Bergen

Monday 22^nd and Tuesday 23^rd August 2016

Monday was an at sea day, which allowed a bit of time to put our feet up, however, there was a lot on the entertainment program.

At 10 am, we went to hear the sales pitch from the shore excursions team, going through each of the ports we will visit and presenting their case for us to book with them. It was an interesting overview and we will work on our own options.

Following this presentation at 11am we had the first presentation of one of the guest speakers that are on this cruise. Dr Adrian Cooper is an Englishman who specializes in Geography,  does some lecturing at universities and seems to travel the world pursuing his passion. Today he spoke on “The Natural Wonders of Norway”, with a strong emphasis of the geographical features. He presented very well and, I think, inspired most people who attended to want to see more of Norway than is possible on this cruise.

We had a break for lunch and a bit of time to stretch the legs, and it was on again, this time with a guest lecturer from Iceland giving his first presentation for the trip on “Norway / Viking Discovery of the North Atlantic “, another very interesting presentation.

No time for a rest, it was then time to hear from the expert on what to do in each port, giving options other than signing up for the ridiculously expensive ship organized excursions. Today she spoke about Bergen. It soon became clear that a walk around on our own with a good map and a visit to the tourist information bureau would give us everything we want.

Carole then went off to Bingo and came home USD70 better off.

Tuesday 23^rd

It is a bit overcast this morning, and we are told that Bergen only has about 60 sunny days a year, so expectations are not high that we may not get wet, but we are hopeful.  We seem to have entered the fjord at around 6 am and slowly make our way up towards Bergen, dodging the rocks and islands as we have become used to.

We berthed on time at 8am, and there were 2 ships following closely behind us, so it looks like it could be very busy in Bergen today.

There looks like there is a bit of sunshine breaking through, but it is still quite cloudy along the mountain tops, and we hope at some stage to catch the funicular rail up to Mt Floyen to get a great view of Bergen and surrounds.

Shuttle buses are provided to take us closer to the city, as it turned out, only about 300 metres closer, but we were not allowed to walk through the port precinct. There are already a lot of people in town, so we head off in the direction of the tourist information office to get some info, use their wifi, and develop a plan. The office is also very busy.

First up, we think we will do the funicular rail trip up the hill (about 320m), but when we arrived there, the queue was incredible. We waited for a while, but when it was obvious the line wasn’t moving, and more and more bus tours were arriving bypassing the ticket purchase process, we gave up. Maybe we will give it another go this afternoon.

Walking through the town provides lots of photo opportunities in this very attractive place.

The sun is now out and most of the cloud has disappeared on the mountain tops. After a short stroll back down towards the water, we took a walk out to a large fortress on the waterfront, Bergen Castle. It is undergoing heavy renovation, but we have a good walk around the grounds. Another bonus was they had free public toilets, quite a luxury in this part of the World.

Next we went to the old part of town, Bryggen, the main feature of which is a cluster of wooden merchant houses that dominate the waterfront, and through a maze of narrow cobbled streets, you can walk back through the “town” of intertwined timber buildings, many of which are now shops and cafes.

From here we wandered off in the direction of a few church spires we could see, and were in need of a cup of coffee, so we stopped at a little café that seved the best cup of coffee we have had since we left Australia !

The first church, quite close to the coffee shop was pretty austere, Korskirken, built in the 17^th century.

Next was the Cathedral, which was having a major renovation.

Our walk took us through another lovely old part of town, built again of wooden houses that are now shops and restaurants

We are surprised at how cosmopolitan Bergen appears to be, with more foreign food restaurants (in particular Asian) than any other place we have visited so far given its small population.

We soon emerge at a lake, Lille Lungegardsvann, right in the middle of town. It looks like a nice place to relax and quite a few locals appear to be soaking up the rare sunshine.

On the far side of the lake heading back towards the waterfront, we pass through a large square, and then onto a large pedestrian mall, Torgallmenningan, at the end of which was a monument to seafarers (which the locals call the goats cheese cube).

It was time to think about lunch and we were approaching the fish market, which has an incredible display of delectable seafood, and many stalls selling fresh seafood meals.

Payment Terms were quite flexible

After walking backwards and forwards many times, we finally decided on something modest, given the amount of food we have been eating.

There were other food options nearby but we went for the seafood.

Having enjoyed our lunch we thought we might have one last try to catch the funicular to Mt Floyen, and were in luck, it was now 2pm and the line had greatly reduced, so we joined the queue. It still took 45 minutes to got onto the funicular, but the view once at the top was well worth it.

There was a small lake at the top which is a fresh water reservoir, which we too about a 10 minute walk to before returning back to the return trip back down on the funicular.

Apparently this is where the Trolls live

It was then time to head back to the ship, after a great day in Bergen.