Bergen - My New Home

I am totally obsessed with Bergen. This city is amazing - sitting right on the east coast of Norway it's the perfect port town. Slash metropolis. We arrived last night after a crazy day of travel - ferry to bus to train. The views of the fjord from the ferry were amazing. Truly spectacular...but I'll let the pictures do the talking once I finally find somewhere to post them. Right now I'm at the public library (30min of free internet...hooray!) but they don't have the connection available to upload photos. 

View of the fjord from our ferry ride

Another view of the fjord from our ferry ride

Yet another view of the fjord from our ferry ride

The craziest part of the trip was the bus ride, believe it or not. We took a bus straight up the mountain. No, seriously. We traversed all the way up, taking ridiculously wide turn on scarily narrow roads (which were two-way so cars kept having to pull onto dangerously steep grass to let our bus pass). I nearly fell out my seat from my the nervous giggling slash masked terror. It was pretty amazing though we stopped at a hotel at the summit and were able to get out of the bus and go into their backyard to take photos - the view from the top was worth it.

The road we drove up on the bus!

Here's what James wrote of our adventure to Bergen:

The next day we boarded the ferry to Gudvangen, a trip that would take us through two arms of the Sognefjorden. Flåm is at the end of the Aurlandsfjorden, which is in and of itself quite dramatic. Soaring mountains and isolated villages and farms (one on such a steep incline it required a ladder to get to the farm house) and the like. But as we gloried in the view, we turned into the other branch of the fjord, Nærøyfjord. And then we entered the land of the gods. The cliffs soared and tightened around us, the waterfalls crashed, the winds howled, and the mountain tops were lost in ancient mist and clouds. I felt very small and insignificant, fearing I'd never be able to appreciate the beauty of any other place. We were, once again, gobsmacked.

To finish the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour, we had to take a bus up to a town called Voss and catch the last stretch of train on to Bergen. We assumed -- which we really need to stop doing -- that the bus ride would be a piece of cake after the ferry adventure. But no, we had to zig-zag up a narrow, and frighteningly two-way, road to the top of a valley. Again, the eagle-eye view was enough to make us drop our jaws. Another of those moments where one thinks "and just when I thought I'd seen it all!"

By the time we got into Bergen, our senses had been so overwhelmed all we could do was hunker down for the rest of the evening and write. We didn't even go out to explore the new city. Simply, gobsmacked...

We arrived in Bergen around 8:30 and settled in to our room at the guesthouse - the first floor of a family's home that has been arranged into four bedrooms, one kitchen and two bathrooms. The room is super cozy and pretty spacious - for the first time on this trip we're not on bunkbeds! 

James having breakfast in our room in Bergen.

The rest of our room in Bergen

This morning we woke up early and headed out around town. We got the Bergen card for 24hrs starting at noon so we've been to several museums and used some public transport - though this city is perfect for walking. We saw a couple museum in old wooden houses and a castle from the 13th century. It was awesome. We also took a cable train up to the top of the mountain for a great birds eye view of the whole city and enjoyed a cup of coffee and some cake on the terrace at the top.

Rosenkrantz Tower

Dark spiral staircase in Rosenkrantz Tower

View from roof of Rosenkrantz Tower in Bergen

Birds eye view of Bergen

By far though, my most favorite part of the day was the fish market. Right down town on the harbor is a huge array of tents selling all sorts of things - from fresh fruit to jewelry to sweaters. And of course lots and lots of seafood. James tried whale and reindeer and I had a delicious fish cake and a sample of fresh salmon. We're already planning to go back tomorrow for lunch to try their fish soup and maybe a little sandwich.

The fantastic Bergen fishmarket!

A giant Monkfish (I think) at the fish market in Bergen.

The air here is just so gorgeous, and I love being so close to the water. It's like Newburyport on steroids. I love it.

Port in Bergen

Tonight it's off to find some dinner and then perhaps grab a beer somewhere to hear some of the live music we've seen advertised everywhere. We may even try to find another internet cafe that allows us to upload photos - keep your fingers crossed. Tomorrow we have the most of the day to explore the city some more and then we catch our 30hr ferry around 5pm. I'm hoping to get on here again tomorrow before we leave, but if not I'm not sure what the conditions will be like for the internet on the ferry and once we're in the Faroes. But I'll do my best.

Love from Bergen,
Meg