We left London overnight and steamed toward our final destination, Bergen, Norway & our disembarkation on Sunday. Saturday morning we just did the usual on cruise ship things, relaxed, read and chatted with fellow passengers. We finally arrived in Bergen at 1:00pm and went on an organised walk of this city. As Bergen is the home port of Viking Star they have a large presence here, we checked out the immediate port area of Bergen and the old area called Bryggen, all large wooden warehouse building converted to shops, restaurants and museums. It was an interesting afternoon before back to the ship to pack as we get off in the morning at 9:00am. Next day after disembarkation we walked about 1 klm to our apartment for the next 6 days which is part of a family home dating back over 200 years, it is renovated keeping the old Scandinavian features and a sort of modern, quirky interior, we are very happy with Rita’s choice of abode….
The rest of Sunday, Monday & Tuesday have been spent exploring this fascinating city full of beautiful old wooden homes, probably 90% are wooden some with stone foundations, many restored and most kept it very good condition…. Now about Bergen, if is ruled by Vikings, trolls and cranky old ladies ……. So we believe, some photos here >>>>>>>>
We spent the next few days once again exploring on foot this fascinating city by the water with an amazing amount of histories UNESCO protected wooden buildings, we walked all over the city going into many of the fascinating museums and looking around Bergen city area and surrounds. Our apartment is about 1.4 klm from the centre of town so we walk in a different way each time. We finally went just across the road from our flat to the very new Fish Museum which is housed in the best large timber restored buildings with a great amount of information about the fishing industry in Norway and the drying ( without salt ) of all the fish generally called ‘ stock fish ‘. It goes nearly rock hard and has to be bashed with a wooden mallet to be able to be eaten, which we did and it is very tasty and nutritious and kept millions of people alive over the harsh winters in this neck of the woods. We also found out that they take daily cod liver oil to replenish the vitamin intake lacking when the days have no much sun, only from about 10:00am to 2:00pm so they need to boost their sun vitamin needs !!! Meant various photos below ……. All in and around Bergen, Norway ……