Norway and Sweden (3) - To Bergen

There are many varieties of "Norway in a nutshell" tour at http://www.norwaynutshell.com/. It is not an escorted tour, but a ticket package. They have suggested itinerary for each tour, but you don't have to follow. If you reach a place you like, you can stay as long as you want, and then continue your tour using the same ticket package, so it gives you flexibility. But this also creates problem, more on that later.

Initially I was interested in the "Pulpit Rock & Norway in a nutshell" tour. I thought it included a cruise on the Lysefjord with enough time that you can go hike the Pulpit Rock, but it is not. It is the basic "Norway in a nutshell" + Transport from Bergen to Stavanger + Fjord cruise from Stavanger on the Lysefjord, so you can look at the Pulpit Rock from way below. There is no time for hiking. That is not what I wanted. So I bought the basic "Norway in a nutshell" tour online before the trip. The suggested itinerary was:

08:05am - 12:44pm: train ride from Oslo to Myrdal
13:27pm - 14:25pm: train ride from Myrdal to Flåm
15:10pm - 17:30pm: boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen
17:45pm - 19:00pm: bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss
19:37pm - 20:54pm: train ride from Voss to Bergen

We already booked the hotel in Bergen for tonight, so we intended to follow this itinerary.

1. A little train station we stopped on our way to Myrdal from Oslo.

2. On our way to Myrdal from Oslo.

3. At Myrdal train station.

4. The train from Myrdal to Flåm stopped at this waterfall briefly to let us take pictures.

Flåm is a cute little town. Too bad we didn't have time to stay here. If I had known we wouldn't be able to hike the Kjerag at Stavanger when I was planning the trip, I would stay overnight in Flåm, and stay one night shorter in Stavanger.

5. Flåm.

6. Flåm.

7. A cute little troll in the souvenir shop.

We thought we had 45 minutes to stroll around Flåm before boarding our 15:10pm boat to Gudvangen. Wrong! The boat was full when we got there. Because of the flexibility of the tickets, the boat company wasn't prepared for the amount of people who wanted to take the 15:10pm boat, and the next boat was at 16:00pm! Even worse, there was no official announcement during the whole thing. Almost a hundred people waited in lines in pouring rain, trying to board the 15:10pm boat, not knowing it was full already. Only after the boat left, someone went to the ticket office, and found out there would be another boat at 16:00pm. So we waited and waited. And because we were 50 minutes late for the boat ride, our next two rides (boat ride to Gudvangen and bus ride to Voss) were both rushed so we could reach Voss in time to catch the 19:37pm train to Bergen.

8. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

9. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

10. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

11. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

12. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

13. Boat ride from Flåm to Gudvangen.

14. Bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss. The driver was driving like a maniac on steep and winding road like this.

15. Bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss. The driver stopped the bus on the steep and winding road for 5 seconds for us to take a look at this waterfall. I guess he would stop longer if we hadn't been in such a hurry to catch the 19:37pm train to Bergen.

16. Bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss. Another quick waterfall stop.

17. Bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss.

Voss seemed like a nice place. But we had no time to enjoy it at all. All we could do was getting on the waiting train to Bergen.

18. Arrive in Bergen finally.

I had to say doing "Norway in a nutshell" in one day was way too rushed for me. If I could do it again, I would do it in two days with an overnight stay in Flåm. Even better, I would do the "Sognefjord in a nutshell" instead which is: