Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Flam, end of Sognefjord

What's the end of a fjord called? Here, the end of Sognefjord is a little village called Flam. Sognefjord is long and deep but Flam is very small comparatively. I was amazed at how busy Flam was, the waterway is packed full of ferries of different sizes and huge cruise ships. It was like a festival when I arrived because of the massive number of tourists, mostly Chinese Nationals. Its become one of the busiest places in Norway because of the incredible Flamsbana railway, a train that climbs out of this valley way up to join the Oslo/Bergen railway, an incredible engineering feat; one that took 20 years. Flam in the summer is so delightful in spite of the numerous tourists. It is Norway at its best even when it rains. Most people go there as part of a cruise or a group tour which I think is regrettable. There are of course the handful of independent travelers. I went as an independent traveler. It wasn't easy because everything was new and I didn't know what to expect but managed to travel smoothly and wouldn't travel any other way. One can always find someone with the right information even though you might get a lot of rebuffs, more because they don't speak English than intrinsic rudeness. I love Norway. You will too!

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