Bergen

Saturday 19^th May

I posted the last blog on board the ferry travelling through the Sognefjord, I thought that we would leave the fjord and enter the North Sea to travel to Begen, however the ferry threaded its way through various land masses, probably large islands, some of the waterways not even as wide as the Yarra River, eventually arriving at Bergen at 8:45.

Using the position of the ferry terminal marked on the map I navigated our way to the hotel – wrong!  The terminal was actually a block closer to the hotel from where it was marked so we missed the entrance to the street and took forty five minutes, after retracing our steps, to arrive at the hotel.  It should have only taken five minutes.

A good night’s sleep, assisted by the heavy curtains over the window, followed by a buffet breakfast we were ready to explore Bergen.  Our first stop was at the fish market in a square beside the harbour, housed in both a permanent building and in marquee style stalls, people could buy live lobsters, prawns, scallops, mussels and other seafood from large tanks and fresh or cooked seafood, a huge range and prices to match.

Looking across the harbour we could see the Bryggen with its old buildings, this was the old trading area of Bergen dating back to the 1200s.  We could also see a large three masted sailing ship which when walking around found it to be the Bark, Straatsrad Lehmkuhl which is used as a training ship for Naval officer cadets as well as the general public. 

From here we walked around to the Bergenhuis Castle which is dominated by the Rosenkrantz Tower, the tower was built in the 1560s by stone masons brought over from Scotland.  Leaving the castle we visited the Bergenhuis Fortress museum, which is mainly devoted to men and women in the Norwegian armed forces with a large section about the German occupation and resistance, also a floor with a display of ancient uniforms going back to pre-gunpowder days.

After lunch we caught the light rail for a twenty minute trip, this is the only tram line in Bergen and appears to be a recent addition to the transport system with ticket machines at every stop and scanning machines at every vehicle entrance, locals can also use electronic cards. 

Leaving at the Fantoft stop we had a fifteen minute walk before arriving at a wooded area and caught our first glimpse of the Fantoft Stave Church.  This church was originally built in Fortun in Sogn in 1150 but the village wanted a larger church and were going to burn the old church so a wealthy Bergen resident paid to move it to Fantoft.  In 1992 the old church burnt down and an exact replica has been rebuilt, even using modern equipment it is an amazing structure.  As it had started to rain we decided to return to the hotel and continue sightseeing tomorrow.