Days 1-2: “Norway in a Nutshell” Tour

The first and longest leg of this trip from Oslo to Bergen was by train, through beautiful countryside, popping in and out of one tunnel after another with glimpses along many gorgeous waterways and slowly climbing into the mountains where we eventually disembarked at the isolated, mountain station of Myrdal. From here, we transferred to ride the steep and twisty Flåm railway down to Flåm on the Sognefjord while admiring the quickly changing vistas (and lots of waterfalls) between the twenty tunnels on this short railway branch. (It was originally built to connect the Sogn district to Bergen and Oslo but is now solely a tourist line.) We had lunch in Flåm before boarding our ferry to cruise the beautiful Sognefjord from the Aurlandsfjord branch all the way around to the Nærøyfjord branch and eventually Gudvangen. From here we boarded a bus and were treated to more mountain scenery and of course more waterfalls! In Voss, we were back on a train in the late evening for a mostly tunnel journey into Bergen for a late night arrival and scavenging dinner at a deli shop.

After breakfast in our Bergen hotel, we said our goodbyes to the rest of the gang and headed out to pick up our rental car and walk around Bergen for half the day. We loitered under some outdoor market stalls when the rain turned torrential for a little while but then the sun came out and we got to walk around and shop and eat in and among the lovely old wooden buildings in the Bryggen area. After lunch, we headed out and started our drive back to Voss and to the Sognefjord.