Bergen, Norway

Our weekend trip to Bergen in mid September had been scheduled as a result of a travel clash between our plans and Olie's work related commitments in the USA.
The change in season for our travels from mid Summer (and perhaps experiencing a midnight sun) to early Autumn did little to improve the weather - as Bergen lived up to its reputation as the 'City of Rain'.
Bergen is located on the west coast of Norway and is famous as the gateway to the fjords, pretty medieval wooden architecture and the most delicious creamy fish soup.


Arrival in Bergen
From the moment our plane touched down at Bergen airport, we noticed the grey skies and our ponchos and umbrella were in constant use.

Dressed for the rain

Cloudy Bergen

A short video of the rainy weather in Bergen

Radisson Blu hotel
Transport from Bergen airport to the city centre was via a shuttle bus to the main square - Torgallmenningen, where our hotel, the Radisson Blu was located.

The main square of Bergen

Johanneskirken (St John's Church)

Fish Market
After check-in, we started to explore the city by walking a couple of blocks towards the harbour to the site of the famous Fish Market. The market consists of two parts - firstly, during the peak tourist season (of which we were lucky to have arrived in the final week), there are outdoor stands selling a range of seafood (including whale meat) and offering a 'pick and grill' service where fish/crab claw/shellfish is selected and cooked on the spot. The second part of the market lives underneath the Visitor's Centre and reminded us of a food court where half a dozen traders bid for tourist attention and there are chairs/tables in the centre where your food can be served/eaten.

The outdoor part of the Fish Market

Whale meat

Spider crab

Bryggen
Around the corner from the Fish Market, is the World Heritage Listed site of Bryggen. This  is a series of timber commercial warehouses that date back to the Hanseatic League (a trading alliance) that existed from the 13th century. The buildings in Bryggen contain a specific character with cobbled stone laneways and timber structures that bend inwards; currently tenanted by a number of souvenir and folk art businesses.

Bryggen

The narrow timber alleyways

UNESCO listed site

The principal trade of Bergen was dried cod

Bryggeloftet and Stuene
After exploring Bryggen, we ended up at a small restaurant Bryggeloftet and Stuene for lunch where we soon fell in love with what has to be the cultural dish of the city - fish soup. Bergen fish soup is a delicious creamy seafood broth that contains a small amount of vegetables but has an amazing taste due to the range of seafood that is used to prepare the dish. And when the weather is wet and miserable (the status quo for Bergen's climate), a bowl of warm soup with fresh crusty bread is a real pick-me-up.

Bergen fish soup

Exploring Bergen
Opposite Bryggen, is a suburban area that stretches out into the harbour and hosts the tourist sites of the Aquarium, the shortest street in Bergen, the Nykirken (a church dating back to the 1600's) and a lookout point into the cruise ship port of Bergen. We took a short walk around this area, having a look at the pretty cobblestone and wooden housing district of Klosteret.

A landmark - the shortest street

Nykirken

A pretty neighbourhood

Dinner at the Fish Market
We ate dinner back at the Fish Market where an enterprising sales person tempted us to his stall by offering little tasting cups of fish soup and a mixed seafood grill. As Bergen isn't the liveliest place for night-time entertainment, we found a pub around the corner from the hotel that was showing the Chelsea vs Everton match. This was a game that Chelsea lost and a lone Everton fan started singing the club song only to be kicked out by the bouncer for disrupting the peace.

Seafood mixed grill

White Lady Fjord Cruise
The next morning, our breakfast was complemented with some traditional Norwegian cuisine - mackerel in a tube, brown cheese and gravlax. We then headed back down to the harbour where we boarded the White Lady boat for a 4 hour cruise around the fjord (Osterfjord) and the island of Osteroy.

The cruise was pleasant, although quite windy once we rounded the island. Highlights included the tall, steep cliffs and waterfalls, salmon farms and coloured timber housing.

Our cruise boat

Salmon fish farms

Waterfalls

All rugged up

A timber church

Pretty timber houses

One of the many bridges linking the fjord banks together

Mt Floyen
After we finished the cruise, we walked around the other side of Bergen where the saw another church, considered the funicular up to Mt Floyen (but as it was cloudy we thought the view might be a bit impaired) and toured the lake at the Byparken.

An old church

The lake in the centre of town

Pretty flowers in the park

Hot dog
A small snack at the hotdog stand gave Mei some unfortunate food poisoning consequences, but led us to view the most elegantly designed McDonalds that we had ever seen.

The hotdog that gave Mei food poisoning

McDonalds with elegant Scandinavian design

Nama Restaurant
Given our discovery of amazing farmed salmon in Helsinki, we decided to try Norwegian salmon sashimi to see how it compared. We were not disappointed, eating at the sushi/noodle restaurant Nama where we had a laksa type seafood soup, king crab maki rolls and sashimi before we headed off to the airport for our return to 'sunnier' London.

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