I woke up at 4am as jet lag timing kicked in, and went to the veranda to look outside as the sun was rising in the chill morning air in Bergen. Looking forward to the day ahead, I did my physical therapy exercises and we had a nice, quick breakfast, and then off for our walking tour of Bergen.
We were berthed about a 10 minute walk from Bryggen, the 1000-year-old Hanseatic League trading port area. We met our guide and we’re off, walking along the 30-foot stone barrier wall built by King Hakkon and the massive hall he built to lure his new bride from Denmark. As we walked along the waterfront, we enjoyed the colorful, slightly tilted long buildings of the old port area, built on the ashes of hundred of fires over 1,000+ years, as they extended from the original water from forward 50+ feet. The long houses were the site of the large German trading firms, with warehoused goods stored above and around their offices and trading area, and where hundreds of young apprentices lived in monastic conditions. Imagine no candles or fires allowed inside the wooden buildings, even in winter, because the risk of fire was so high, so all cooking and eating took place in small stone cookhouses far behind the long them buildings. Instead of chimney which could spread embers, they allowed sparks to go un into the tile roofs which cooled them. After one early fire, the merchants decided to fill in the area, the quays became narrow walkways, and the tradings houses were as much as 100’ long. As the tour ended, we continued to explore on our own.
The archaeological museum included the foundations and remains of some of the earliest buildings which were 33’ feet down from the surface. The colorful UNESCO World Heritage site buildings of today were built in the 18th century, along the lines of the old ones, and the 1,000-year-old church and other buildings hundreds of years old survive and have been repurposed. The Hanseatic Museum has rebuilt and renovated some of the oldest buildings, and included one original building, plus artifacts and elements like the wooden corner cabinet, and the divided benches where apprentices sat grouped by their masters, apprenticed at 12 years old and sent out to become traders themselves at 18 years.
We stopped by the outdoor fish market brimming with fresh seafood, packs of caviar, and reindeer sausage, and then took the funicular up to the top of a nearby mountain for some wonderful views of the whole of Bergen which is spread out across several valleys and mountains. I briefly looked at the Dale-style sweaters and decided to wait until we are farther north before buying something. After 6 hours of walking, jet lag began to kick in, and we go back to the ship, have a light lunch, and explore the ship for the first time, stopping on each floor. We went back to the cabin, and woke up to attend a lecture on how glaciers formed Geirangerfjord, which looked absolutely stunning in the photos. Only 250 people live there year-round but they welcome 300,000 visitors each year - amazing. We had dinner in The Restaurant this evening, which featured a Norwegian menu of parsnip-apple soup, aquavit-marinated beed tenderloin, and a delicious upside-down pear cake. We returned to the cabin, and read for a bit, then Barney went to the Catain’s introduction of his officers and Barney spoke to the Chief Engineer who invited hi to see the control room later in the trip.We really tried now, we spent some time outside on the veranda in the cold, still brightly sunny at 9pm, and watched the distant coastline as we sailed up the coast to Geirangerfjord.
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