Travel
For more Bergen travel tips and ideas, you can check out VisitBergen.com
- A Trip Into The Past. Wandering Through The Old Bergen Museum
When we first decided to include Scandinavia on our InterRail itinerary, we literally expected to see wooden houses and nothing but wooden houses. We weren't prepared for Oslo's beautiful but brick made buildings for example. Therefore we started...
- Having Fun In Bergen: Hiking Mount Floyen (a Photo Essay)
Mount Floyen is one of those places where you can take a deep breath and the whole world becomes a happier place. On our 3rd day in Bergen we took the funicular up the Mount Floyen, where we enjoyed some amazing views over the city and hiked through the...
- Fish Your Food At Bergen Fish Market
After visiting the souvenir market, we went to the fish market just across the street. The fish market is situated by the harbor and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen, and though it wasn't as huge as we expected it to be, I believe its charm...
- From Oslo To Bergen & Some Nice Surprises Awaiting Us Upon Arrival
It was the 17th day of our Interrail trip... We left Oslo for Bergen in the morning... The train rushed by lakes, lonely wooden houses, streams, waterfalls, enchanted forests, snow covered mountains and through never-ending tunnels, for 7 beautiful...
- Our 10 Favorite Photos From Bergen, Norway
As part of our 1 month InterRail trip through Europe, we spent 3 beautiful days in Bergen, as Guests of Honor of Bergen Tourism Board. During this period, we literally took thousands of photos, but after a quick look, these are our favorite so far. Osterfjord ...
Travel
Bergen: The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen
It was the 18th day of our Interrail trip...
First thing in the morning we decided to go on a guided tour of the UNESCO Heritage Site of Bryggen. Situated just next to the harbor, the colorful facades are the highlight of the city, and one of the most emblematic images in whole Norway.
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen in Bergen |
When we decided to visit Scandinavia, I already had a well formed image of the architecture of the cities here and I totally expected wooden houses everywhere. While that might be the case in smaller towns (I don't really know), the big cities we visited, were bound to frustrate my expectations. The wooden houses more or less harmoniously mingle with more modern brick and concrete buildings. I guess, you travel, you learn. And sometimes the myriad of photos that find their way to the internet, can be misleading.
So yeah, I was over excited to visit the old wooden houses of Bryggen, even though I was feeling pretty sick that day and it was pouring down with rain. Bryggen is like a city within a city. Founded almost a millennium ago, the history of Bergen started in Bryggen and really got interesting in the 14th century when the Hanseatic League - a guild of German merchants - set up one of their offices here.
The tour started inside Bryggen Museum where our guide revealed to us the early history of Bergen. Parts of the old wooden bridges that gave the name of Bryggen to this site were excavated and are still in their original place. The Museum was built on top of them.
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| Bryggen Museum |
Then we followed on the narrow alleys towards the gigantic statue of the cod, the fish the Hanseatic League's business was based on.
Because of frequent fires, people were not allowed to lit not even a candle inside the houses (neither for heating purposes nor for lighting the house during the long dark winters). I can't even begin to imagine how cold and depressing life was for hundreds of years. The Dark Ages must have had an even darker meaning here.
But there were, of course, exceptions - the common kitchen and the meeting hall where business was conducted - though these two were situated somehow at the edge of the city, so the chances of burning down the whole town would be diminished.
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| The kitchen |
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| Hanseatic Museum |
However, my favorite part o the tour was the Hanseatic Museum, decorated in the spirit of a 18th century merchant house. The Hanseatic League was a man only society, therefore the interior design wasn't their strong point. All in all, I was even surprised to find curtains in the windows and painted chairs. And definitely I didn't get how the shutters with heart shaped carvings (picture below) found their way in this society. On the other side, the beer barrel the master had to 'protect' from its students, totally makes sense in a world stripped of any kind of warmth.
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| Hanseatic Museum |
This is where the boys in training were sleeping, two in each bed to keep each other warm. These beds are a weird combination between bunk beds and coffins and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the capsule hotels in Japan draw their inspiration from here. Also the first pinup girl is to be found on the inner wall of one of these beds. The living conditions were harsh here and all people had were dreams...
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| Hanseatic Museum |
As the merchants got rich, they would sometimes buy the nearby house and expand their wealth. When the house at the right or left wasn't available, but the one in front was, they would buy it just the same and build a bridge between the two houses.
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| Narrow alley in Bryggen |
Walking the little streets of Bryggen is an interesting but disturbing experience. From the wooden pavement of the alleys, to the fact that many of these houses are still in use today as shops, this is not exactly what I was expecting from a UNESCO site, even more so that after the 1955's fire, many of the buildings had to be reconstructed (in the image and likeness of the original ones).
Nevertheless, the Bryggen guided tour was a wealth of information, and we strongly recommend it. It's an extremely interesting history lesson that helps you put things in perspective and gives weight to the place. We didn't obviously go on all tours on offer in Bergen, so we can't make an exhaustive comparison, but we simply can't imagine having left Bergen without going on this one.
By the time we finished the tour we found this cute cat sleeping on a table in Bryggen. My universe suddenly shifted 180º and my feelings of sickness were ancient history. I petted and petted the big fur-ball without really managing to get a reaction from it. I've never seen a more still cat in my life. My husband even asked if it was real. It must have had the thickest fur ever, and that was impending my petting to get through to it.
For more Bergen travel tips and ideas, you can check out VisitBergen.com
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You can also see our month long Interrail itinerary and read our tips for traveling Europe with an Interrail pass. Have you used an Interrail pass before or are you planning an Interrail trip in the near future? Please leave us your feedback. It means the world to us.
Though we used the Interrail Global Pass for our journey, it's worth noting that single country passes are also available.
- A Trip Into The Past. Wandering Through The Old Bergen Museum
When we first decided to include Scandinavia on our InterRail itinerary, we literally expected to see wooden houses and nothing but wooden houses. We weren't prepared for Oslo's beautiful but brick made buildings for example. Therefore we started...
- Having Fun In Bergen: Hiking Mount Floyen (a Photo Essay)
Mount Floyen is one of those places where you can take a deep breath and the whole world becomes a happier place. On our 3rd day in Bergen we took the funicular up the Mount Floyen, where we enjoyed some amazing views over the city and hiked through the...
- Fish Your Food At Bergen Fish Market
After visiting the souvenir market, we went to the fish market just across the street. The fish market is situated by the harbor and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen, and though it wasn't as huge as we expected it to be, I believe its charm...
- From Oslo To Bergen & Some Nice Surprises Awaiting Us Upon Arrival
It was the 17th day of our Interrail trip... We left Oslo for Bergen in the morning... The train rushed by lakes, lonely wooden houses, streams, waterfalls, enchanted forests, snow covered mountains and through never-ending tunnels, for 7 beautiful...
- Our 10 Favorite Photos From Bergen, Norway
As part of our 1 month InterRail trip through Europe, we spent 3 beautiful days in Bergen, as Guests of Honor of Bergen Tourism Board. During this period, we literally took thousands of photos, but after a quick look, these are our favorite so far. Osterfjord ...