Day 492: Westwards to Bergen

Today we left the epic scenery of the fjords and headed west for the coastline at Bergen, Norway's second-largest city. Drive was about 3 hours, and we stopped for McDonalds on the outskirts of the city for lunch - one of the first we've seen! Very few western fast-food restaurants here in Norway, not sure why.

The World Heritage site is an old docklands area in downtown Bergen, where there were originally hundreds of warehouses and merchant offices, since mostly lost to fire. This is where a huge trade was done in dried fish from northern Norway, traded for grains and other foodstuffs from central Europe. As always, the Hanseatic League was at the centre of it, so it was interesting to see them pop back up again after all the sites we'd seen in Germany.

It's quite a small site, and though we did the two museums and had a good wander around, we were basically done within a couple of hours. Had an afternoon snack at the fish markets, including a bit of whale salami.

Late afternoon we headed to our apartment - yes, an apartment! Shandos had found a place on Airbnb that was cheaper than a typical cabin, and included parking. Just a basic studio apartment, but more than enough for us! Felt like absolute luxury after almost a month in a tent.Read more