Flam Part 1: morning (Sunday)

May 24, 2026

Sailed 8 hours overnight to Flam. Walking tour this morning, then Rail trip this afternoon. View from our balcony this morning. We are in the fjord.

We’re going ashore in Tenders.

Norwegians often used literal names. Flam: “little field encircled by mountains”. Alternatively, “ flat piece of land”.

Fjords were formed by thick layers of ice/glaciers melting into valleys over centuries. These pictures do not do them justice. So many waterfalls.

Flam is known for their sweeter brown goat cheese (sweeter because it’s caramelized.) We did not get close to any goats!

Fun facts:

A fjord is an inlet of the sea between cliffs or steep slopes.

Norway has 18,000 miles of coastline and is known as the “land of 1000 fjords”, which annoys our guide because there are 1200.

Sognefjord, in Flam, is the longest, deepest fjord in the world. 127 miles long; 4299 feet deep (3 Empire State Buildings)

293 year round residents in Flam (so when a Viking ship is in port, their population is more than tripled).

Industries:

-Tourism: 40 million tourists visit each year and tourism is 5% of their GDP

-Agriculture: soil and rain is great for growing fruits and vegetables. The Gulf Stream keeps the temperature (relatively) moderate.

-Energy: 98% of their energy if from Hydroelectric power. Norway has a vast supply of oil but don’t use any themselves. They sell the oil and started a Global Investment Fund to sustain welfare for generations. They invest the fund in companies but exclude companies that pollute the environment, or are in tobacco or arms industries. 50% of their oil remains untouched.

—Military: during the Nazi occupation in WWII, the Germans hid their U-Boats in the fjords.

Fishing: 1.3 million lbs of salmon is farmed here and imported to over 130 countries.

There are still some of these Turf Houses. The roof has 7 layers of wood, then grass. It makes for good insulation. They put goats up there to cut the grass and feed them for free!

And there were churches. Lots of dates when they were formed, destroyed and rebuilt, but I didn’t write any of that down. This is a local church in Aurland with a cool pipe organ.

Dave is checking out the Hymnals…

…And looking for ancestors in the cemetery. He did not find any.

This church was in Flam. Dave asked why there were no services today (Sunday). Most of the population is Lutheran now. There is such a shortage of ministers in these small towns, so they many of them have services just once a month.