ENJOYING THE SUN

The fjord was a dazzling deep green this morning and the sky was blue.  We were in for a sunny day & were so pleased that this was our 'no-plans' day!

Seeing two large cruise ships enter the harbour & disgorge millions of people, we decided to avoid the township & head in the opposite direction.  A walk alongside the fjord beckoned us & we didn't need much persuading!



A well maintained path kept us away from vehicular traffic, surrounded by wildflowers & alongside the water.  The local gov't have clearly tried to make this an informative walk too, as plaques every few hundred metres gave an impression of what animals may have roamed in this area in ancient times.

We enjoyed the flowers, but got very excited when we saw wild strawberries growing!  Sadly, they were rather tart, so we didn't pick any more.

Little dwellings were dotted sporadically along the waterline, with general living upstairs & a boathouse below. Quite a few of them look to be holiday accommodation & some clearly had good fishing as wooden ramps led out over the water. On the road side wild roses grew & the fragrance under the warm sun was absolutely wonderful, it stopped us in our tracks & we just breathed it in.

We were heading 4.5 km out of town to the former farm collective of Otternes. Archaeological evidence has shown that there has been a farm site here since 300AD.  The current 27 buildings, however, date back to the 1700's & the last resident left in 1996!
To get a good look at the buildings we had a steep climb first. Groan!

One of the first things we noticed, was the relationship to some of the Viking era buildings that we had seen yesterday.  The structure was similar.

Clearly some buildings had functions other than as dwellings for humans.
These foundations left us wondering just how stable this building was!

Because some of the buildings had shrunk with age, we were able to get a close look at the beams that held up the turf roof.  We had noticed yesterday that there seemed to be something wrapped around the wood & today we could see that it was sections of birch bark curled around some of the beams.  I don't know the purpose, but it looked quite beautiful under the blue sky!!

Aside from getting to see these farm buildings, the other value of climbing up to this site, was to get this most incredible view down the fjord.

We are loving these views & on the way back we had an extra surprise... we spotted a seal in the water!!

Back in Flam we dealt with some necessities...namely laundry, got ourselves some lunch,  went & sat on the grass on the other side of Flam.... not many tourists there either, and just lapped up the perfect combination of warmth from the sun & cool from the mountainous cliffs & close proximity to water.  It was heavenly.

So heavenly that we overindulged & got ourselves some... ahem... rather expensive sorbet.  We didn't realise it was 'rather expensive', until we did the exchange conversion. Sigh.... the Australian dollar doesn't go very far here!

We tried not to let that ruin our treat though!

Refreshed & with laundry dried & sorted, we went on another walk.
This was to the Fretheim Kulturpark.  One of the things we had learnt during our walk to the old Church the other day, is that this township isn't really Flam, but Fretheim.  Inspite of that it still gets called Flam, but throughout the village there are places that refer to it's proper name.
This little park zigzagged up behind the historic hotel, and every so often a sculpture would appear.  It became a bit of a treasure hunt.  I suspect a lot of the sculptures had been the work of an art school nearby.  It certainly made it an interesting walk.

As did the stunning views.
It has been a spectacular day, as well as restful & refreshing. We are so glad we have stayed here for longer than the few hours the passengers on board these big ships get!