TRAVEL
St Olaf’ s Church, Balestrand – a memorial to an English woman who came as a tourist and fell in love and married a local man
Another impressive building is St Olaf ' s Church, finished in 1897 as a memorial to Margaret Green, an English woman who came as a tourist and fell in love and married a local man. As she was a religious person, she was keen for an Anglican church to be built. Unfortunately, she died before it was completed but, if she could see it today, she would be delighted. It is lovely. Services are held during the summer,
On the way to Oslo: Flam is the junction between fjord and mountain
often by visiting vicars from England. And, for what it’ s worth, local gossip also has it that the church was the inspiration for the chapel in Elsa ' s coronation scene in Frozen, the Disney film.
Spend an hour walking around the town and, certainly on a sunny day, you can see why artists have always loved the area. I am no expert but people who know say that the light is particularly dazzling in Balestrand which, I am told, is why so many talented artists of years gone by have painted there. I think they are right. There’ s no way I can describe it – you’ ll just have to make the effort to go and see for yourself.
Leaving the following morning – after an excellent evening meal overlooking the fjord – was not easy but my son and I looked at each other and said:“ We have just got to come back here one day.” In fact, we now have a phrase we use when we see an impressive sight.“ Yes, it might be good, but it’ s no Balestrand.”
From there, the boat continued to Flam where we were booked in for the night. But when we arrived in the afternoon, it was obvious that, pretty though Flam is, it is just the junction between water and land so we moved our plans forward 24 hours and took the train to Oslo. The first hour is up and round the steep hills away from Flam before transferring to a modern train and the seven-hour trip to the capital.
Oslo itself is about as good as a European city can get and I could write a whole new article on why it should be on your bucket list. But that will be for another time. For now, just put Norway on your list of possible destinations for 2017. I certainly plan to return one day. Q
84 SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE