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Flåm Railway: Return
trip to Vatnahalsen,
then an afternoon in charming Unredal
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After what passes for night in these
northern latitudes at the height of summer, the next day
dawned somewhat cloudy, but thankfully it was dry. It was
a big day today and one that Geoff, in particular, had been
looking forward to, because we were going to travel on the
famous Flåm Railway! |
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As we discovered yesteday, it was
only a short walk from the ship to the railway station. |
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Fairly near to our final destination,
the train stopped at the Kjosfossen waterfall for a sightseeing
stop. It was... wet! |
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Back on the train, we continued
our ascent through several long "half" tunnels. |
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Our final destination, the small
station of Vatnahalsen Station. |
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Our train leaving Vathalsen and
travelling towards its terminus, Myrdal. |
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The views close to the station were
stunning, so we had a bit of a walk, before going to the nearby
hotel for refreshments. |
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The views from the hotel were lovely
too. |
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We strolled back to the station
for the return journey. |
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On the way back, we stopped again at
the Kjosfossen waterfall. This time, we were treated to
a short performance by actors dressed as a legendary Huldra
(a seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore),
who danced in front of the waterfall and appeared to beckon
us into the waterfall! |
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We arrived back in Flåm, in
time for lunch on the ship. |
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After lunch, we had some free time
to visit the local museum before heading off on the afternoon excursion
to Unredal. |
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The houses are tightly packed in Undredal,
a small and picturesque village in the UNESCO World Heritage
landscape along the Naeroyfjord. Undredal has roughly 80
citizens, the smallest stave church in Scandinavia and three
hundred goats! Not unsurprisingly, the village is most famous
for its production of goats' cheese. There was a festive
feel about the place and we were in for a treat! |
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The famous Stave Church. |
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We were given a short presentation
about the making of their speciality brown goats' cheese,
which is still produced in the traditional way. |
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Views from the cheese tasting venue
- quite stunning! |
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Finally, we got to sample the brown
goats' cheese and other local delicacies. |
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It was all very tasty. |
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After a very pleasant afternoon,
we were driven back to our ship. |
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At 5:30pm promptly, we sailed. |
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That evening, there was a "seventies"
evening. Bob got into the spirit of things! |
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There were a few familiar sights
as we sailed back along Sognefjord towards the Norwegian Sea. |
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Tomorrow, we would be in a different
fjord; smaller, quieter and very beautiful! |
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