Woke up to a lovely sunny morning, didn't sleep amazingly because we couldn't work out how to turn the heater off and Ryan convinced me I shouldn't open the window because we'd freeze, so alternative is sleep in a sauna 😐 Anyway we had a big buffet breakfast at the hotel (the manager was being very nice, but a little creepy, kept touching me, then stroked my hand when we left) then set off for Aurland. We took route 7 and route 50 which was the scenic route, and it was amazing, we pretty much extended a 2.5 hour drive into a 3.5 hour drive because we stopped so much to take photos. There were also many tunnels which were quite scary - we'd be driving in this extremely bright, snowy white mountain landscape and then we'd hit a pitch black tunnel with no time to adjust our eyes. There were about 7 tunnels, all bored into the mountainside, some were several hundred metres, but some were as long at 5km!
Finally we reached the town Aurland, and we proceeded to drive the many (some terrifying) switchbacks up the mountain to the Stegastein lookout. Going up the mountain, the view was already breathtaking, but from the lookout, it left us speechless. We couldn't believe how lucky we were to see such a beautiful fjord view, and even more so that the day was so clear and sunny.
We admired it for quite a while and took pictures, then went back down to the town to find some food. A girl approached us asking how to get to the lookout, she said her friend had started to drive up but got scared, I could see why, some of those switchbacks were so narrow. We found a cafe to have lunch, it was so expensive! A soup, sandwich and 2 coffees cost us £30! That said, we had an amazing view of the fjord from our outdoor table, so maybe it was worth it.
We'd read that there is a famous train ride from Flam (only 10 minutes away) that takes you through the fjord mountains, but also found out that running right beside the train track is a road for cars! So we set off along the full length of the journey from Flam to Myrdal, with the train passing us twice. Needless to say we took loads of photos and when we reached the end we walked about halfway up the mountain to see the waterfall.
We needed to get groceries for dinner, so we headed back to Flam. Unfortunately it was the Saturday before Easter Sunday, so the supermarket clocked off early! We arrived at 5pm to a closed supermarket, we even drove back to the Spar in Aurland and it was closed too.
Defeated we checked into our hotel, bought some eggs from them for brekky tomorrow, and then walked to one of the 2 restaurants still open in Flam. It was a nice dinner, with a view of the fjord and departing cruise ship, but bill was £57 for two mains, one dessert - made our eyes water.
Then it was back to the hostel to go to sleep.
Finally we reached the town Aurland, and we proceeded to drive the many (some terrifying) switchbacks up the mountain to the Stegastein lookout. Going up the mountain, the view was already breathtaking, but from the lookout, it left us speechless. We couldn't believe how lucky we were to see such a beautiful fjord view, and even more so that the day was so clear and sunny.
We admired it for quite a while and took pictures, then went back down to the town to find some food. A girl approached us asking how to get to the lookout, she said her friend had started to drive up but got scared, I could see why, some of those switchbacks were so narrow. We found a cafe to have lunch, it was so expensive! A soup, sandwich and 2 coffees cost us £30! That said, we had an amazing view of the fjord from our outdoor table, so maybe it was worth it.
We'd read that there is a famous train ride from Flam (only 10 minutes away) that takes you through the fjord mountains, but also found out that running right beside the train track is a road for cars! So we set off along the full length of the journey from Flam to Myrdal, with the train passing us twice. Needless to say we took loads of photos and when we reached the end we walked about halfway up the mountain to see the waterfall.
We needed to get groceries for dinner, so we headed back to Flam. Unfortunately it was the Saturday before Easter Sunday, so the supermarket clocked off early! We arrived at 5pm to a closed supermarket, we even drove back to the Spar in Aurland and it was closed too.
Defeated we checked into our hotel, bought some eggs from them for brekky tomorrow, and then walked to one of the 2 restaurants still open in Flam. It was a nice dinner, with a view of the fjord and departing cruise ship, but bill was £57 for two mains, one dessert - made our eyes water.
Then it was back to the hostel to go to sleep.
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