Bergen, Norway

Our First Full Day in Norway!

We boarded the ship yesterday, and today we have a full day to enjoy this city before sailing at 5:30 p.m. We had signed up for two excursions - the included one called Panoramic Bergen and then one called Nordic Walking in Bergen. 

We picked an early time - 8:30 a.m. and it was not an issue. We had slept so well and were up and ready to go. It was mainly a bus tour of the city, with several stops where we could get out and take photos.

Bergen was founded in 1070 and was built on what was a Viking settlement. It's the second largest city in Norway and was its capital for many centuries. It was also a member of the Hanseatic league - a merchant powerhouse with ports throughout the Baltic. As I've said before, I have so much more to learn.

The most famous landmark in Bergen is the Bryggen wharf - a UNESCO site of historic wooden buildings that were once used by the Hanseatic league - they were Germans (men and their sons) who lived in this area and they lived a totally separate life from the rest of the Bergen residents. They dealt with the Dried Cod trade among other goods. They had their own church and just behind that, a red-light district where they would entertain themselves in the evening. Hopefully the sons were made to stay home.

Fire has been a huge issue in Bergen - everything is built out of wood and the town has burned many, many times. Although they keep rebuilding, and keep using wood as it is very plentiful here in Norway. Yes, even the fire department building is made of wood.

Our bus tour was quick, and we stayed in the wharf area to walk around a bit - it was a Sunday and not many stores were open (except some souvenir shops). And we then walked back to the ship (a ten minute walk) and not a minute too soon as the clouds opened up when we were within 1000 feet of the ship.

Bergen is the rainiest city in the world!! And their sister city in America is Seattle! Well - it's living up to its name. But we saw the weather ahead of our travels and had no expectations as to the weather.

Here's a view of Bergen from our afternoon hike:

Our afternoon tour would keep us outside, hiking with walking sticks. Well by 3pm it was not raining, so we headed off the ship to meet our guide. A young, good-looking young man (aged 22) from Arizona!! But living in Norway on a school exchange. We were all dressed for the weather and headed out for what would be a walk through the town and then onto an established walking path that took us up above the town for beautiful views. He was very informative and patient. It did start raining soon after we began and I took him up on his offer of a poncho to go over my existing raincoat. Happy to say that halfway through, the rain stopped, the sky brightened a bit and I took off the poncho and tossed it in the garbage.

The walk was lots of fun - we definitely walked up many steps and inclined pathways. Ed hung in there and did well. He wasn't always at the back of the line. The flowers and flowering trees are beautiful. We passed by a lovely, small waterfall. The waterfalls in Norway are unbelievable. You'll see more of that in later blogs.

And when we reached the top, we headed back down. This part of the walk presented us with a downhill, rocky, dirt covered path with lots of stones, rocks and uneven ground to navigate - probably the worst of it, but again - everyone did fine and we lived to tell our tales. I have to say I enjoyed the walking sticks and would consider using them again.

As we sailed away from Bergen, the sun came out - a good sign!

A busy but good first day. Dinner was delicious, as always. We made it to the evening show where the Captain introduced himself and the rest of his officers. And another night of sleep was a welcome end to a great day!

Tomorrow - Geiranger and the Fjords!

A side note interesting story: If you remember from my Greek Odyssey Cruise blog, I had neglected to bring the proper SD card for my camera so I could easily add pictures to my Chromebook and upload to the blog. Well this time I remembered the correct SD card BUT forgot to bring my battery charger for my good Canon 35 mm camera. I was seriously upset by that. But then I thought well maybe I can find someone on board who has a 35 mm camera and their charger will match mine. We chatted with a couple of folks on the first day and they were very helpful; however, their charger did not match mine. We used the phone camera for the first day as it was quite rainy at times. And the same issue, sending photos from the phone to my email doesn't always work.

Yesterday, we were on the tender returning to the ship in the afternoon. A man got on board and headed straight for us and said, I think I need to sit next to you! A good first line - as I said, folks are so friendly. So we got to chatting and I noticed his Canon camera!! So I shared my dilemma and sure enough, his camera battery matches mine. What are the odds? Why did he head to sit next to us on the tender? So Rick, from Iowa, is my new best friend. When we got back onboard, I headed to his stateroom and delivered my camera battery to him. I retrieved it back today (Tuesday the 14th) and I'm set. And, of course, I can reach out to him again later in the cruise if I need another charge. Wow!!

There will be more pictures in future blogs as I will be back to using the good camera!