Bergen, Norway

Bergen, the picturesque city on the western part of Norway, which contains a beautiful port and the historic Unesco World Heritage listed Bryggen, and on our list of places to visit in Norway.  And from Voss, about a one and a quarter hour train journey away,     

A very comfortable train journey too.   Comfortable, reclining seats.   Luxury.   Much better than an aircraft.

 We stopped at many stations, all painted yellow.   Must be the standard colour.   Very quaint though.  Great scenery from the windows too, except when we went through the numerous tunnels.

 At last we reached Bergen Central, a very quiet place, but then there were only a few platforms.

 The fish market, very busy, with a variety of fish, and plenty of smoked salmon.   Plus tourists everywhere.

 Vagen Harbour.

 Bryggen, the old wooden town, the drawcard for us and all the other tourists too.  My apologies, the first three buildings are brick.  I should have moved along the road a bit further to capture the wooden buildings.

First stop, the Bryggens Museum, an archaeological museum built on the site of Bergen's first settlement.   The 800 year old foundations, in the photograph below, were found after the buildings in this part of Bryggen were burnt down in 1955.   There were plans to knock down the remainder of the wooden buildings, as they were in poor condition, but the conservationists successfully argued against demolation.

 There was a temporary exhibition on the top floor, an unexpected bonus.   The art work by Karen Bit Vejle, a Danish artist, was fascinating, and very beautiful.   She used ordinary paper, and meticulously cut out pieces of it, in order to create pictures.  They were very delicate, but full of expression and detail.

 I was fascinated by this tree, pruned in autumn, which was only just coming out in leaf.   The rhododendrens were in full flower and provided a lovely back drop to the tree.

 A picturesque street.   Bergen has many beautiful areas, with painted wooden buildings and cobblestone streets.

We wandered around the narrow side streets of Bryggen, wooden buildings and wooden footpaths. I think Bryggen had been burnt down about seven times since it was first built during the 12th and 13th centuries.  The current buildings were built after the fire in 1702.   The reason why the buildings lean was due to a Dutch munitions ship exploding in the harbour, in 1944, which blew off the roofs and shifted the pilings.   However, Bryggen is slowly sinking, about 8mm a year.

 Walter standing in a nearly deserted narrow street.   It was busy, but not unpleasantly so.

 We visited the Hanseatic Museum, which was built in 1704.   The port of Bryggen was one of the four major trading ports of the Hanseatic League, from approximately 1360 to 1761.   The headquarters were in Lubeck in Germany.  The people of Bryggen was initially German, who were not allowed to mix with, marry or have children with, anyone from the local Norwegian population.   However, by the 17th and 18th centuries many Hanseatic traders decided to take out Norwegian nationality.

The buildings of Bryggen were called tenements, and each tenement consisted of several trading houses.   There were no fires, heating or lights allowed in these buildings, due to the high fire risk.   All cooking was done in a building at the back of the tenements.   This was where everyone went to eat hot meals, to warm themselves, have meetings, court sessions and festivities.

The museum contained two such houses, with their storage and processing rooms for stockfish and cod liver oil, as well as offices and dormitories for the people employed there.   Each house was inhabited by a merchant, one journeyman and up to eight apprentices.   Most of the furnishings in the houses have been preserved.

The main reception room, with office to the side.

 The apprentices slept here, two to a bed.   The merchant had two beds, one for winter and one for summer.

All in all, a very interesting and informative day.   And at least I feel now I have some understanding of the Hanseatic League, which had such an influence on trade in Europe, England, Scotland, Ireland, the islands above them, plus Greenland, Finland, and Russia, for four hundred years.

I am so pleased that we made the effort to visit Bergen.