Bergen Harbour

After the railcar we set off looking for Lonley Planets “top choice” eatery ‘pingvin’ (later found out means penguin – although in retrospect that is sort of obvious). We wandered the town and tool the time to consider again the matter of price difference between the UK and Norway. We are now of the view that there are two effects in play; there is a “base” difference in the cost of items. For example comparing the price of a Big Mac at McDonalds and a computer game from Game indicated that things are between 1.5 and twice as expensive to purchase in Norway. However there is also a general tendency towards premium products being available; for example an outdoor shop we visited sold only the Merino edition of the ‘buff’ multi-function headware (the most expensive variant, made with the highly sought after wool of New Zealands Merino sheep). In the supermarket we found that Coca Cola was sold only in glass bottles, a luxury version of the product back home. Consequently as well as being more expensive, one usually has to go with premium products which drives up the cost of living here still further.

We wandered the town for a time, but our search for the cafe proved fruitless (we believe it has closed since the publication of Lonely Planet, however it could simply be that I’m far more at home navigating in a rural environment). About our travels though, we did get to see a lot of Bergen’s public art and architecture.

We fell back on eating at the Bergen’s famous fish market. Chris went for fish and chips, where as I went for the ‘famous fish soup’. There is also the option of having almost any kind of sea creature you care to name cooked fresh on the grill. Dolphin doesn’t appear on the menu but this is, as the Norwegians themselves say, mostly because you don’t find dolphins in Norwegian waters. The fish soup typifies the ‘only premium products available’ phenomenon. The food is served from a trailer on the harbour side, similar to the classic British ice-cream van into a waxed paper pot. The contents however consists of mussels, fresh crab meat, salmon and a rich and creamy broth; all (so they claim) caught that day. The disconnect between context and quality of product was quite startling. The soup was absolutely delicious, and Chris was rather jealous.

The atmosphere of eating in the fish market was equally appealing. Men and women in waders full length waders worked at selling locally caught fish set out on beds of ice, as well as sea food products from many corners of the world, including jars of caviar (alas I didn’t spot any cockles or larva bread on offer). Those serving food were jovial, the gentleman who served us was from Uruguay and whilst we were there he slipped between French, English and Norwegian with an ease of which I was quite envious.

After food we continued our wanderings around Bergen, with a mind to visit one of the many museums. We decided the nautical museum would be most interesting, but alas it closed 10 minutes before we arrived. Our search had however taken us through the colourful university area (like Bristol university it has not official ‘campus’ but a small part of town consists almost entirely of university buildings. I find that universities frequently boast some of the most interesting architecture going (though there are exceptions, Swansea or UWE for example :p ).

Our bid to visit a normal museum foiled, we made of the fortress on the outer part of the harbour, which was also billed as a museum. On arrival this turned out to be an fortified area of the town, which with guide maps and walking routes posted up to provide an open air museum. In recent decades, the relevance of traditional fortifications in costal towns has weigned and many such sights around Norway are now open to the public. This particular ‘fort’ encompasses ruins that date back to the 1300s, within more recent walls and gates. As we wandered around we found a curious mix of well maintained walls, decaying pillboxes and medieval ruins, latterly with the curious addition of walkways and ramps to facilitate tourists.

Despite the reduced importance of the site to defence there is still a small garrison present and their few modern cannon do appear as though they would menace any marauder who sailed by. With time to relax before our ship sailed, and the weather having taken a particularly balmy turn that day, we found ourselves laying in the grass atop the highest point in the fort; occasionally troubling ourselves to look out over Bergen with our binoculars to see what we could see. At one point a heart shamed balloon sailed up from the old quarter, the local ferries plied back and forth through the harbour; the pace of things seemed gentle as we allowed time to drift by in our first true “relax” of the holiday.

I had imagined many things whilst anticipating our Norwegian adventure, but I had not foreseen laying out in just my t-shirt under a warm sun; just another example of how travel will always take you by surprise, even in the most mundane of circumstances.

After our repose, we headed back through Byrggen, to collect bags, which were being held in the luggage room of the YMCA. As we went, we noted some of the subtle flourishes that make Bergen the pleasant environment it is. Many of its streets are in well maintained cobles, with zebra crossings (or whatever they are called in Norway) laid out in a mosaic of black and white stones, rather than simply painted on. Even the man hole covers play their part, with significant Bergen attractions embossed upon each one.

With a healthy margin of time still remaining, and little desire to squander our time waiting in a ferry terminal we headed to the shopping centre looking for a cafe named ‘Eat My Muffin’; a recommendation of the YMCA staff. The lady behind the counter had an aunt living in Canterbury, which made for interesting conversation. I got the distinct impression that this establishment doesn’t get a lot of tourist business; this being the first place we had been in that published its menu only in Norwegian.

Chris had Tea (earl grey, hot) served in a Glass which was too hot to hold and we each had a fantastic muffin; Chris opting for blueberry and me for a concoction known as “Hummingbird “.Leer más