Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Hi Folks! We woke up to a beautiful sunny day in paradise! If you ever get the chance, make your way to Balestrand, Norway and stay there for a few days (or a month!). It is truly “off the beaten path” and was recommended by my favorite travel writer, Rick Steves. Both the town and hotel were spot on as Rick’s recommendations always are.
We took the ferry from Balestrand to Flam and rode back thru the beautiful Naeroyfjord. I forgot to mention yesterday that it’s the narrowest fjord in the world and the fjords are over a mile high at over 5,900 feet tall! Put this on your travel bucket list!
We had about a 45 minute layover in Flam. We walked around and did some last minute shopping. We could have taken the Flam Railway train trip back to Oslo that we took here but decided to take the bus hoping we’d see more of the “off road” route back to Oslo. Boy are we glad we did! I had reserved the two front seats next to the driver so we could see out the front of the big bus windows. It was like watching an IMAX movie of Norway’s scenery. We stopped in all these quaint little towns along the way. So pretty! And we saw a rainbow, a reindeer, and a beautiful sunset! They had signs showing moose crossings but we didn’t see one.
The bus brought us in to the Oslo bus station at around 10 PM. We were so tired and had some heavy bags so we grabbed a taxi to the hotel. We stayed at the same hotel as a few nights ago since it’s like a 3 minute walk to the train station and we’ll have to get up early tomorrow to catch the train to the airport for our flight home (I feel sad writing those words!).
Hope everyone had a great Tuesday! We’ll be back in the USA tomorrow and I’ll post one final blog update!
PS: We met a nice couple on the cruise (Lori and Rahul) and Rahul was staying on for an 11 night circumnavigation cruise around Svalbard where they would do expeditions every day. We were really tempted to stay on and do it since the cruise ship wasn’t full and they were offering some great pricing deals. But alas we had to get back to reality. But we exchanged contact info and Rahul told me they saw polar bears on the first day of their cruise and he sent me a picture. I’m sooo jealous! I included the picture for you to see.
The Wandering Italian 