Bergen is not short on museums. We counted 29 in the hotel guidebook. I suspect a few may have been left out.
They are as diverse as one dedicated to fire fighting over the years (Bergen has survived 39 known major conflagrations between the year 1000 and the last major one which occurred in 1702), and another museum located in the former Leprosy hospital.
I really wanted to see the one about leprosy, but it was closed due to illness. (It’s really closed for renovation.)
We chose three that were within an easy walking distance of our hotel. Bergen’s town center is such that almost everything is within easy walking distance.
The first of these we visited on Sunday, just a few minutes walk from our hotel.
The Hanseatic Museum and Schotstuene consists of a group of restored buildings that date to 1703, a year after the last great fire to ravage Bryggen. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In an effort to combine resources and defend against pirates, 12th century German merchants formed a trading guild, The Hanseatic League. Bergen was one of its principal cities.
The league flourished to include over 200 major cities and dominated trade in the Baltic, Scandinavia and Northern Europe for hundreds of years. Merchant ships traveled in convoy with an exchange of goods that covered the whole of Europe, northern Africa, and even extended along the Silk Road to the east and North America to the west.
Bryggen (Bergen) controlled access to the entire 60,000 mile coastline of Norway.
The League reached its zenith in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Its influence continued even into the 19th century.
Hanseatic vessels grew in size.
By the mid 1500s League ships were among the largest in the world, some measuring over 250 feet in length and able to transport over 500 tons of cargo.
This is a meeting room which served also as a courtroom where infractions were dealt with among the apprentices.Rule breakers names were listed on the chalkboard of shame, and the stick of shame was used to point the guilty out.Among the punishments given were public whippings with this 1 yard long “stick”, which is a dried oxen’s penis.Merchants had learned the importance of hygiene. Wash stands were located in all meeting rooms.An airtight wood-burning stoveThe “kitchen” . Open fires were located beneath the pots on the stone floor.The dining hallThe windows are authentic. Noticed the strings in the center of the windows and those in the wall. They allowed for the remote control of storm shutters from inside the building.An exterior view of the storm shutters.
Today (Monday) we visited the Bergen Archeological Museum. I am including some images of artifacts that date to and before the Hanseatic period.
A leather shoeThe cobbler’s tools.The remains of long buried houses from the 12th century.A representation of archaeological dig strataAn exhumed skeleton from the 12th or 13th centuryA 13th century altarpiece
Our visit to two other museums/exhibitions will be featured in the next post.
This is the second of the two posts about our wanderings today. This afternoon we joined thousands of Norwegians and foreign tourists for a remarkable culinary exposition.
The following from the festival promotion:
“Join us in the heart of Fjord Norway for a culinary journey… Wander through Bergen‘s vibrant city center, and discover an array of local food artisans showcasing their culinary creations…”
........This is the Bergen Harbor Fish market.Various seafood items available to purchase and take home or have prepared at the market....
…And so we did. Peace everyone. Pete.
Christine, Queen of the Universe.This was a rally featuring various of Norway’s political parties. Campaign representatives were available to meet and greet.These were union workers who were voluntarily promoting their employer’s products by providing free hotdogs, ice cream, sodas, and coffee. As was explained to us, “They treat us well and so we want to treat our employers as well.”
I believe that Norway’s entire population of 5 1/2 million was in Bergen today… At least it seemed that way.
In spite of the crowds we were able to fully enjoy two amazing activities/events. To do them both justice I’m going to separate them in two posts. They will be short on narration and long on pictures.
First the Floibanen:
After breakfast we took a five minute walk to the famous Floibanen funicular railway.
First opened in 1918 this steep 25 degree railway ascends from sea level at Bergen Harbor to Floyen at an elevation of 1000 feet.
The current ultramodern electrical conveyance consists of two sets of train cars. They are connected by a cable.
.
Each set of cars can hold up to 120 passengers. When one set of cars is at the top of the hill the other set is at the bottom. They pass each other at mid journey, the weight of one counteracting the weight of the other. They require comparatively minimal engine drive support.
The journey to the top of Mount Floyen takes about five minutes. A round-trip ticket costed us each $20 (200 kroner). Christine rode the railway back to the bottom, but I hiked down the mountain, a journey of approximately 3 km which took me just short of an hour.
The views from the top were fantastic.
....
There is a restaurant that first opened in 1925.
There are also shops, a café, toilets, a playground, and goats!
.
My hike back to the city center was magical! A forest of massive evergreens, carpeted by moss and ferns.
.....
If you look carefully you will see families of Trolls peaking out from behind the trees… but only if you believe in them.
We are guests for 5 five nights in Bergen Norway at Det Hanseatiske Hotell, located in a historic building within the heart of the Bryggen Harbor District, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The hotel is modern, yet successfully retains old world charm.
.
The hotel manager, Erik has been both welcoming and helpful.
Breakfast is served every morning and features an extensive buffet of meats, cheeses, baked goods, traditional breakfast fare, along with hot and cold beverages.
.
Less than 100 yards from our hotel door we boarded a “hop on hop off” bus for one hour tour of the city’s main tourist areas.
This has given us an idea of where we want to focus our wanderings. We are finding Bergen to be very walkable and mostly flat, although it is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. Most of the streets and walkways are cobblestone and warrant a bit of caution underfoot.
