I wanted to visit Norway for a very long time. The beauty of fjords, lakes, waterfalls, mountains small cottages. Bergen was a preludium to all of that. I spent three days there with my friends, but it was enough to experience the wonders that Norway has to offer.
Bergen is unreal. It is the second largest city in Norway but it has only 280,000 inhabitants. It lies on the western fjords of Norway by the sea, but its hidden behind a series of smaller isles that blocks the view to the open sea. The sea can only be seen from the mountain tops. The geography of Bergen is peculiar, the city sprawled between a number of high mountains that surround it and the peaks are visible from everywhere so there's no chance of forgetting where you are. The city was supposedly founded in 1070 by king Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, what means "the green meadow among the mountains". A fair name, I must admit. It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and as a bureau city to the Hanseatic League. It was the largest city until Christiania (Oslo) surpassed it in 19th century.
Even when strong trading traditions of Bergen faded a bit, but what remained was a unesco-sited old town that still attracts a bunch of tourists. And trade as well. Its greatest value lies in the picturesque architecture and mindblowing nature that surrounds it, so let me show you.
Walking the streets I got an impression that the whole city consists of small houses, rarely higher than 3-4 storeys. Facades are painted in all colours of the rainbow but their shades are picked so carefully so that they all go together well. It was very aesthetically pleasing, so clean and so well maintained.
Norway might give away an aura of gloom at first (mostly due to the weather) but I'd rather say that it's what adds a specific charm to it.
What can be easily assumed, the old quarters are located by the harbour.
Now, the major landmark of the area is Bryggen - a set of reconstructed wooden buildings of Hanseatic herritage. Their facades line up on the eastern side of Vagen harbour where in the back there's a maze of passages, storage buildings etc forming a micro-city within a block. They were mostly commercial buildings with bars, pubs, merchant shops. It didn't change much, because now most of the venues were turned into giftshops, barbers and a club.
Technically Bryggen was raised in the XIVth century, however it was destroyed by fire a number of times, and reconstructed again and again. Right now the oldest ones are from around 1700, while some stone cellars beneath the edifices date back to the 1500s.
We followed the road leading out from Bryggen to the docks. The atmosphere changed a lot, as we passed all the marine facilities in the blue hour in the rain. It wasn't the most pedestrian-friendly area in the world, but It gave out that industrial side of Bergen, a bit.
In November it was completely dark for most of the day. However, from the waterfront the city was lit very nicely. Night strolls were very enjoyable, I must say. But yeah, we didn't enjoy any drinks nor meals downtown, for obvious budget reasons. But people who could afford dinner in a restaurant - it looked very cozy and nice.
The following day we took a bus to Fantoft settlement. It used to be a seperate village many years ago, but now it has been merged into Bergen's municipality. It had a few interesting sights so I was very glad that we went there, it had a different vibe than the centre, more... profoundly natural? Rural? Medieval? It's hard to describe in the right words.
We started by visiting Fantoft Stavkirke. To get there we followed a small path through a forest straight out of a fantasy novel. The leaves already fell off the trees but there was a delicate mist that hovered over the earth covered in golden and brownish leaves. It was magical, I had the impression that a mysterious elf or a hooded rider on a black horse would emerge at any second.
The church itself was great. It is a Stave church, a type of a wooden church very common in Norway. Unfortunately, it is not a genuine structure as the original church was burned down by members of norwegian black metal scene in 1992. Perhaps it is not the original one, but it still looks amazing, with the dragon-like detailing carved in solid wood. It has a strong connection with northern mythology.
Next we walked through Fantoft neighborhood to get from the church to the castle. This area was located on a relatively high altitude, so occasionally we saw some awesome views.
The castle looked like a minature of Walt Disney's castle. Sadly, one side was being renovated, but it didn't prevent it from looking dashing, really. Gamlehaugen is its royal name and it is the residence of the Norwegian Royal Family in Bergen. Its history dates back to the middle ages, and its ownership was passed between many wealthy men of Bergen. It is standing tall on a hill and overlooking a fjord, the mansion is surrounded by gardens.
On that day we were told that Bergen was celebrating a festival of light., and a firework show was scheduled. Therefore, we were advised to go up floyen hill and watch the show from above. Many people did the same, it was worth it.
Floyen is a hill closest to the city centre and it's quite easily accessible, either by a funicular or by foot. We decided to walk, from two different routes.
Then, we spent an entire day walking up Ulriken mountain. It was quite an adventure, I am not a mountain climber and Ulriken was a mountain of 643m over sea level (and we started off 100 or something).
I think this might me my favourite experience from the whole trip. The trail lead through a few totally different kinds of forest, plains, rocky wastelands. I was amazed. Actually, the most common way to ascend the mountain is by cable car, or my concrete steps that lead straight to the top. The trail that we took, was a slightly off-road one, and we most likely wouldn't have known about it if one of my friends didn't have a friend who lived in Bergen and advised us to take this one.
We began with taking a bus to a neighborhood that was close to the beginning of the trail.
On the last few hours that I had left, I walken on old fishermen's quarters. Having a walk among small adorable houses with white siding was something utterly norwegian, that was a good good-bye to this lovely place.
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piekne zdjecia, ze smakiem!
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