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| Overlooking Bergen from Mt. Fløyen |
We flew from
Stockholm/ Arlanda to Bergen, Norway on August 27. Karen gave a talk at the
University of Bergen on August 28 and we left Bergen for Oslo on August 29.
I don’t have a lot to
say about our time in Bergen. It is an old city that dates back to around 1000
AD and used to be the capital of Norway. It was established as the trading
centre for goods from northern Norway, lots of fish, with the rest of Europe. It
is now Norway’s second largest city with a population of around 270,000.
Bergen sits right on a
fjord (Byfjorden) of course, and is surrounded by seven peaks. It has a mild
climate because of the Gulf Stream current. The seven peaks trap the warmer,
moister Gulf Stream air, making Bergen a rainy city. If you visit Bergen bring
rain gear, as it rains about 230 days/year.
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| Enjoying a reindeer hotdog in Bergen (Bryggen in the background) |
Bergen is probably
best known for Bryggen which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bryggen (“the
wharf/quay”) is a small area of wooden buildings and narrow alleys that were
used as warehouses and stores by traders and merchants. They used to be right
on the harbour but there is now a road and sidewalk in front of them. It is my
understanding that the present Bryggen was purposefully rebuilt in the medieval
style following a fire in the early 1700s. Walking through Bryggen definitely
feels historic (I was fascinated by it) although I don’t think the traders of
the Hanseatic League who controlled the Bryggen area from around 1300-1600 sold
Norwegian souvenirs.
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| Inside the Bergen train terminal |
We got into Bergen
early in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel (the Grand Terminus right
beside the railroad station; very nice with a great breakfast buffet) and a
stop at another grocery store, we walked to and rode up the funicular to the
top of one of the seven peaks, Mt. Fløyen. From Fløyen we got an excellent view
of Bergen and the surrounding landscape while we ate our picnic lunch. We then
walked several of the trails around Fløyen before taking the funicular back
down into Bergen. We then decided to tour around the Bryggen area but without much
enthusiasm as by this time it was pouring.
After drying off we
were taken to dinner by Karen’s welcoming host Anders and his wife Anna to a
nice restaurant on the other side of the harbour from Bryggen. Being in Norway,
we all had fish for dinner (yummy cod), except Marshall who went with a gourmet
burger.
On Friday morning,
Karen was up early for her walk to the university. She spent the morning
touring the facility and meeting with students and faculty. She gave her talk
in the early afternoon and came back to the hotel after that. Marshall and I
had a bit of a later start to the day and then went to Bergen’s new, but not
geothermally heated, pool. It is a beautiful facility. After putting in a few
laps we spent the rest of the time fooling around jumping and diving off the
many heights of diving boards, trying to touch the bottom of the 5 metre pool,
seeing who could swim the farthest underwater, etc. We had the most fun on the
waterslide. Although not particularly long, it records your time and peak speed.
We each took about 20 turns seeing if we could set new, fastest times. A very
good science lesson as there was lots of discussion of ways to go faster
including issues of friction, gravity/weight ratios, terminal velocity,
aerodynamics, the drag co-efficient of baggy bathing suits, etc. Fortunately
for us, school has already started in Norway so we had the waterslide pretty
much to ourselves.
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| One of Bryggen's narrow alleys |
After reuniting with
Karen we returned to the waterfront for a better tour, including a stop at the
Bergen fish market. We saw more of the Bryggen area this time and only got
rained on at the end of our walk. For dinner, Marshall and I later went back to
the fish market for fish and chips. Karen wasn’t feeling too well, so she took
a pass. It was then earlyish to bed so we could all be bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed for our “Norway in a Nutshell” tour that started on Saturday
morning.
TROUBLE WITH BERGEN –
Bergen gets a lot of tourists, including ourselves. (According to Wikipedia, in
2011 there were over 260 cruise visits to Bergen with 350,000 visitors.) Of
course most of them, again like us, mill around the waterfront, Bryggen, and
fish market area of the city. Dodging around all of these people definitely
took away from the historic and unique flavour of the city. If you go to
Bergen, try and visit the waterfront part of the city, which is very
interesting and picturesque, in the evening. As Marshall and I found when we
went for our dinner of fish and chips, by this time the cruise ships have reboarded
or left, the waterfront is much quieter and easier to experience. Should I ever
find myself in Bergen again, I would also give myself the time to walk/hike
more of the seven peaks as the scenery of the mountains and fjords is stunning.
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| What Scott thinks of too many tourists |
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