I left Stockholm rather early on a 0555 train to Oslo and so headed off to Stockholm Central for a rather long journey. I find trains quite comforting to travel on and so I was not too bothered about the length or time as I knew I could relax on the train. It was also before daybreak so I didn’t miss much scenery in the early part. The scenery was not particularly interesting – but still quite compelling and I also had wi-fi access[1] so I decided to book parts of the rest of my trip. I was travelling in Norway for the scenery and was, effectively, wanting to do the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour which is a journey taking in some remarkable scenery through some fjords between the two biggest cities in Norway – Oslo and Bergen. It is quite possible to do this in one day from Oslo to Bergen as the timetabling is designed around this for each leg and there is also enough spacing to take into account any delays (the legs apparently wait for the previous one in the event of delays). The journey is on a normal train to Myrdal which is the starting point for the Flamsbana line to Flam. From Flam, you then take a boat through the fjord to Gudvangen from where you take a bus to Voss to rejoin the train line to Bergen. Doing this in one day, however, is reliant on there being enough tickets for each leg and, horror of horrors, the trains were booked out between Oslo and Bergen. I had not booked previously as the website for the boat trip had a huge warning about there being an issue with the connection at Gudvangen so had contacted the company who then told me it was an out of date warning. But this had delayed my booking and suddenly, there was not a good way of getting to Bergen. Or was there?
I decided that Oslo was not worth the effort and decided to book a train to Flam that day instead and so a single hour in Oslo later, I was on the train to Bergen. It is kind of nice to be able to be this flexible but I did feel that I missed out a little on Oslo (not that I had heard much positive about it). The train ride was quite pleasant and comfortable (I had booked “komfort” class as this was supposedly more space and hot drinks inclusive, which seemed sensible) with great scenery to Myrdal. I was quite surprised to reach Myrdal at how small the area seemed to be – the station seemed to be a rural outpost and I could see hardly any buildings around the station. I had assumed that it would be a town of some sort on the mainline but there was very little there. I waited at the station until the Flamsbana train arrived and the ride was fantastic. As it was not so busy, I was able to switch between the left and right side windows as I wanted to until we had wound our way down to Flam.
Flam is a very small village which is effectively a port, a train station and a car park with some tourist shops around it - the population was supposedly 250. I was quite surprised at this and headed to my hostel which was basically just outside the car park for the night – as there was nothing else to do!
The next morning, I made my way to the tourist information counter and asked about timetables for my journey. I was in the off-peak season which meant there was just one boat across the fjord at 3pm. And it was 9am. The other thing that was available at the centre was a “tour” to a viewpoint above the fjord at Stegastein which I thought I may as well do in the absence of other things. I also went to the Flam railway museum and walked to the church and back which was partially back the way that the railway came. It was just passing time, but it was enjoyable enough.
At about 2pm, Flam suddenly had loads of coaches arrive and the shops were full of people that had arrived for the boat (and would no doubt be collected at the other side) which actually felt quite weird. It was as if this village was actually a large terminal for the boat (and train) that just happened to be open-air. Some pictures that I saw in the museum and the postcards on sale elsewhere did suggest that this tiny village was used to seeing huge numbers of people and massive cruise liners so I should not have been surprised.
The boat was enjoyable with the fjord being stunning as we passed through and saw the sheer rock faces close up. This is better told by pictures though so have a look there.
The remainder of the journey to Bergen was relatively standard. The hordes did, indeed, mainly get collected at the other end and I boarded a bus[2] to Voss. At Voss, after a short wait and a ticket machine that didn’t accept banknotes, I was onto a train to Bergen to arrive in the dark.
Bergen is the second biggest city in Norway but still not particularly large with a population of approximately 260,000 (which is about the size of Luton – which to be fair does have its own airport). The traditional centre of Bergen is the “Fish Market” and it was also a major trading port for the Hanseatic (Trading) League. I did not know much of Bergen other than this and it also being where Robbie Fowler scored one of my favourite goals against Brann Bergen (which you can see here) so I asked at the hotel about the area and decided to walk through Bryggen and up Mount Fløyen for a view down on to Bergen - again this is better told through the medium of the photograph[3]. There seemed a lot of people enjoying the walk in the park and it seemed a jovial atmosphere although there were also quite a number of serious walkers with appropriate clothing and sticks. The view was really great and I enjoyed the walk enough to not take the funicular back down. For the more adventurous (and appropriately dressed...) there are hikes beyond Mt Fløyen but I was not feeling particularly adventurous and was getting a bit hungry. The fish market seemed an easy place to go in order to feel both less hungry and less adventurous. There are lots of popular food stall which seem to be aimed at tourists but are popular with all and there are not that many tourists anyway.
In order to leave Bergen, you have to get to the airport, and this is usually by airport bus which I planned to take at about 6 to give plenty of time for a 830 flight. I had been told that the airport bus was every twenty minutes but I went to check when exactly they were just before I went to collect my bags. And there, I discovered that there were no buses at all between 5:40 and 7:00 which seemed a remarkable gap to me. As it was 5:30 then, I made a dash[4] for the hotel and collected my bags to return in time (rather red-faced) for the bus.
Bergen Airport is absolutely tiny. I arrived and there were only three more flights that day (which was instant explanation for the huge gap in service) and no self check-in counters for British Airways. I knew this as I walked around looking for them (and walked into the baggage reclaim area, so small is the airport. So I checked in and waited having walked through a large duty free area[5] which was plentifully stocked. The return to Heathrow, as always, reminded me of the differing scale of London to the cities I had visited – some find considerable comfort in that scale. I think I count myself amongst them.
1. This is quite common on the railways, stations and airports throughout my recent journeys. It is usually free which is surprising when they are usually state run and I have been told, repeatedly, that state run infrastructure is unable to provide “innovation”. This contrasts with the “free” wi-fi on British trains which is all but non-existent.↩
2. Incidentally, I was told that they would accept credit card payment but did not – and I had no cash on me at all. Luckily, the driver told me that he would take cash as there was a cash machine at Voss station but I could have been stranded there…↩
3. Annoyingly, I arrived at night and took a number of night time shots in the city centre but then deleted them inadvertently later on. I think it was the only time I used my tripod too so it is even more annoying seeing as I went to the trouble of taking it.↩
4. There was another person, a fairly smartly dressed (but casual) man, doing something similar and he was checking and was happy to get the 7pm bus. As it happened, I noticed him get on my flight too and he was the only person in the whole of business class. He was obviously a more relaxed traveller than me.↩
5. Norway is not in the EU, though it is part of the Schengen area http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen/index_en.htm meaning that there was no border control at all between Stockholm and Oslo on the train. This does mean, however, that the tax-free area in the airport can be very good for passengers.↩
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