After a few hours riding bus we arrived in a beautiful fjord village of Flam is located in the inner part of the magic Sognefjord - the scenic Aurlandsfjord branch. We directly had a traditional lunch in a beautiful Flåmstova Restaurant with Norwegian style of stone, glass and driftwood. It's a pity that the service quality was not good enough because of the female waitress attitude. She was quite fierce and unfriendly not serving as "first in first serve", contrary to the beautiful village scenery and environment. Actually the food was delicious especially for the appetizer (seafood salad) and the dessert (mix fruit ice cream), but we had to rush to catch the fjord cruise as we were late to cross the sea from Bruravik.
We took the "must-see" unique and spectacular Norwegian fjord from Flam to Gudvangen. It's quite a big boat called Fanaraaken (Fjord 1) with capacity 190/384, people could enjoy the seat indoor or outdoor. Lucky it stopped raining when we embarked to the boat. People were queueing and rushing to go inside the boat. As we bought a group ticket, there was only one ticket, so we had to wait for the completion member of the group till we were at last to embark although we had queued on the front row.
After taking the stairs, we saw the indoor seat was full already, so we went outside taking the stacking plastic chairs to seat on the deck. There was a small cafe bar inside the warm cabin that sold beverage and snack then passengers could sit on the soft couch while enjoy scenery through the windows. We prefered to sit outdoor to get better pictures. It's very cold and windy, all the plastic chairs were wet caused of the rain. My mom felt very cold although she had worn gloves, scarf and hat, anyway we could take some pictures of her with beautiful background of Flam town also the fjord.
The boat started sailing, some beautiful seagulls always followed the boat. They twittered and often changed the leading formation while flying. Some passengers fed the birds on their bare hands. The boat went from Flåm to Gudvangen, it sailed around precipitous snow covered mountains, mighty waterfalls and small homesteads that cling to the mountain sides. Along the way we could see Aurland, the centre of the municipality with the stone church from the 1200's. We also passed by the village of Undredal, which hosts one of the world's smallest churches.
As the wind blew very hard on the deck, my mom decided to go inside. You still could enjoy the scenery from a glasshouse on the deck next to the cabin. When you sat inside, you also could hear the explanation from the boat's guide about the scenery while you could not hear it from the deck outside. Soon we reached the Naeroyfjord, a minor fjord branching off from the Sognefjord, which is the world's narrowest fjord at only 250 metres at its narrowest point. The Naeroyfjord was also added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2005. From here we could view the majestic Sognefjord, the longest and deepest fjord in the world. The fjord is framed by mountaintops of up to 1800 metres. In the early summer the waterfalls roar over the mountain sides and breaks in a white foam when the water hits the fjord, unfortunately it's still frozen when we were there.
After my mom went inside the glasshouse, my sister and I went upstairs to the roof top of the boat. The scenery was more clear here as there was no wall blocked it. We took some pictures there then we decided to join our mom in the glasshouse to warm ourselves because it become colder. Anyway when there was a good scenery, my sister and I would go outside to take the pictures for a while then returned to the seat inside. It took around 2 hours for the sailing till we arrived at Gudvangen.
At Gudvangen drizzle rain welcome us, we rushed to go inside a unique souvenirs shop with the roof made of dry leaf like grass. The shops located just next to the restaurant with glasses windows and roof to enjoy the fjord scenery. Many beautiful coats, jackets and hats made from animal fur such as rabbit, mink, squirrel, etc, they were very expensive so I only could enjoy by caresses them. The shop was kind enough to give us a box of Nordic Light Krill & Fish Oil as a sample. A new Norwegian omega-3 supplement that delivers the full range of health benefits from wild harvested krill and fish oil. Omega-3 is recommended for brain, heart, joints, skin, etc.
The bus already picked us up, we went directly to the classic Fretheim hotel where we stayed for a night before the next destination. The room was quite large, there was a wooden bed level at the corner while the twin beds next to each other were in the middle of the room, it could be occupied by 4 persons. We had dinner in the hotel with pork steak as the main course. I love the peacefull and fresh air of Flam village. The beautiful Flam valley with the Flam river & tiny farm houses, surrounded by spectacular mountain peaks, is an excellent area for hiking & biking trips.
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