Happy New Year!
The New Years celebrations in Bergen went well into the night. There were fireworks in the centre of town, and plenty of firecrackers around the streets that went well into the night.
We kicked off the morning with a pre-dawn run – back by 9:30! This is a harbour town, although we quickly realised that this would be a hill session whichever way we turned! Of course, hills = views, and it was nice to see the lights of the town down below. It’s also great to find the little things in a town that make you smile… a playground with a permanent slack line, and a ‘Plantation Station’ in the middle of a local street!
The old wharf, ‘Bryggen’, is one of the most recognisable places in Bergen. The Hanseatic League established a trading office in Bergen in the 1300s, and the current characteristic old wooden houses were built in the 1700s. The area has been World Heritage listed since 1979, with major projects to restore the buildings since 2000.
We decided that a fjord cruise was a good way to spend New Years Day, with few museums and sights open. The supply ships that service the North Sea oil rigs were in the harbour as we headed out. The ships are HUGE, including one with a helipad on the front. This is big business for the region.
The Nordhordlandsbrua (Nordhordland Bridge) is pretty cool. It’s a combined cable-stayed (think Green Bridge) and pontoon bridge. It’s interesting to see a bridge that is so different on each side!
We headed into Osterfjorden. The fjords look completely different in green, rather than the snow-covered hills that we saw in Svolvær. Trivia… there are about 1200 fjords in Norway. The coastline is about 29,000km including fjords, but would only be 2,500km if they were excluded. Apparently most fjords are on the western side of land, due to the impact of wind on glaciers.
There are houses and little villages dotted along the fjords. I’d love to understand who lives there, and what they do – some seem incredibly remote!
The fjord continued up to Mostraumen and on to Modalen. Beautiful spots on the edge in narrow fjords, with waterfalls cascading from above. What a spot.
After our visit to the fish market yesterday, dinner in this harbour town had to be fish. We enjoyed the best mussels that we’ve ever had, plus cod, halibut and the turbot that Andrew photographed yesterday…
Tomorrow the forecast is for rain, so I suspect it will be a museum day again!
Love M & theBunch x
Sun: 9:44 – 15:40
Temperature: 6-7, wind 11km/h
Comments are closed