Seven Mountains City
Our Stop today is at the second-largest Norwegian city, Bergen. A city surrounded by mountains located on the west coast of Norway, also known as ‘’ The city of Seven Mountains.’’
Bergen is the gateway to the Fjords and also part of UNESCO World Heritage. This city combines modern aspects with the historical culture Norway cultivates, it doesn’t have the small city feel like Stavanger, for example, but still keeps its character shown in many wooden houses structures, something that really captivated me here.
A postcard picture
A certain postcard picture is the colorful Facade of Bryggen, which leads us to our first main tourist attraction when visiting Bergen. Built in the 14th century, these buildings are of extreme importance for the city, culturally and economically; also protected by UNESCO, it houses restaurants, cafes, small museums, and some shops.
This is a great place to seat down for a meal or coffee, wander around some souvenir shops and take beautiful pictures.
My favorite spot in Bergen
The day we went out to known the city, just next to where our ship docked, we already encountered the colorful wooden houses. I simply loved them. It is like a small village with narrow streets, it transported me to another epoch. I can say this was my favorite part of the city.
The National Theater
Den Nationale Scene, in English known as The National Theater, was opened back into the 1850’s and It is the biggest Theatre, also the oldest lasting Theatre in town. The building is surrounded by a garden bringing a lot of colors and life. It is for sure a stop by for great pictures and sightseeing when in Bergen.
Museum of Decorative Art
This Renaissance Revival structure exists since 1887, it was merged with Bergen Art Museum and it houses one of the most unique assembly of Chinese art. The Entrance to this Museum will cost you 150 Nok (Norwegian currency), around 15 Euros for adults and Children under 18 are entrance free. For further information, access the link: https://kodebergen.no/
There are four buildings to be visited Kode 1, 2, 3 and 4. We haven’t visited the inside of the Museums, but we recommend you to visit it. The place has really good reviews and many people truly enjoy their experience, besides, entrance price is pretty affordable comparing to other places in Europe, for example.
This Part of Bergen brings a bit more history into a modern town. Here we found many tourists taking pictures and advantage of this green area.
St. John’s Church
We also stopped by the biggest Church in the city, with 1250 sits. St. Johns Church was built between 1891 and 1894 and it is a Gothic-revival style Church. Its 61 meters tall tower also makes it the highest in town.
The outdoor fish market
It was a foggy day and light rain in the morning, a bit cold too, a few hours later the sun came out, by that time we had reached an outdoor fish market, a very interesting place to see in Bergen.
The coastline is long and there are a lot of fishing boats and ferries. In the market, I was very impressed with the quantity of fresh seafood and fruits. They had huge water tanks with gigantic crabs, I haven’t seen crabs this big before.
You can also have your fresh seafood meal at the market, they cook it in front of you, as fresh as it gets, a pretty exciting thing to do, for a change of the regular restaurant ambient.
Not far from there, you could see a souvenir street market, with hand made clothes characteristics from the area and the famous Norwegian Trolls, a symbol of Norway.
Visit the seven mountains
As the name says Seven Mountains, also means you can visit them. The closest mountain you can go, near the center is called Fløyen. You can admire a panoramic gorgeous view of the city. We didn’t go to any of the mountains but with spare time I can guarantee is worth seeing it.
Cruise to nearby cities
Small cruises can take you to other nearby cities, It`s also a great way to explore other sights and places of Norway, including the Fjords. For a more complete experience and longer voyage, there are daily cruises that takes you along the whole Norwegian coast. Also highly recommended.
Shopping in Bergen
I particularly like Bergen, as a more modern city, for shopping is great. You will be able to find many popular known brands and stores, as well local shops.
Norway has many interesting stores, is a great place to buy winter clothing, like water prove jackets, or paints, also many fur products, shoes or fancy fur coats, even bags. Didn’t find them expensive considering their quality.
Local currency and Prices
I must mention that Norwegian cities aren’t very cheap. I found prices pretty expensive, regarding food and drinks in Norway. I would suggest you keep that in mind when traveling, especially if you are traveling on a tight budget. The local currency is Kroni and 1 $ dollar equals 8.40 Krones.
Again here, we stopped for coffee because we needed WiFi, but still, coffee is a no-go for me in Norway.
Conclusion
Besides not finding a cup of coffee I like, I really enjoyed Bergen. Due to our lack of free time we missed some other good touristic points available. Yet, our exploring time was enriched once again by breathing new air and discovering one more city of Norway.
I hope you have a lovely time when visiting Bergen.
Happy trip!
