This week I have travelled to Bergen, albeit without my Bergen. That probably won’t make much sense unless you’ve been around the British Army, which calls rucksacks Bergens.

Beautiful Bergen

Bergen really is a beautiful place. The city nestles on the hillsides of seven mountains, with fjords in its midst. It’s an ancient port, and still serves cruise ships and north sea oil tenders. Most of the photos are still on my camera rather than my phone. But I’ll post some later on when I’ve had a chance to hook the camera up to the laptop.

Trolls

We went troll hunting up on top of Mount Fløyen, one of the seven mountains. Not the nasty internet sort, or even the ones that live under bridges. In the woods the locals have carved dozens of trolls and left them there for tourists to find.

Bergen Science Centre

We also spent most of a day in the Vilvite science centre. It was a free entry with our Bergen Card and we enjoyed it so much that we were kicked out after it closed!

Seriously though, if you are in Bergen you should definitely visit the science centre. I think it was better than the one in Glasgow and the Science Museum in London. Lots of hands on stuff, and you get a smart card to enable you to login later and see what you got up to.

Bryggen

Bryggen is probably Bergen’s most famed sight. Bryggen has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1980. It’s a series of thousand year old wooden tenements. Probably some of the oldest inhabited structures in the world.

From the sea front they aren’t terribly remarkable. However when you make your way down one of the narrow alleys it is a whole different world. You can see the past, and appreciate how the people of Bergen survived the harsh Norwegian winters. The streets have a terrace to protect them from deep snow. The timber planking sits on three or four logs high acting as joists to keep them well clear of the ground. Although open to the air at the top the gap is narrow.

Overall we enjoyed our four days in Bergen. It’s good to be back home though. Norway is expensive for tourists, their cost of living is about double ours. Also, the food is somewhat fattier than I’ve got used to.

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