Bergen

Our hotel is across the street from the train station. I intentionally selected the location to minimize the amount of time we would need to be walking around with our bags, apparently presuming that Bergen was a big city, given that it is the 2nd largest city in Norway. I didn’t need to worry – this city is postage-stamp tiny.

After a very hearty breakfast in the hotel (with some of the best grapefruit I’ve had in a long time!), we headed out toward the Fløibanen Funicular. I have a truly unexplainable love for funiculars, and I drag people on them whenever there is one around. I have no idea why, but they just make me happy. Anyway, this funicular is probably the newest one I’ve ever been on (2022), and that was reassuring because it is also one of the steepest. Fløibanen Funicular traverses 299m of vertical gain to take riders to the top of Fløyen (320 m above sea level).

As if the funicular ride alone wasn’t worth the price of admission, the views from the top are also spectacular. What Bergen lacks in size it makes up for in attractiveness.

There were also goats at the top. Why…nobody knows, but they were cute so we stopped to see them anyway. Then back down to town to see more sights.

Bryggens is probably the most picturesque part of Bergen. Much like in Copenhagen, this area is filled with adorable old wooden structures that were historically merchant buildings. In Bergen, they are now mostly converted to little boutique shops and restaurants, although what mostly caught my eye was the notable lack of proper right angles in the buildings.

After strolling past Bryggen, we headed long the waterfront toward Bergenhus Fortress. Along the way, we passed some event where various military members were playing tug-of-war. It sounds like the NATO head is in town, although I can’t say I would know who that was if I stumbled into them, so along we ambled up to the fortress. It”s a cute fortress, but this is not at all like what the Spanish or Portuguese built to protect their shores. And it was mostly closed (see NATO head comment).

The 55 degree weather was delightful, so we stopped for a drink and snack in Bryggen to enjoy the sunshine before heading over to Nordnes peninsula. No particular destination in mind this time, but it was only 2pm and we had already gone through nearly everything I had flagged in the guide book, so we figured we’d get some walking in. Nordnes does offer nice views of the city, a cute little church, and it has some interesting layouts given how hilly it is.

By 5pm, we felt we had pretty much seen all that we wanted to see. There is a cable car that I would’ve marched us all out to if it had been open, but alas, it is closed Mondays. We stopped to grab books from the hotel and then sat by Lille Lungegårdsvann, a small park and lake in the city center. This is clearly a popular place with locals on nice days like today, and I can see why. Very pretty and relaxing.

Bergen is very cute, but I am really not sure how one could fill more than a day here. I suppose there are art museums, but I cannot bring myself to travel halfway around the world to spend all day inside a museum looking at things I can look at online from home. This is just not a huge art fan kind of family.

Tomorrow we have a pretty busy day, with 2 boat rides through a fjord and 2 train rides as part of a Norway in a Nutshell trip. And then we are off to the overnight train back to Oslo for our flights to Svalbard on Wednesday.