TRAVELS: NORWAY (BERGEN)
14:18:00
Our bus departed Stavanger at 9.15 in the morning for Bergen. The journey took approximately 5 hours and we reached Bergen around 2.10pm. This being said, the journey consisted of getting on and off the bus for ferry rides twice. It might have been more exciting if it wasn't raining the whole journey and we weren't sleepy and just wanted to sleep in the bus - so it was a little bit annoying that we had to get off the bus twice (since we were not informed by the bus company that we will have to get on ferries). We couldn't really stay outside to enjoy the sea breeze either because it was raining and cold. However, with all the ferry drama (my being grumpy and my ferry drama, haha), the journey actually felt less than 5 hours before we arrived in Bergen Bus Station.
From Bergen Bus Station, we walked for about 5 minutes to our hotel for check-in (we stayed at Citybox Hotel). After resting for a little while in the hotel room, we headed out to find ourselves something to eat and made our way to the Bergen Fish Market (Fisketorget Bergen). The market sells various fresh local-catch fish and other seafood including whale!
Some fresh salmon!
We ended up eating grilled salmon for our late lunch and also had a little taste of the whale meat! Norway is said to be one of the few countries that harvests whale, and you can taste the whale meat from free samples they provide at the market.
The few slices of the whale meat that we had! (yeap, it looked like beef somehow because its dark brown-ish in color). It actually tasted quite good too!
While planning this trip to Bergen, I had wanted to go up to the Mount Fløyen to see the magnificent view of Bergen city from above. If I had went, I would have probably been able to witness this amazing view (if the day was as sunny and as beautiful as this, that is):
(Image source: Google images)
(Image source: Google images)
The Fløibanen funicular (Image source: Google images)
If you have the opportunity and you're like me, who loves to watch sunsets and views from above, make sure you get into the Fløibanen unicular ride up to Mt. Fløyen for this view! Or if you're more adventurous, you can even hike up! Its going to be well worth it! See here for more info.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so good while we were in Bergen; it was cloudy and a little bit rainy, so my husband and I decided to not go up because we might not see the view due to heavy clouds and the rain.
So thereafter, we decided to walk around Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf in Bergen City. Bryggen is a series of colorful wooden buildings, arranged in long narrow rows facing the harbour and is currently used for commercial/tourist purposes, and is listed as one of the World Cultural Heritage Sites by UNESCO. See here for more info.
Cute and colorful wooden houses of Bryggen.
We went in between the buildings as it was also considered the heritage site from the Hanseatic trading empire in the 14th to 16th century.
Although the buildings have been rebuilt due to a number of fire incidents, the rebuilding has kept the traditional patterns and preserved its main structures that is made of wood to maintain the vernacular building traditions. (Even the stairs were slanting due to it being such old construction method - I think. haha) :P
And we even found a nice little green wall just behind the Bryggen buildings. Sooo pretty!
The day was getting darker and colder as it became late that evening, so we decided to head back to the hotel for the night and pack our bags ready to leave the next morning.
I fell asleep once a while during the train ride and once I woke up and looked outside, to my surprise, there were snow-capped mountains and some icy parts of lakes! At first I didn't believe my eyes and thought that I was dreaming because I was pretty certain we were in mid-July. haha. I then learnt that we were passing the high mountain plateau at Myrdal. Myrdal Station is located in a mountain pass at 867 meters above mean sea level - no wonder there were still snow in that part of the country.
Note: Please don't mind the poor quality of these photos as they were taken on the moving train and using only my phone. I was enjoying just staring at the view I couldn't be bothered to take my camera out. haha.
The Bergen Railway is part of the world famous train journeys; because of its steep gradient and picturesque nature, the Bergen Railway is one of the most exciting and scenic train lines in the world. Other than the Bergen Railway, you can also take a train ride on the famous Flåm Railway; one of the steepest railway in the world (80% of the journey having 5.5% gradient). The Flåm Railway also runs through spectacular mountain views, waterfalls, the fjords, and offers panoramic landscape of Norwegian countryside landscape and many more. These cross-country train rides have become one of Norway's best attractions.
Thank you Norway for the great adventure! :)
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