Flåm, Fjords and Lund, Norway

 Saturday, August 29, 2026

The rains stayed with us most of the night and left a mist with eerie clouds hanging around the mountains as we woke up this morning.

We're in a great campground, surrounded by mountains and within walking distance to the center of activity in the city.

Flåm sits at sea level on a fjord.   A fjord is a sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs in a valley created by a glacier. Even the walk to the dock provided beautiful views.

We took a cruise along the fjord in a huge electric catamaran.

Since the boat is electric, it was a quiet and peaceful, smooth ride.   As we left the dock, you could see the tiny village of Flåm in the distance.

The scenery was breathtaking!  The hanging clouds and still water created a peaceful scene as we glided through the fjord.

They say that the small villages along the fjords were the inspiration for Disney's Frozen movie! We looked for Elsa, Ana and Sven and Olaf, but didn't see them.

The steep cliffs on each side treated us to waterfalls that looked like ribbons.  We finally stopped counting how many we saw.

There were green areas that looked like a golf course!

And we saw this group of kayakers...maybe Ana and Elsa? I bet it was cold!

The cruise was a great way to experience the fjords, even sitting inside.

We then visited a Viking village in Gudvangen and found out more about how the Vikings lived.  They were certainly survivalists! The homes had roofs of sod, designed for insulation!

A blacksmith was busy at work.

We then had lunch at a brew pub in Flåm.  They served us a Viking Plank-- a 5-course beer and food experience.  The flight of beers matched the flight of dinner--it included salmon, reindeer, tomato soup, goat with potatoes and a chocolate ganache cake!  What an interesting way to pair beer with food--it was pretty good!

For additional excitement of the day, we found that there's a Lund in Norway!! 

Actually, at least three Lunds, counting Jim and I. They pronounce it Loond.

We made a special trip to check out the town of Lund.  We drove up a steep narrow squiggly road with a huge hairpin turn.  

There was an occasional house along the road.

We noticed a huge area that had been cleared of trees...possibly a logging area?

The farther we went, the steeper it got, and I was getting very nervous about finding a place to turn around.  At the end of the road, instead of a town square, we found a dirt path.  A little disappointing, but at least we can say we've been there!  Now we're going to have to do some genealogy work on the Lund side of the family!