Part 39: A day in Bergen
Hotel: First Hotel Marin, 89 EUR/night
It was close to midnight when I arrived at my hotel for the next two nights, the First Hotel Marin. To review the hotel shortly, I had mixed feelings after my stay. While I don't have any major complaints, I found the room on the small side and a bit dated. I had a room booked with a double bed and even the bed felt extremely narrow, if you would stay with two in the room then it would definitely be a bit cramped and uncomfortable. That said, the room was clean, I found the hotel staff consistently very friendly and helpful, and the breakfast buffet was quite good. Also the location is absolutely unbeatable as it smack bang in the middle of the city centre.
Standard double room
Breakfast at the First Hotel Marin. Besides everything for a full English, plenty of continental options and even a waffle making machine.
The weather was lousy when after a good night of sleep I st to explore Bergen. The city has a huge history and once was a very important Hanseatic city. It's considered rightly as one of Norway's most lively and scenic cities, and you can immediately see why when exploring the wooden houses at the Brygen wharf area where the traders, merchants and sailors once lived.
Next to the wharf area overlooking the mouth of the harbour are the remnants of a stone fortress which guarded the city.
At the base of the other side of the harbour is a large fish market with it being Norway some astronomical prices for most of the fresh seafood dishes at the market stalls and on-site restaurants.
There were some nice views from the fish market over the other side of the harbour and the Bryggen wharves, with white clouds rolling over the mountains in the background.
I continued my walk towards the central square of the commercial city centre, which was lined with shops and department stores. Bergen is Norway's second biggest city with a population of 278,121, although the city definitely feels larger and more lively than its relative small number might suggest as it is an important regional hub.
The area has some nice landmarks, such as an old theatre, the city's university, and a church upon a hill with some nice views down.
From the top I walked back to the city centre. As it was getting really foggy, cold and rainy I tried to find a nice cafe for a coffee as soon as possible.
I was ultimately successful finding a nice place, and had a tasty pastry with the coffee to warm me up again.
When it was getting dry, I ventured out again to climb my way up towards the top of a hill in a cobblestoned residential district with small, twisty streets and cute wooden houses. The area, basically right behind the Bryggen wharf area, is enormously atmospheric and has sweeping vistas overlooking over the city and harbour.
After the beautiful walk through this lovely part of Bergen I headed back down towards the fish market. Not willing to shell out 50 EUR for a fish or other seafood entrée, I just opted for the crab soup which was still fairly priced at under 10 EUR. It was tasty as well!
I was in for a big surprise when I left the fish market: the clouds had almost completely disappeared and given way to beautiful blue skies. Talking about unpredictable sea climate!
Even though I loved the foggy views of the mountains and it did have a lot of appeal, the colours of the wooden houses just look so much better when the sun is shining.
As I was planning to take the Fløibanen funicular railway up the mountain, I could not be more happy with the change of weather. The views over the city and the surrounding fjords were just fantastic.
Several forest paths start from the top station in various directions, and I could see plenty of hikers and cross country skiers heading into the nature. I also walked for about an hour or two around the area, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
On the mountaintop, some prankster apparently started a running gag by placing quirky witch signs on some trees. When I encountered the first I thought it was a bit weird, but after looking carefully I could see at least three or four more such similar signs and the coin dropped that it is part of some funny joke. Does anyone know if there might be a story behind these signs?
After I took the funicular railway back down, I aimlessly wandered around for a bit more and just soaking up the unique atmosphere.
Somewhere in the hotel I encountered a quirky restaurant which had a yellow American taxi put on display in the street.
As prices were very fair for Norway, I opted to go inside for dinner, only to find the décor of a perfectly themed American diner, with yet another great oldtimer inside. The hamburger tasted great, as did the local craft beer I ordered to wash it away with.
After visiting a supermarket to buy two or so more beers for in the hotel room, I called it an early night as the next morning would see an early rise to take one of the world's most beautiful train journeys!