Alden Boon

Flåm, Norway, is Paradise on Earth

08/01/2017

Meditation and water are wedded for ever, wrote Herman Melville in his magnum opus. When the ingredient of silence consummates the two, paradise is created. And Flåm, Norway, with its tapestry of waterfalls, mountains and valleys, is a paradise.

Flåm is a polarity of grandiose and quaint. It clings to the dramatic, 29-kilometre-long Aurlandsfjord, and is hemmed in by mountains soaring to over 1,800 metres in height. Its population numbers only 400, so this village evokes an idyllic flourish. It is a self-sustained community, with unostentatious shops satisfying your daily necessities. The Viking-themed Ægir BrewPub doles out remarkable beer and memorable mainstays too. Waterfalls Rjoandefossen and Kjosfossen are also here, singing softly in the background and soothing souls.

The Flåm Railway is renowned: its gradient of 5.5 per cent earns it one of the world’s steepest railroads. The hour-long journey is also touted as one of the world’s most beautiful, taking one through snow-capped mountains, deep gorges and stunning waterfalls.

Nary a person in sight: Visit Flåm in the winter, and you can have this picturesque landscape all to yourself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alden Boon
Alden Boon is a Quarter-finalist in PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. When he's not busy writing, he pretends he is Gandalf.