Bergen Norway – Cruise of the Fjords

This is the fifth post in the Cruise of Copenhagen and the Norwegian Fjords series. Other posts in this series include Restaurant Karla Copenhagen, Restaurant Relae, and Pulpit Rock, Stavanger, Norway

Bergen is Norway’s second largest city and was the second stop of our cruise.

Bergen’s most famous landmark is Bryggen, a series of colorful Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the waterfront. Bryggen was dubbed a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979. Nowadays, those buildings house various little gift shops and restaurants where you can browse to your heart’s content.

Bergen is also a great place to stay if you want to take day trips to see the fjords. Of course, since we came on a cruise ship and arrived VIA the fjord, we spent our time exploring the city.
It was an unusually nice day out (apparently it’s often cloudy or cold in this region). As a result, EVERYONE was lining up to take the funicular to the top to get some pretty amazing views of the city. I think we waited close to 45 minutes, but it was definitely worth it.

It’s hard to capture in a 2D photo, but here’s a glimpse of the view. Isn’t it beautiful? I wonder if there’s a rule that stipulates what color your roof has to be. It’s so consistent!

I love how far out you can see.

The fish market (here since the 1200s!) is fun to visit. It’s not huge, but it’s definitely charming, authentic, and has lots of options. I think we sampled whale and elk jerky at one of the stalls. There are several people cooking fresh seafood – a great option for a simple lunch.
The food in Norway is very expensive. As a result, we didn’t eat out in too many restaurants. We did enjoy lunch at a seafood restaurant near the waterfront (I think it cost over $200 USD for four people). Pictured above: skate wing.

There’s tons of salmon in Norway, and the salmon here was very good.
I decided to get three different types of cured or smoked salmon. I absolutely loved the herb cured gravlax.
We even had local raw oysters!

It was a bit cold out, so it felt really good to drink hot soup, like this lobster chowder!

Bergen has lots of pleasant walkable paths and very pretty neighborhoods. We spent the day just walking around and exploring.
  
All in all, we had a lovely, pleasant day meandering through the quaint little city. We lucked out and had no rain (apparently it rains A LOT there). The blue skies and puffy clouds definitely made our day.
Bergen Norway