Bergen, Norway

At the end of August, we took our last big trip as a family of four: a seven-day cruise around Norway- the 32nd (Matt and Ashley), 15th (Hazel), and 10th (Anders) country we've visited so far. We departed from Hamburg, Germany and had one day at sea before arriving in Bergen, Norway. The Costa Mediterranea ship was massive and decorated very lavishly- all of the mirrors, colors, and lights was sort of sensory overload. 

Bergen, a former capital of Norway, was the residence of the kings of Norway and grew to be the largest city in Norway due to it's fishing industry. Today, it is the second largest city in Norway (Oslo is the largest) and still thrives. It is tucked between seven mountains and the North sea and rains 270 days a year. As we approached the port of Bergen, the coast, rocky and green,  was scattered with small, colorful houses.

 We had high expectations for this trip, and Bergen met or exceeded every one. We docked near the 16th century Rosenkratz Tower (see Hazel out front dressed as Anna) and Hakon's Hall.

A short walk along the water, lined with beautiful old ships, led us to Bryggen (the wharf lined with colorful houses in a row). 

 We passed through the 300+ year-old fish market (fisketorget) before stopping at the Tourist Information center to pick up Bergen passes. These ended up not really saving us money because Hakon's Hall was closed before we could get to it, but I guess it was convenient not to hassle with bus fare (covered by the passes) later in the morning.

Nearly all parts of the city center we saw were unique and beautiful, even the water drains and buildings housing McDonald's and Starubucks.

Starbucks is on the far right.

I wonder how expensive McDonald's is in Norway.

Norwegian city planners seem to really like these man-made lakes. 

Our first order of business was visiting Fantoft Stave Church on the outskirts of Bergen in an area known as "Paradis". It was originally built in Sogn, Norway in 1150, moved to Fantoft, Norway in 1883, and burnt down in 1992. It was rebuilt here exactly as it was before the fire. While the rest of Europe switched from wood to stone churches much sooner, Norway continued to build these wooden "stave" churches without using a single nail or screw. Apparently there used to be at least 800 of these typical wooden churches in Norway, and today there are about 30 remaining. The vaulted ceilings are shaped like upside-down Viking ship hulls and oddly enough the ornamentation on the exterior reminded us of temples we saw in Japan and Thailand. In fact, it felt a bit like being back in peaceful Japan at a wooden, religious building located in the woods. 

Thanks to a really thorough geneology book on Matt's mother's side of the family, we were able to keep track of how far we were from the homes, wedding sites, and birth places of Matt's Norwegian ancestors at each of our stops. It was pretty special to note that Matt's great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother (Ingebrgt and Sigrid) were married in Sogn in 1870 just before leaving for America. (the same city where this church was originally built seven hundred years earlier; located 14 minutes north of Oslo). Additionally, the stone cross outside of the stave church was originally from Sola, Norway, located in Rogaland, a region where several of Matt's great-grandmother's siblings were born.

We had a picnic lunch at our bus stop (bread, normal cheese, and Norwegian brown cheese, which I could barely eat because it was so strong/tart/strange. And I've never met a cheese I didn't like. Upon returning to the Bergen central bus station, we made our way to the Floibanen  funicular and took a train ride up the side of Mt. Floyen for views of the city and surrounding fjords. Well worth the trip up.

Not only were there really pretty views, but a troll wonderland of sorts. We could have spent an entire day hiking around up here, but we only had time for some playtime and an ice cream/hot chocolate treat.

I picked the most Norwegian looking ice cream I could find for Matt...

It was actually an ice cream ship! 

We did some final souvenir shopping (retail shops and cafes fill the picturesque old buildings) and exploring the Bryggen by entering a narrow passage way from the water front. 

Our last stop was going to be Hakon's hall, but alas, it had closed about an hour earlier. The main draw of seeing this royal banqueting hall for us was to let Hazel pretend she was in Elsa's coronation room, but it was fine to miss it. Our first day in Bergen was simply awesome. I would go back in a heart beat.