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Town where all thieves are on vacation

Flam, town with all thieves on vacation

NORWAY | Wednesday, 27 May 2015 | Views [143] | Scholarship Entry

We were told at the tourist information that our hostel was about 20 minutes away. Considering the size of the town, I was surprised Flam had a tourist information office at all: a railway station, a shop, a pub and a few houses scattered around – that was mostly it. And all of this was surrounded by spectacularly beautiful nature: a mass of green mountains from one side, and a mass of clear blue water from the other.
After a leisurely stroll along a stream we arrived at a scattering of houses that we thought was our hostel. There was a big waterfall cascading down the nearby rocks and the place looked like it was taken out of a fairy tale. I phoned the owner and he explained which house was assigned for our use and just told us to make ourselves at home. “But you have to come here to let us in first”, I said. “Oh no, you can just go in, they're all open”, he replied.
Slightly surprised, we did as we were told. After a short wait the landlord arrived on a bike, bringing bedding for us. So there we were, surrounded by the mountains, noise of the nearby waterfall in the air, making payment using a card reader the landlord casually pulled out from his pocket. This wasn't the first time Norway surprised us with a combination of pristine surroundings and technological advancement though, so we remained calm. After the monies have been exchanged, we were told that the only thing we need to do on checkout was to leave, without the need to lock the doors behind us. “Don't worry, nothing will be stolen, all the thieves are on vacation too” he explained, seeing our eyebrows raised in surprise.
We spent the next couple of days exploring the nearby attractions and lounging out on the benches in front of our house until 11pm, when the sun would finally reluctantly decide to set down. We went on a short hike to the waterfall we could see from our house, from where we could take in a perfect view of the village beneath and the mouth of the fjord on the far side. It looked exactly like in the idyllic pictures I saw online and that made me want to visit that place. Even the sheep from the online pictures were there. In the evenings we would go down to Aegir Brewery Pub that we first spotted on disembarking the train. We felt like true Vikings, sitting by their heavy wooden tables, feasting on reindeer meat and home brewed beers.
During our whole stay we left the doors in our house unlocked, as we rested assured that all the thieves were busy with their own holiday plans.

Tags: 2015 Writing Scholarship

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