When I plan our trips I always try to find an out of the way place for us to stay for a few nights, preferably somewhere we could go for a hike or two. This year I read about Balestrand, a small town located on Fjærlandsfjord, Norway and found a little apartment that sounded like a good fit for us.
We left Oslo on a train that took us to Myrdal and transferred to the Flamsbana, the Flam Railway, which traveled past beautiful scenery and amazing waterfalls.
Some of the mountain passes we went through were very high and remote so when we reached Flam we were surprised to see a huge cruise ship at the dock. Flam is a little town filled with gift shops, cruise ships, and many, many tourists. I’m so glad that I didn’t book us into this town.
It only took a few minutes until our ferry to Balestrand arrived. We finally got to see a fjord, and it was so beautiful. There are little towns here and there along the way to Balestrand, and some of them are only accessible by ferry.
Our apartment was a short walk from the dock and the little town was very nice.
We walked around our neighborhood and it seemed like every house had a few short apple trees that were just filled with bright red apples.
Some of the houses had very detailed carvings, and this one had an owl on the chimney watching for predators.
Instead of hiking through the mountains we took a walk through the beautiful little town. The houses were so pretty, and apple trees were everywhere. Bob hiked up the hill to talk to King Belle on top of the Viking burial mounds, and we found the town beach, Saint Olaf’s church, and the Kviknes Hotel, which is where the Qveen stays when she comes to visit.
We did notice an apple juice processing plant along the way. So that’s what happens to all the apples! Yes, there was a place to buy freshly pressed cider, but after hiking up the hill to buy our cider (after we were assured that it would be open), it was closed!
We took a boat tour on Fjærlandsfjord to Bøyabreen glacier and there were more pretty little towns along the way.
We stopped at the Glacier Museum and Bob enjoyed another movie.
The glacier is receding, but it and the many waterfalls were still impressive.
We definitely enjoyed the time we spent in Balestrand and the scenery going to and from the little town, but it was time to head west again so we hopped on another ferry and made our way to Bergen.
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