We arrived last night around 8pm. Dark and rainy and no idea where our hotel was in relation to the railway station. Not many people around, no one to ask for directions. So, between Hannah’s and Alex’s cell phones we got a compass direction, and with longitude and latitude coordinates supplied by the hotel in their printout (!?), we dialed in our 3/4 mile hike thru sleepy Bergen to our destination. Nice hotel, another small room, but hot water and a buffet breakfast in the morning. To combat jet lag and waking up at 3am ready to go, we all took a melatonin to help reset our internal clocks. It worked, Gloria set her alarm for 8am; it woke us all up.
The walkways, alleyways and streets were narrow and curvy. Lots of cobble stones. Easy to get lost.
Good buffet breakfast. We now had the day, and our umbrellas to explore the city. Bergen was the capital of Norway in the 12th and 13th century, and today, is the country’s second largest city. In a typical year they get 60 days of sunshine, today was one of the 305 that doesn’t.
You have to be healthy to live above Bergen. Also, the streets are so narrow that we watched locals back up some to make the next turn. Lombard Street in San Francisco looks like a freeway in comparison!
There are pros and cons travelling during the “shoulder season”. Cons: weather is a bit unpredictable and some of the touristy sights are closed or limited in their hours. Pros: Sometimes cheaper, (not in Scandinavia we were told, and have found), and the best is fewer people, a LOT fewer people. During tourist season up to seven cruise ships per day stop in Bergen! We couldn’t imagine the thousands rushing around in this small town where we leisurely walked the streets with the locals.
Lake Lillelugegardsvann
The tourist highlight of Bergen is the Bryggen Quarter. Following the plague in 1350 that killed off half the population of Bergen, German merchants moved in and build what became one of the largest wooden cities of Europe. And for that reason, it burned to the ground over and over again. Finally in the early 1700’s, they started using more stone for construction, and severely limited the heating, cooking and lighting with open flame in the remaining wooden structures. What remains today is a hint of what Bergen looked like in the 1300 and 1400’s and extraordinarily unique.
One unexpected discovery was the Bergenhus Fortress Museum. A small museum by the Bergenhus Fortress, (that was partially closed and overpriced). It chronicled the Norwegian resistance to the German occupation during WWII, with primary emphasis on the women’s contribution. Although small, the number of WWII artifacts was impressive. Worth our time getting out of the downpour.
As I write this blog, we are on the train for a six hour ride back to Oslo. 300 miles long, 18 miles of snowsheds, 300 bridges, and 200 tunnels, the longest is 6 miles; completed in 1909. We arrive around 11pm, hope to pick up the city bus at the train station, then back to Sissel’s for the night, ready to explore Oslo tomorrow.
Hannah’s introduction to the Kabab, or Doner, or Shwarma. We have eating these all over the world; when we find one, we have to try it and compare. They are lamb sliced off a rotating vertical spit. Mixed with vegetables in a wrap. These were average…..
No comments:
Post a Comment