Commerce in the Bryggen Harbor area dates back 1000 years to the Viking era.
The picturesque wooden structures have been carefully preserved, many of them are over 300 years old having been built shortly after the great fire of 1702. They currently house hotels, restaurants, art, souvenir, and retail shops.
.
A short walk further down the wharf area brought us to the castle and fortress complex that date to the 13th century. On the way we passed a magnificent sailing yacht.
It was at least 150 feet long with expanses of gleaming chrome and meticulously varnished teak. I wish I knew more of its details and ownership.
I toured the interior of the Rosencrantz Tower (1270), which features steep, narrow, and winding medieval stairs.
.
Christine welcomed this as an opportunity to relax in the nearby park.
I telephotoed this picture from the tower above while Christine took these of me from down below.
.
Within the foundations of the tower is a dungeon. Little more than a hole, it lacks fresh air and light. It was used until the 19th century.
The above picture is from the Tower website. The one I took lacked the skeleton who was apparently placed on parole.
The tower was the residence of the last two kings who ruled Norway from Bergen, King Magnus Lagabote, and his eldest son, King Eirik Magnusson.
The tower had only one toilet which was located within the King’s chambers.
Adjacent to the tower is Hakon’s Hall.
This was built by King Hakon in 1247 as a Royal residence and banquet hall. It remains the largest standing building from the middle ages in Norway. It continues to be used today as a banquet facility and museum.
In 1944 a Dutch munitions vessel blew up near the Tower and Hall. This catastrophic explosion destroyed the roofs of both buildings and leveled many other nearby structures. Restoration was undertaken that year and continued over the next 15 years.
Before returning to our hotel for an afternoon nap Christine and I enjoyed an outdoor café, warmed by radiant heaters and sheltered from the intermittent downpours by broad table umbrellas.
.
Life is good!… and of course, Peace Everyone. Pete.
Christine and I were up at 5 AM on September 3rd and thanks to our daughter, Renee’, we were on the road to the airport by 6. En route we received a text message from Delta Airlines indicating that our flight from Kansas City to New York had a two hour delay. We were going to miss our connection in New York for Paris and Bergen!
The Delta ticketing agent sweated the problem for us. She was laser focused for 45 minutes on her terminal screen and ultimately was able to reroute us with a flight from Kansas City to Boston, Boston to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Bergen. We were downgraded on the first leg from our first class/Delta One reservation.
We experienced a sigh of relief until we reached to the gate and learned that the new flight from Kansas City to Boston was also now delayed. In Boston it was a foot race to reach the connecting flight to Amsterdam. We made it with only minutes to spare. We later learned that our luggage did too.
We made use of Delta’s Skyclub lounge in Kansas City. Immediately upon entering the lounge I heard my name called. It was our Camino friend Theresa, who was on her way to Milan Italy. She posed with us for a selfie.
Our flight to Boston was unremarkable except that the original reservation was first class and we were now seated in main cabin. Kudos and gratitude to the Delta ticket agent that she preserved the timing of our flight into Norway.
The six hour flight from Boston to Amsterdam was wonderful. Unfortunately because of the change in ticketing Christine and I were no longer situated in adjoining “pods“.
We have only recently begun flying first class, business class, and Delta one. We have come to realize that the horizon of travel for us is shrinking but our need for comfort is expanding. It’s called getting old… not just older, but old.
We made the best of our three hour layover in Amsterdam by the use of KLM’s exceptional passenger lounge.
..
Our tickets were on partnered flights with segments flown by Delta and KLM.
Our “business class“ flight from Amsterdam to Bergen was on a smaller regional jet. The seats were tight and still six across, however, the middle seats were intentionally left unoccupied. We had a boxed breakfast, but it was far from ordinary!
Passport control, and customs were both handled in Amsterdam and took mere minutes. Our bags had been checked through to Bergen. We arrived in Bergen at 10 AM on the morning of the 4th.
The Bergen airport is located some distance from the center of the city. Our options were taxi cab ($50), shuttle bus ($20), or light rail ($2.50 per senior citizen!) We took the train.
Figuring out the ticketing kiosk took a few minutes and would’ve been easier if I had just seen that there was a button to translate it into English.
Norway is fast moving to a cashless economy. As an example the ticket kiosks only accept credit cards to purchase the train tickets. The credit card itself then becomes the ticket. If a rail agent wished to see our tickets all we would need to show is the credit card.
It was a 45 minute journey through picturesque hills and villages.
The train and platforms along the way were immaculately clean, (the windows of our home should be this clean!).
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, with a population of approximately 250,000. Norway is the size of the State of Montana but with a population of just under 4 1/2 million. English is a commonly spoken in the city. Younger people often have barely a trace of an accent.
..
The Norwegian kroner is easy to convert. Merely move the decimal point one space. In other words, 10 kroner is equivalent to one dollar, 100 kroner is equivalent to $10, etc. Prices in Bergen seemed about on par with those in most major American cities.
...
This is the rainy season in Norway and today was no exception. Temperatures were cool in the mid 60s and there was a near constant drizzle. This did not dampen our spirits as we are staying in the harbor area, which is both charming and beautifully old world. Our hotel, oozes charm, but more on that in another post.
...
This has been “the longest day”. I’ve been up for 36 hours and bed is calling me.
