Bergen?
I still don’t know why the sign outside the airport says Bergen with a question mark! If someone knows please can you tell me? I flew out to Bergen in January 2018, to visit my travel buddies I met in Cambodia the summer before. I was so excited to be reunited with my girls and they couldn’t wait to show me around! They are both originally from Oslo, but moved to Bergen to study, so maybe another trip to Norway is in order and tick off another city?
Tickets booked with: eDreams
Where I stayed: With April & Mia
How many nights: 4
Budget: 200 Krones Spending Money
Bergen highlights:
Mount Floyen
I absolutely LOVE climbing mountains, no matter how sweaty and out of breath I get. It does however take me twice as long because I need to take breaks and stop to take photos and really soak it all in!
This climb was no different and I can only thank my muse Mia for being patient with me. It was just too beautiful to race to the top and not take note of all the different view points and sign posts, warning us not to feed the witches?!
The Climb
Getting up to the viewpoint isn’t the hardest climb there is, but I did need to stop every now and then, being an asthmatic who forgot to bring her inhaler! There were old people power walking their way up and there are plenty of routes that lead to other mountains and trails that you could follow. Amazingly enough, there is a school almost near the top!! Now that is one hell of a commute!
At the top there is a little gift shop and cafe, where we treated ourselves to waffles and hot chocolate as the snow began to fall. It was almost magical. I’d give anything to have a view this stunning to escape to whenever I wanted.
Art Gallery
There were so many buildings in this art gallery that you get a 3 day pass to go back as many times as you can. My favourite exhibition was by an artist called Chicaru Shiota. She is Japanese installation artist born in 1972 in Osaka.
This piece of work really blew us away and we spent half our day gazing up at the red threads surrounding us in this room.
So Many Paintings!
I’ve never understood modern art all that much, but when it comes to paintings I can stare at them for hours. Being an artist myself, I find working with oil paints so unbelievable difficult that it amazes me how they manage to paint these masterpieces the way that they do.
It was fascinating to look at paintings done hundreds of years ago of Bergen back then, and being able to see exactly where you’re staying in the city! Not much has changed apparently and the layout of the town is almost identical.
My favourite painting however, was this cow. She/He had a flower crown which made me think, I wonder if this is where Snapchat got their inspiration for their signature filter 🙂 There is so much expression in her (I’m going with female) face. So sassy!
Hanseatic Museum
It was my last day, and I had originally planned to go and climb another mountain, however I missed out because I stupidly had not checked the weather beforehand. It was far too cloudy for me to go alone so instead I wandered around town and ended up at this little museum just off the town square.
If anyone is planning a visit I suggest you get there before October 2018 as it is being closed for 6 YEARS due to restoration.
The Hanseatic Trading Office was built in 1702 after a fire burnt down nearly the entire town, and is the only building in the area that has preserved its interior design. The Hanseatics were unmarried merchants and had to live in celibacy as long as they lived in the area.
No lights or fires were permitted indoors after the great fire, so the museum is still quite dark inside to replicate how the merchants lived here. Their store rooms were in the same house, on the ground floors. The bedrooms and offices are upstairs. An entire wall is built as a shutter so that they could open it and do their selling and trading to the passers by below!
I spent a good hour just walking around and marvelling at the genius of these beds. Who wants to play a game of hide a seek? 😉
Also yes, I will begin building my own bunkbed with doors soon and update you all. #mission2018
The museum is genuinely one of the most interesting I’ve ever been to and I would recommend a trip if you have a couple of hours spare.
Have you been to Bergen before? What were your favourite bits? Where else in Norway would you recommend for my next visit? Let me know in the comments!