Bergen

Storyline: Scandinavia

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Fry, Jun 20

Bergen, with about 294 000 people, the second most populous city in Norway after Oslo, is also the wettest Norwegian city. It also is the rainiest city in Europe. On average it rains 232 days a year. Surrounded by fjords and mountains, at 60°23′ north latitude, it is about 20km latitudinal south of Whitehorse, Canada and about 6 degrees of latitude south of the Arctic Circle. Thus, not much dark at night in June. Except for the gloomy skies.

We’ll depart the city by ferry through the longest and deepest Norwegian fjord, Sognefjord.

We flew into Bergen from Trondheim two days ago. Our transportation on this trip, all booked from home a few months ago, included two short SAS flights, a bus and trains, some of which were replaced by buses.

The adventures with the buses and trains are mentioned in previous posts. Rain has been following us all along since we left Boden, Sweden. It was cloudy, but dry when we landed at Bergen airport. Descending to the airport provides beautiful views of the Bergen area.

Walking through the hall of the airport I notice some humongous pastries at their food kiosk. That is a lunch for two if you ask me.

(We’d see this all around the city in their bakeries. Perhaps something local, but they were not appealing for us to try, nor were they to our budget for such pastry.)

As everywhere else there was no manned information booth or ticket kiosk. All automated, with the expectation that we have a phone to receive SMS tickets. We have done our research and knew that a train will take us from the airport to the city centre (some 16km away), but there were trains, buses and other listed on the information board.

I spotted a uniformed woman and decided to ask her how do we get the train to the centre. “Easy”, she replies. “Buy your tickets there”, pointing to the machines, “and the train is there”, pointing down to the tracks. We observe other visitors struggling with the process of buying tickets…

You pay with your card, no problem, but then you have to enter a phone number to receive your tickets via SMS. When it was our turn Alex struggled too. The problem was the angle of the screen. One could not easily see the number they had to enter. Eventually the phone number is entered, we receive our SMS tickets and board the train. Barring the steep streets and alleys, our place is very close to the end stop of the train.

Alex, Google maps in one hand and carry-on suitcase in another finds our small alley. It is steeply cobbled and we are lucky it is dry. The middle section is to be used as a brake when cobble stones are wet. We carefully descend, keeping our suitcases from running away downhill. Ta-da! Finally, we are in, after struggling for a while with the lock box.  A very small place in a 17^th century house, renovated inside. It has everything we need for our stay.

We drop off the luggage, unpack a little bit, check the kitchen to decide what we can and cannot cook in it (no microwave, no toaster) and opt for our first exploration of the neighbourhood. Continuing down the same alley we reach a grocery store Bunnpris. It is open till late so will do the shopping on our way back.

There is a ferry and cruise ship terminal further down. Without checking our tickets, we assumed that this is where we’d depart for Flam. We walk to the water, saw a few ferries, but nowhere was a sign for our company or destination.

We walk up and down the quays. No luck. Some construction and a sign for pedestrians pointing up one street. We take it. Lots of people coming from its end towards us. Young girls dressed in Norwegian folk costumes.

We ask one of group and they told us it is a graduation day. The girls are 16 and graduating from some form of school, we didn’t understand the explanation. Enough to quell our curiosity.

Continuing down this road is how we first ran into the Kippers Bar & Kafe USF and a cultural centre. It was busy and bubbling.

We chat with the bartender, check the menu and the drinks prices, run into two ladies outside, from somewhere in the US and they told us where the WC of the cultural centre were.

A good spot by the water for a sunny day, we decided then. We head back towards the harbour we’ve already been, Alex insisting that our ferry must be further up the road.

At that point I knew it wasn’t since I’d done to booking and according to my research the ferry terminal where Norled ferries depart was no more than 10 min away Google time, uphill or down.

I tagged along with Alex, snapped a few more photos and suggested we go home and check the tickets. They should have an address.

Finally, he gave in! On our way back we stop at Bunnpris and do our grocery shopping for our stay. Eh, we’d go one more time to add some paper towels and cookies for Alex, but grocery shopping was pretty much done. I unpack, we have some munches for dinner and off to bed. As mentioned above, although the sun sets for an hour or two, it is never dark at that time of the year.

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Next day is Friday. First thing first, we need to find their liquor store, Vinmonopolet. They don’t work all days here and close by 5pm.

I’ve checked the address of our ferry and it is the opposite direction from where we walked the previous day. Walked by the Vinmonopolet, and continued to the harbour.

And… this is where all the happening is. Ferries, sail boats, small cruise ships, crowds and more.

We walk through a very busy fish and seafood market. The variety is mind-blowing. Then there is a street food area.

Again, huge variety and enormous crowds.

They even make paella. Isn’t this a Spanish speciality? But since it is with fresh seafood, why not.

Across from the water is the Bryggen Hansa Quarter and many more tourist attractions. Tourists are abundant. Groups with a flag person leading them, many probably descended from the cruise ships. (I should insert here my ranting against the cruise-ships, because the number of cruise-shippers outnumber the population in the area. Then it occurred to me that the day is long and we should return for photos and quieter time after 4pm when they are all gone!)

