A soggy welcome from Norway’s second largest city. Bergen with a population of a quarter of a million has 300 rainy days per year. It is heavily tourists especially with mega cruise ships due to its beautiful, compact historical centre. Arguably the prettiest city in Norway.
We farewell our luxurious cabin on the Polaris for the last time with an element of sadness. The cruise has exceeded all expectations helped on with an amazing unseasonal run of sunny weather. Disembarking we are faced with a monster cruise ship from MSC lines apparently 4300 passengers. Our plucky little vessel is dwarfed by this behemoth.
Again we hit the ground running in spite of our mid afternoon arrival spurred on by the weather forecast of deteriorating conditions tomorrow. First stop is the cable car up for the mountaintop view over Bergen and the surrounding fjords. We arrived with a few minutes of photography before the wind springs up and the rain pelts down.
Back at Bergen street level the rain has eased and we wander through the old town centered on the harbourside are called Bryggen. In 1360 the German Hanseatic league set up a wharf and buildings here and this town became the hub for all trade in and out of Norway. Today these picture postcard buildings are UNESCO listed and caters to the booming tourist trade here.
With another day here my plan was to pay homage to Norway’s most famous composer Edvard Grieg, composer of the famous Peer Gynt suite.
His house is 20 minutes drive out of Bergen at Troldhagen and is set in a beautiful garden setting overlooking a fjord. It is now a memorial museum. I started researching how to get out there and then went onto their website for opening hours. You can imagine my mood when their website said the museum closed 3 weeks ago for major renovations! Not happy but nothing I can do so after some initial disappointment comes resignation.
