Flam

Flam is a tiny hamlet, nestled at the base of vaulting rock.  The fjords (Norwegian spelling) are beautiful and rival those we saw in Alaska.  One way to see the formations is by rail.  The other is by smaller boat.  We planned to do both.

For those who are planning the trip here on the September cruise booking the train ride directly in a group is an advantage from a time saving standpoint and from a cost standpoint.  If you want to book as a group it takes ten people, but Jan had no trouble finding people on our Cruise Critic roll call who wanted to join us.  We were given priority boarding.  Our coach was labeled and we had a great time. 

 

The scenery is spectacular even with uncooperative weather.  The train makes three stops.  The first is only to permit the other train to pass.  No one is permitted to get off the train.  At the other two stops anyone is permitted to get off.  The stop lasts 5 minutes.  The second stop is a must for picture taking. 

If you do book as a group see if you can get the seats nearest the doors that separate the coaches.  The top windows open which makes for better picture taking during that section of the trip where the train does not stop.  A couple of tips.  Turn off you flash and increase your shutter speed, especially if you are trying to take the picture through a window.

 

Yes.  You do see a woman in a red dress dancing on the rocks by the falls.

 

The trip lasted a little over two hours but it flew by.  When the train reaches the midpoint you can buy food or beverages.  There are bathrooms onboard the train.  The railway tour is not impacted by the tunnel fire.

In the afternoon our plan was to use a tour from Sognefjorden to look at the fjords from a smaller boat, which can get deeper into some of them.  However, a massive fire in the mountain tunnel in Flam makes those tours doubtful unless you book them through Princess.  The tour company cancelled ours today because they had no way to get us back to the ship from the end of the boat ride.  They gladly refunded our money although you have the option of swapping it for another one of the tours if you prefer.

To protect their own tours, Princess changed the time of our departure from 5 PM to 4 PM with all aboard at 3:30.  The ship sent tenders to Vik which is on the way to our next port and passengers on the Princess version of these tours will be taken by van from the end of their boat tour to Vik, where tenders will pick them up and bring them to the Crown Princess.

For the curious, a tanker carrying petroleum, tipped over and spilled a good deal of its cargo onto the roadway in the tunnel.  That caused a significant fire which superheated the tunnel and cracked some of the rock and the infrastructure.  It will take at least a month to repair.  For anyone thinking about taking the World Heritage Cruise Naerofjord which takes you from Flam to Gudvangen by boat and then back to Flam by bus, you cannot do it.  The tour company office is in the rail station in Flam and you can speak with them directly or you can email them.