glistening Fjord, between steep, snowclad mountains. This is the heart of Norway’s apple growing region and numerous exotic craft apple ciders are produced and sold here. The small, peaceful town affords wonderful views up the fjord, set in the heart of stunning mountainous countryside dotted with small farms. The weather was a cool 13 degrees and we had an 8 hour tour today departing at 8am. Our first stop was picturesque Voss, known as an acedemic centre as well as its stone church.
The only building to survive the World War II bombings. This where we caught the train, climbing to 4800 feet to Myrdal to meet the Flåm train. The trees stopped growing at 3300 feet. The Flam Railway (or Flamsbana) has been described as one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and one of the leading tourist attractions in Norway. It is a 20km long track between Myrdal and Flåm , has a very steep gradient and beautiful views. The trip only took an hour with a stop at an incredible waterfall Kjosfossen. When we arrived and it was raining but even I braved the cold inclement weather and got out of train to see the waterfall. There was loud music and a dancing lady in a red dress, up on the side of the waterfall. There was load music playing, which was a Norwegian folk song and the lady dressed in a red dress is supposed to be Huldra, an elusive forest spirit from Norse mythology. According to local folklore, she would lure men from the woods and seduce them. They are in fact performers from the Norwegian Ballet School.
They travel there on the first train each day and climb the rocks to access their dancing spot to do this dance when each train arrives.
Flam itself is very small little town It is pronounced “Flom”. There are only about 300 people that live here but tourism is huge. As there was a massive cruise ship in town our tour didn’t stay around and we headed to lunch at the Stalheim Hotel. This legendary establishment beautifully perched on a cliff overlooking the Nærøy Valley. The view of the valley was breathtaking and the scenery here is incredible, the enormity is unfortunately not captured in our photos.
We then made our way down Stalheimskleivane, the steepest road in Norway stopping at the beautiful Tvindefossen waterfall along the way. Due to the melting snow and recent rain there were so many waterfalls and cascades. It is summer here and it still a bit cold. We made our way back to Ulvik via so many tunnels. Norway has over 1000 tunnels. The animals they have here are brown bears and reindeers (Norwegian Moose). The Norwegian Moose is their national animal. The fjords are salt water and that is why they don’t freeze in winter, only the fresh water rivers and lakes do. The water temperature in the fjords is about 13 degrees. 90% of power is hydropower and the other 10% is wind generated. We couldn’t wait to get to watch our sail out through this incredible fjord. It reminded us of Milford Sound in New Zealand but on much a larger scale. We saw more waterfalls and cascades today, than we have ever seen before. With a late sunset we got to enjoy the beautiful fjord scenery for several hours.
Carol
2022-07-06
What an incredibly beautiful area.Spectacular sunsets.
Conno
2022-07-07
Fantastic sunset photos