We pulled into Bergen, Norway, the second largest city in the country, and once again had incredible weather! Man, my weather karma is kicking ass on this trip! We had an excursion with a local historian to see some of the cultural highlights of the city.
The first area we walked through was the Bergenhus Fortress, which holds several important historical buildings. The first one is King Hakon’s Hall, which was a royal residence and banquet hall, dating from the 13th century. Really stunning building!
Directly adjacent is Rosenkrantz Tower, also from the 13th century, which was once home to King Eric Magnusson. We really didn’t have time to visit, but our guide advised us it has a very dark and dank dungeon, if you are into that sort of thing. Again, a stunning building!
We left the fort and entered the oldest part of Bergen. This set of houses is the epicenter of where Bergen started. This style of wooden homes is pretty much everywhere throughout Bergen.
Nearby is St. Mary’s Church, which is the oldest remaining building in Bergen. Construction started in the 1130’s and completed in 1180. It’s been damaged by fire several times, but the core of the building from the 12th century remains. Pretty impressive!
Another view of this historic church. Unfortunately it wasn’t open! WTF?
Our guide then spent maybe 10 minutes talking about this dude, Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic author who basically wrote everything there is to know about Norwegian aristocracy as well as Norse mythology. He’s pretty damn important for laying out the history of Norway, so he is quite revered here!
We then walked into the Bryggen district of Bergen, the most famous part of the city, with narrow passageways between all of the businesses. This is a close representation of what it looked like going back to the 12th century (despite all of the fires that impacted this location). That’s the reason this area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Inside Bryggen there is a visitor center, and they had this photo of how the same alleyway looked 100+ years ago. I’ve gotta say….pretty cool comparison!
This is a section of the Bryggen region that is being restored to it’s original state. UNESCO rules are very strict, and they must use the original tools to restore anything, so it’s quite the painstaking process.
This is another section of the Bryggen district. The buildings are really gorgeous! It almost looks fake, like something you’d see at Knott’s Berry Farm!
This is the iconic view of Bryggen from the waterfront! This view is on a lot of mugs, t-shirts, posters, paintings, you name it! Please note the two Hare Krisna’s on the left side of the photo. More WTF?
The street sign lets you know exactly where you are!
Our guide walked us a bit further and then pointed out this historic Starbucks! Ok, the shitty Seattle coffee company didn’t make it historic….this is the former Meat Market….for actual meat, not for dating. It’s really sad that a Starbucks was able to lease space in this beautiful historic building!
As our tour ended our guide pointed out that this was the direction we wanted to go to take the funicular up the Floyen Mountain, so we had our sights set!
The view from the top of Floyen Mountain is incredible! The weather could not have been more perfect! That’s our cruise ship on the far right.
This is the view on top of the mountain. There were people everywhere who had come out to enjoy the rare sunny conditions.
Here is a shot of the funicular heading back down the mountain. Such a beautiful spot, like a postcard!
We hung out at the top and had a beer. This Norwegian pennant flag with the beautiful sky behind it deserved a blog photo! The Norwegians fly this flag as it has a lot fewer requirements….they can leave it up 24/7 in any kind of weather. The regular full Norwegian flag is strictly only kept up from sunrise to sunset, and never in inclement weather. So basically, everywhere you look in Norway, you see this pennant flag!
Another big thing with the Norwegians is their love of trolls! There are troll sculptures everywhere!
Here is a great shot of Kim on the way back down the funicular.
Inside the Bryggen Visitor Center is this true to life model of the Bryggen area. Amazing to see how close together all of these homes were, which made them so susceptible to fire. Bryggen was impacted several times by fire, but the worst was in 1702, when the entire neighborhod was reduced to ashes.
This photo depicts the after effects of an explosion in the Bergen harbor in 1944. A Dutch vessel loaded with 273,000 lbs of explosives caught fire and exploded in the center of the harbor. Many buildings were completely destroyed, while the roofs of all of these buildings in the photo were heavily damaged.
One last final set of photos. Back in the Bergenhus Fortress is this bunker that was built by the Nazi’s in WWII. There was a call to destroy it after the war, but the building was retained, and it is now a TOP SECRET facility…hence all of the bright yellow signs!
Despite the leafy exterior, there are cameras everywhere!
This simple title on the building tells you nothing whatsoever. Is this a building for the Norwegian Men In Black?? Inquiring minds!
Coming up next, we arrive in the rain-drenched city of Arendal, Norway, and visit a former prison, as well as a viewpoint over the city.