After a cool night in the van, we made coffee at the campground before walking down to Flam village. While waiting for our fjord cruise, we grabbed a second coffee and some treats from a waterside cafe. We had two events on tap today - first a cruise of two fjords, and then a shuttle van up to the scenic Stegastein overlook.
We boarded an electric ferry with an eclectic design and glided soundlessly away from Flam. As we headed out Aurlandsfjord, we could see the Stegastein overlook high above, that we would visit later in the day. The weather definitely had turned in our favour after a few days of rain.
After cruising out and around this fjord, we made the turn into the much smaller Naeroyfjord, a UNESCO world heritage site. Both fjords are smaller arms of the mighty Sognefjord, the longest and deepest fjord in the world. Only smaller vessels can enter narrow Naeroyfjord, surrounded on both side by towering mountains.
For two hours, we sailed past farms nestled at the base of green mountains, passed placid kayakers, and saw several wayward waterfalls cascading from high overhead. At all times, the jaw-dropping 360-degree view wrapped us in its Norwegian embrace.
After enjoying a very serene cruise through the stunning scenery, spending the entire time on the top deck, we reached the end of the line at the village of Gudvangen. From there, we boarded a bus back to Flam, while others boarded the same ferry to make the return journey. The drive back was only 20 km long.....but 18 km of it was comprised of two long tunnels.
Back in Flam, we had some down time to do some shopping and walk back to the campground for lunch. In mid-afternoon, we caught a shuttle bus to make the relatively short drive to the Stegastein lookout - even though it wasn't far, there was a steep and narrow 7.5 km switchback road up to the lookout, and it was known to be quite busy with tour buses and so forth.
I decided to let the locals handle it and save myself the stress, rather than taking Winston up the hill. I finally got to see the craziness rather than being too busy driving to appreciate it! The drivers of our two shuttles, dubbed Sven and Sven, poked fun at each other the entire time with funny banter.
Returning back down the crazy road and skirting around to Flam, we walked to the local grocery store (Coop) for some supplies, before heading back to the campground to make dinner and enjoy the perfect evening weather.
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