Stepping off the edge

In Scotland we learned of the close connection between the Norse and the Scottish, sometimes good (well kinda good) as in the case of royal marriages but often bad in the case of pillage and slaughter.

I’ve wanted to come here for 40 some odd years! I was heading north to Norway when my backpacking journey was cut short by an ankle injury. More on this in my upcoming Salzburg post!

And Keith has Norwegian heritage. His mom Yukola’s descendants were Johnsons, who migrated from Norway to Minnesota and finally to northern Alberta. Everyone seems to have ‘son’ at the end of their last name.

We landed to find an efficient, clean city. In comparison to Scotland, the architecture and design is streamlined as seen below in the Bergen Cathedral, where members of the Church of Norway worship.

We easily found the tram to the city and it wasn’t much of a walk to our hotel. Bergen is compact.

We took a funicular to the top of one of the surrounding hills to catch spectacular views of the city. We were greeted by the first of the many trolls we’d see in town. There were cafes, natural playgrounds for children and walking trails.

The harbour is the centre of the city where you can find restaurants, the fish market, and many fishing boats catching wolf fish and crab and tour boats that take tourists out to the fjords.

This is Bryggen, part of the old town. Some of these buildings originally date to the 1700s.

The Bergenhus Fortress was the Royal Residence. We climbed the steep stairs of the Rosenkrantz Tower which has residential rooms on every floor and a lookout over the harbour.

The distinct architecture of Haakon’s Hall, which was constructed in the mid 13th Century during the reign of King Hakon Hakonnson (1217 – 1263). Dignitaries and royalty continue to be hosted here.