Day 12 – An incredible train ride

…And if the captain tells us something, we listen.

Either he does not want to be up by himself at 6am, or he does not want us to miss the beauty of the Sognefjord system. We  think it is reason number two. And that turns out to be the case. With small eyes, we see giant fjords rising out of the water under a bright blue sky. There is not a cloud in sight. We are on our way to Flam, located in an arm of the Sognefjord, called the Aurlandsfjord. With a length of 205 km and a depth of up to 1300 m  the Sognefjord  has no equal  in the world.. It is considered the most spectacular fjord in Norway. It is also quite narrow.

Since the 19th century, this region is a popular holiday area. The first tourists came to fish, later more and more vacationers visited this area, including the Prince of Wales Edward VII in 1898. The German Emperor Wilhelm II was in  Sognefjord on vacation when the news came of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the reason for World War I.

On small plots small diminutive villages are located. The inhabitants get their income mainly from making cheese from cow's milk and sheep's milk.

Destination today is Flam which is located at the end of the Aurlandsfjord. It is since the 19th century a major tourist destination. The name means ‘little place between steep mountains’. Today Flam is mainly known for the mountain railway from Flam to Myrdal, the only mountain railway that connects to the national railway system.

Nowhere in the world you can find a railway that does a steeper climb on a normal track. Therefore, this train is one of the main touristic attractions in Norway. This train was in 2014 named by Lonely Planet  the second most impressive railway in the world. It is an impressive piece of engineering. Over a distance of 20 km an altitude of 863 m must be bridged. This represents an average increase of 55 per thousand. Or a 1 m rise by 18m. But not only the increase was a challenge, but also the natural shape of the mountains and big turns. Work on the line began in 1923 and ended in 1944. More than 20 years of work. The railway line was laid on the natural bed of the river, which itself was diverted. That way no bridges were to be built. There were 20 tunnels to be dugged out, 18 of which were dug by hand. 150 man-hours were required for 1 m. The train itself has 5 different breaking systems, each individual can stop the train by itself.

We take after breakfast the train at the station of Flam. The ride takes about one hour. The 20 tunnels have a total length of about 6 km. Outside of the initial and final station, there are 5 stops along the way. One is the Kjofossen waterfall, a spectacular waterfall with large flow where we can get out of the train to take a picture.

We do not drive all the way to Myrdal but stop at the hotel Vanahalsen where they serve us delicious Norwegian waffles with jam and sour cream. Lovely. We have here a moment of free time to enjoy the views of the surrounding mountains. It's warm. Then we take the train back to Flam where we have lunch on our ship and in the afternoon we enjoy the nice weather.

After dinner the Koningsdam sails off to Stavanger via the same Sognefjord, so we can enjoy a second time all this beauty. We conclude the evening in the Bilboard on board where it is request night.

Tomorrow we dock in Stavanger, the last stop on our cruise.