We squeeze by the crowds in our first attempt to visit the Bryggen houses. We walk by the water and take some photos. Noticed that the house under renovation has its façade covered with a plastic tarpaulin painted with a complimentary façade. So even when under renovation it looks nice. We will see this everywhere in the city. If some building is in reno mode it is covered with painted façade.

Seven-eighths of the city burned in 1702, including Bryggen, which was rebuilt in medieval style after the fire. Most of Bergen’s old buildings were built after the fire. (So disappointing that the buildings were all new and only 300+ years old 🤭 – A)

We walked through the old historic houses,

many of which host boutique stores, art galleries, museums, cafés and restaurants.

We exit the historic area at the top end of it.

Then up the hill.

Interesting old houses too.

One wall with paintings and graffiti.

We even found David Bowie on one of the houses on a steep downhill.

I had a few landmarks in mind to find in the area. We found the cat painting.

We were too high up for the St. Mary’s crypt on my list.

So, we took a few steep stairs and cobbled stone alleys down to a larger road.

And there it was, the Mariakirken (St. Mary’s Church), one of Bergen’s oldest structures. Built in the early in 12^th century. Across from it on a house there is plaque marking St. Marr’s crypt.

I looked through the door and a man opened it. He told us that there is no crypt there, just the plaque.

It is his atelier. His sweater was covered in white powder. He is now a sculptor, but hearing that we had been in Tromso, he tells us that he was in the navy there during the cold war.

A young lady with a baby in a stroller walks by and greeted him. He tells her we are from Canada. She stops for a chat. Then we all go our ways and the sculptor is back to work.

We walked up to the little cat stone. The main goal was a bakery nearby. Unfortunately, they had nothing to grab for a bite. We continued towards a pub/restaurant. It was closed.

Down a steep street again, this time towards the water.

Walked by the 13^th century Rosenkrantz Tower, once home to a king.

Lovely harbour views. Walking by the water we reach a harbour and a ferry terminal (there are many of them).

There is a WC near the yacht club with a few German speaking ladies lined up. One is supposed to pay (credit card of course), but as one gets out, she holds the door for the next in line to get in. Following the crowd’s rule so did I.

There are fast-food stalls. We are hungry and buy a burger for Alex and a reindeer sausage for me.

There are benches near a tall monument of a Norwegian sailor, known as Shetlands Larsen. We’ve seen gulls steeling food, but a sparrow? Yes, as I was eating my sandwich a sparrow flew by and took a bite.

Now that we have eaten, we could continue through the city. We walk through a major shopping street, reach a popular park,

Festplassen, with water and fountains in the middle, continue up a pedestrian area lined with restaurants and patios, decorative gardens in the middle.

Art sculpture at the bottom of the hill and theatre, Den Nationale Scene, at the top.

We finally find the statue of the famous composer Edvard Grieg, who was born in Bergen.

He lived in Troldhaugen, about 10km from Bergen and some 30min by train. The villa is now a museum; we didn’t have time to visit.

It was well past 4pm, when we are back to the Bryggen area.

After a few more photos, we walk by the Bergen Cathedral (Bergen Domkirke), dating back to the 12^th century and reconstructed a few times after fires.

We observed the funicular going up to Mount Fløyen. We’ll take it the next day, covered in an earlier post Summer Solstice in Bergen.

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Mon, Jun 23

Last two days were for more exploration of the city. Weather was rainy and cold, so we are glad we did the outdoor activities the previous days. After a sumptuous breakfast, yesterday we explored the area north-west of the centre.

We walk up by the protestant church Johanneskirken (St. John’s Church). It is under renovation, all scaffolded. A plastic wrap with its painted façade in front. But one could enter.

So I did, as Alex, true on his principles, waited for me outside. Often, he enters protestant churches, but not this time. There was a service. The inside was very modest, simple with nice woodwork.

We then walked downhill, passed pretty gardens, water fountains.

We then pass by a catholic church, St. Paul Kirke, near the University. In front of the University there was some kind of an outdoor mass.

We watched it for a while and continued downhill towards the fish market.

A few more snaps of the photogenic Bryggen across the water and it is time to buy our turbot from the fish market.

We opted for the wild-caught, since the difference in price wasn’t much and they were all expensive anyway. The fish monger recommends half a kilo for dinner for two. It appeared it was good for two dinners for us.

Took a different route back home. Walked by the train station and meandering the old city area we came across the 18th-century Leprosy Museum St. Jørgen’s Hospital.

Founded in the 15^th century it was a functioning hospital for lepers until mid-20th century. The buildings we saw date back to the 18^th century.

Leprosy is known as “Hansen’s disease, after the Norwegian physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen who discovered the leprosy bacillus in Bergen in 1873.”

We have seen many different museums, but this is unique. It was too late for a visit, but we walked through the complex.

Today, our last day in Bergen is very wet. It rains almost none stop.

Mount Fløyen is covered with clouds.

We meet a fellow blogger from the city at the train station. We walk to and through the University botanical gardens.

Then we go inside to dry out and chat over coffee/tea and sweets.

This more or less concluded our Bergen visit. Turbot dinner with all leftover veggies at home. Next morning we’ll say goodbye to this so beautiful, but so rainy city.