After our arduous hike of the previous day, we decided to lick our wounds and take it easy this morning. We had another great breakfast of leftovers including fried potatoes and eggs along with local raspberries. Afterwards I took my final dip in the fjord. Then we began packing up. We needed to return our rental car and get back on the ferry to complete our journey to Flam and eventually on to Oslo. We got everything together and hit the road. First we dropped Clay and Jean and our luggage at the ferry terminal in Leikanger and then returned the car to the station in Hermansverk. Susan and I then walked the two miles back into Leikanger to meet back up with the Harmons. It was a beautiful day, lovely and cool when we started out and then gradually warmer as we walked. I was struck again at what a steep and radical country Norway is. All along the fjord, farmers raise fruit- raspberries, apples, plums and pears. The land comes right down to the sea at a crazy, radical angle. Houses and barns perch precariously on the radically tilted landscape. Many of the farms along the road also have cows, sheep, goats and horses. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to try and graze in a field with a 70% grade. It also shows you how tentative life can be when the only thing you can grow is fruit and you can only till just a handful of acres. It’s no wonder that the drought and heat wave are causing so much concern to the area farmers.
We reached the terminal with plenty of time to spare. While we were hot and in our t-shirts, we found the Harmons bundled in jackets against the cool winds.
The ferry arrived exactly on time, as is the Norwegian way, and we were on our way. There were already a lot of people already on board but we found room on the front and back decks to enjoy the scenery. Our trip today went to the end to the fjord where it narrowed way down. It made for some dramatic vistas. The hills rose straight up out of the fjord probably a couple thousand feet. There were dozens of waterfalls coming down from the remaining snowfields on top. Wherever there was a reasonably level spot anywhere on the shore, a farmstead or two had established itself. Where we embarked, we were fairly close to Flam so the whole trip only took about 90 minutes. When we arrived in port there were already two big ferries in front of us as well as a huge cruise ship.
The mythic temptress Huldra
The ferry arrived exactly on time, as is the Norwegian way, and we were on our way. There were already a lot of people already on board but we found room on the front and back decks to enjoy the scenery. Our trip today went to the end to the fjord where it narrowed way down. It made for some dramatic vistas. The hills rose straight up out of the fjord probably a couple thousand feet. There were dozens of waterfalls coming down from the remaining snowfields on top. Wherever there was a reasonably level spot anywhere on the shore, a farmstead or two had established itself. Where we embarked, we were fairly close to Flam so the whole trip only took about 90 minutes. When we arrived in port there were already two big ferries in front of us as well as a huge cruise ship.
Flam is situated at the base of a long valley and serves as a base station for any number of hikers, bikers, cruisers and even RV’ers. It was kind of crazy. We had a couple of hours to kill, so grabbed some lunch and then tried to beat the midday heat (85!) until our train to Myrdal arrived. Myrdal is at the top of the valley about 20 miles away. The train slowly makes the long climb following a beautiful roaring river. The scenery is spectacular.
While you are making the trip, there is a monitor in the train car that plays promos videos and gives you an update on what is coming up next on the trip. At a certain point they tell about the myth of Huldra, a hauntingly beautiful spirit being who entrances men with her siren call and lures them into the mountain. Right, sure. Shortly thereafter, the train stops at a large roaring waterfall and stops to allow the passengers to get off and take pictures which we all dutifully did.
Suddenly we hear- NO WAY?!- the sound of hauntingly beautiful music (think Enya on espresso) and a woman pops up clear up the mountain next to the water. She dances around and then just as abruptly disappears again only to pop up on the other side of the river. What is this black magic? The music stops and all of us poor suckers file back into the train.
The trip begins again and we are treated to deep beautiful valleys and dozens of tunnels. A young Frenchman stows his backpack on the rack above our heads. We move over so that he can sit. Out of gratitude, he takes our picture with a little Polaroid camera.
We arrive in Myrdal to then await our connecting train to Oslo. There was not much to do and we were feeling kind of spent from a long day of travel so we just hunkered down in the shade and waited the hour until it arrived. Thankfully we had reserved seats unlike the scramble for seats from Flam, so we settled in and got comfortable.
Myrdal Train Station
It was a pretty slow train. We were already at the top geographically and proceeded to cross some starkly beautiful countryside of snowfields, tarns and rock strewn fields. When finally the water ran out, it was just a lot of very lonely looking houses stuck in the middle of barren, rocky soil. Who are these people and what the Hell do they do way out here? We made a bunch of stops and even had a ten minute delay while we waited for a freight train to pass so made slow progress. The hours ticked by. We grabbed a bite to eat in the dining car. We talked and read and slept. It was a long, long trip. Finally at 10:30 pm we started to reach the outskirts of Oslo. It has an impressive looking skyline. There are a ton of beautiful, cutting edge, modern skyscrapers. Oslo is very clean and organized, about what you would expect from a Norwegian city. We exited the train and surfaced in the terminal. Grabbed a taxi and made the quick trip to our apartment.
Susan's Note: Thank goodness we took a cab to the AirBnB because we could have never found the place. Plus it was among lots of large apartment buildings and we weren't sure which one was which. Fortunately, the hostess for our AirBnB was there to meet us despite the fact it was 11 pm. She was a little nervous but helped us get settled in. We were surprised that one of the bedrooms only had a single bed, not a double as advertised. Clay offered to take the couch - we were all exhausted to hit the sack immediately!