After a couple of days in Oslo, we rented a car and drove west to Flam. Along the way we stopped at a huge crater created by a meteorite and hiked throughout it. It was both fascinating and beautiful. We drove on and saw one of the most preserved medieval wooden Stave churches.
Then we headed to the Stegastein lookout known for its unique glass front platform that extends over the mountain with amazing views of a fjord below and creates a feeling of floating above the fjord below. What we weren’t prepared for was the winding switchback one lane road which seemed to go on forever. I almost threw up a couple of times out of sheer panic and may have yelled to Greg to “turn around NOW!” on more than one occasion. But it was worth it. Even though a little cloudy that day, it was impressive. Taylor was fearless and reached right over to take a picture.
We ended our day in Flam, a little village on the fjord. We were starving not having eaten a proper meal all day and checked into the hotel at 9:50 pm. They told us there was one thing open until 10 so we had to run if we wanted eat – not one morsel of food could be found anywhere else until the next day. So we rushed over to the restaurant just in time to order some (way too much) pizza and much needed beer. Whew!
The following day we hiked up to a gorgeous waterfall. It was a very steep hike but Trip persisted and we were rewarded with an amazing view of Flam and the huge waterfall.
After our hike, we took a 2 1/2 hour car ferry cruise on Naeroyfjord. Greg, Taylor and I appreciated the views and relaxing while Trip had enough after about 10 minutes and a few pictures. He chose to read most of the way.
We arrived in Kaupanger and had a short drive to our accomodations – our cabin in kind of a campground, complete with playgrounds and indoor pool and next to a gun range which gave us the background noise of gunfire from 9 am to 9 pm. It was…unique. But clean and fun for the kids with a great restaurant.
We awoke early the next day to head to a glacier hike. We drove an hour north – gorgeous views with a white water river running alongside us and waterfalls everywhere. We met our guide then drove to the glacier lake (just thawing out) in order to take a boat 30 minutes on icy water to the glacier itself. After gearing up with our crampons and harnesses, we hiked straight up the glacier to the top and walked along the crevasses stopping carefully to peak in and see the huge, deep, thin cracks. The kids did great and they were rewarded with a cup of hot chocolate on the glacier toward the end. We even got to fill up our water bottles with fresh glacial water. Trip said that was an “experience of a lifetime” and he was right. On to Balestrand…
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