Discovering More Interesting Places in Bergen, Norway

Monday was our final full day in Bergen. it was a chance to see some of the things we had missed to this point. We wanted to take full advantage of our time so we were up and ready early in the day.

Our first order of business was to figure out where we were going the next day to board our cruise ship. We mapped out the route we would take and then followed it. It turns out the first section was up a rather steep hill. We were not convinced we could handle that with our luggage. Then the route followed a narrow cobblestone path down between houses. It was an interesting path, but cobblestone is not a friendly material over which to drag suitcases.

When we got down to the terminal, a steady stream of people were coming out. We saw a huge cruise ship docked, and the people were all coming off the ship into town. The size of the boat was overwhelming. It was not a ship that we would be comfortable cruising on as it was too large.

After finding the boarding area and checking everything out, we decided we needed some coffee. Although we had our breakfast at the hotel, Silvette wanted a good cup of coffee. We found a local coffee company and recharged over coffee. The coffee place had a nice atmosphere with people around us working and relaxing. The coffee was great.

Energized again we headed in the direction of a park we had seen on our arrival the first day. The park was a beautiful setting and at the far end of the park was a beautiful old building. In the center of the park is a statue of Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer and pianist. The ornate building is part of KODE, an arts organization with sites for both visual arts and music performances around Bergen.

I looked up the street and saw what looked like a church so I went to investigate it. Indeed it was a church, St. Paul’s Church. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to discern anything about the church other than it also has a school attached to it. An internet search later revealed it to be a Catholic church.

We walked back toward the large pool with a fountain near the park we visited earlier. On the way we passed a concert hall dedicated to Edvard Grieg named Grieghallen. It had a unique style to it.

We arrived at the large pond and found a dry bench to sit and eat our lunch. From our bench we indulged in some people watching, always an enlightening activity in any country.

I wanted to head over to the church we had seen on Saturday which had been closed. However, they were working on a section of the light rail, and they had closed the nearby street. It took us a while to get around it. We wandered through a neighborhood and ended up at the train station. A train station is always an interesting location in a European city.

Eventually we did make it to the Bergen Cathedral. There was a small fee to go inside. The church has a long history. In the foyer are portraits of some of the bishops of the church over the years. The church was originally built as a Catholic church, but after the Reformation it was turned into a Protestant church. The decor was pretty sparse. They did have some unique contemporary art in the church and a very nice pipe organ.

Leaving the church we wandered around some of the back streets in this area. There seemed to be a restaurant on every block.

Eventually we made our way over to Bergenhus Fortress which we had visited on Saturday. I had decided I wanted to tour the banquet hall area as it looked so much like a church from the outside. The lower levels of the structure were apparently for prisoners. Now it just contains various rooms in which they arranged some tables and chairs. While it is currently bright and white, I can image it wasn’t so nice used as a prison.

Upstairs was the king’s banquet hall. This was actually an interesting space. In the front on a platform were chairs for the royal family to sit during a banquet. The ceiling was quite unique and beautiful. However, I didn’t feel that it was worth the entrance price just to see this large hall.

We continued to walk past the fortress and discovered another large cruise ship docked there. This dock also offered views of a different part of Bergen that we normally couldn’t see from the main city core. While we were there, a couple of guys were fishing off the dock. One of them pulled in his line with two fish on it. He had caught one pretty good sized fish.

We returned to the city old town area. I saw two towers sticking up as we walked along so I went in that direction to see what it was. It turned out to be another church, St. Mary’s Church, a well preserved medieval church. It is considered the oldest structure in Bergen. The church charges a fee to visit. However, when I came in, the attendant said there was only eight minutes left before closing so he didn’t charge me. I took a quick tour around the building.

There are two significant pieces in the church. One is the altar piece which is quite a piece of art that seems to include a number of icons. The second piece is the rather elaborate pulpit which seems out of place with the rest of the church’s rather simple interior. At the back of the sanctuary is the pipe organ which is beautiful in its own right. I was glad I had noticed the church and made it inside in time to get a look around.

Bt this time we were getting tired and feeling like it was time to head back to the hotel. There was one more item on our to do list, however, which was to buy an art piece representing Bergen. We had seen a number of pieces we had liked so we needed to head back to the Bryggen area to make a final decision and purchase.

We also stopped at an interesting spot, an old phone booth. Rather than tear these old phone booths out, the city turned them into little sharing libraries. Great idea. I also got a photo of the funicular and the viewpoint we had hiked to yesterday. Funiculars seem fairly common in Europe. We have seen one in Porto, Portugal, Dresden, Germany, and Barcelona, Spain.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a grocery store which had a salad bar. We put together a salad for ourselves for dinner. Tomorrow we would begin our cruise up the coast of Norway.

Has anyone else traveled to Bergen? What is your favorite part of the town? What did we miss on our visit? I’d love to hear about your experiences.