Friday (08/07/2015)

After visiting the church of Borgund, we headed to the city of Flam and we passed through the largest tunnel in the world, the Laerdal Tunnels. This tunnel is 24.51 km long and was practically half of the route we traveled (51.3 km). We wanted to go through it from the beginning of the trip to see how we would feel, and look, it was punk.

First comes the feeling of “man, that’s awesome!”, with the right to photos and videos to record something so impressive. After a few minutes, you start tracking the mileage to see how far you’ve already traveled. Then the first blue stop they built for drivers to rest appears and you realize that there’s still 3/4 of the way to go. You start counting the kilometers again and see another blue stop. You start to get anxious, wanting it to end soon, but there’s still half the way to go… this ending is horrible, with us literally looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.

We left there feeling relieved and with a horrible feeling of malaise. We stopped the car at a gas station right at the exit and rested a bit before continuing our journey. It was very stressful, people. Of course, I think that people who visit Norway have to go through it, but prepare yourself emotionally. We arrived in the city of Flam hungry and went straight to the market to buy our lunch. Yes, it was a total hassle. We bought wonderful salads and canned sardines, which we devoured on top of a table made of wood. picnic with a spectacular view of the fjord.

As the day was cloudy but visibility was good, we stopped at the tourist center and bought the next train on the famous Flamsbana, the most beautiful railway in the world. We paid 840 crowns (91 euros) and loved the ride. We did the route Flam – Myrdal – Flam, but you can do just one part or the other way around. The view is very beautiful, but it didn't take our breath away. We saw beautiful landscapes in other places too, even though we were alone or practically alone. In this case, there are tourists everywhere, talking loudly, pushing, fighting for space, etc., etc. It's not exactly paradise, you know? But let's take a look at the photos:

After the trip, we went to the only camping of the city, the Flamingo Vandrerhjem, which even has a hostel inside. We paid 215 kroner (24 euros) for the night, but we thought the tents were too far from the bathrooms. We saw tents near the bathroom too, but we noticed that they were older people. The woman must have looked at these two kids here and thought “they can walk”. Wow.

We took the opportunity to have dinner at the restaurant/container which is in front of the reception camping, the Green Norway. We ate grilled salmon with some strange potatoes, but for the price, we thought it was worth it (13 euros each dish).

Saturday (08/08/2015)

We woke up, had breakfast in the car, took a shower and went to the tourist center to buy the day's excursion. We bought the tour in the narrowest fjord in Norway, the Naeroyfjorden, with the right to a bus Flam to Good luck and boat of Gudvanger until Flam. We paid 760 kroner (83 euros) and parked our car there (for free!). We caught the bus from Flam at 1:30 pm, which arrived in Gudvangen at 1:50 pm. Since our boat didn't leave until 3:45 pm, we took the opportunity to have a very leisurely lunch with our sardines. Once again, a spectacular view during lunch. 🙂

When our boat docked at the pier, several huge groups of tourists crowded at the gate to get in first. Asians and Spaniards galore. I hate these touristy programs, so imagine how I felt when I saw that. Anyway…

We went in, grabbed the remaining chairs and, thanks to the rain, we were able to move to better places that had been abandoned. The tour is really cool, because you really feel like you’re in a fjord: there are mountain walls on both sides and you’re in a boat in the middle. The most annoying part was sharing the space with people who kept giving cookies to the birds that followed the boat. Seriously, there were people who spent a LOT of cookies feeding the little animals, while their friends took 500,000 photos of the moment. Do you think that’s good for the birds? 🙁 Anyway, the place is beautiful…take a look:

When we arrived in Flam, we couldn't help but go into the store. souvenirs of the city. It has a section dedicated to Trolls, which are those strange little creatures, you know? They come in all types, sizes and prices. I bought a magnet for my collection, but I really wanted the bride and groom to put on our wedding cake (Celo hated the idea). Check it out:

We left Flam around 6pm and drove towards Oslo, as we had to return the car by 1pm on Sunday. We had to go through the world's longest tunnel again (it was on the shortest route shown by Google Maps) and there we went suffering from the tension again. We drove a lot and realized that the middle of the country is quite boring compared to its coastline. We passed through some business centers. ski that were disabled in the summer and for some campsites full of motorhome (many indeed!), but we actually slept inside the car, in a quiet place on the road. I don't remember where, but it was safe and the next day, we drove almost nothing to Oslo. 🙂

If you want to know more about this 10-day trip to Norway, check out the posts below:

• 10 incredible days in Norway in the middle of summer (Summary)
• Arriving in Norway (a plane, bus, train and car saga)
• 1 day in Kristiansand and surroundings
• Between Kristiansand and the famous Preikestolen stone
• The famous Preikestolen
• 1 day in Stavanger and surroundings
• 1 day in Bergen and surroundings
• The largest Norwegian fjord and the largest European glacier
• Borgund Stavkirke, a medieval stave church
• 2 days in Flam and surroundings
• 2 days in Oslo, capital of Norway

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