The last port on our trip. One nice thing about this cruise is you actually get a day and night in port at each end of the trip. So, our last night on the ship was in port, in Bergen.
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, after Oslo, but still fairly small. It's ringed by seven hills and is sprawled out around the harbor and hills.
It just flat-out poured in Bergen our first day there, but we did dodge the rain and venture out, anyway.
Soggy day one.
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| Soggy shopping area |
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| Soggy, fancy manhole cover |
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| Soggy school kids in safety vests |
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| Soggy Hanseatic League Museum |
The Hanseatic League was something I had never heard of before, but was a really big deal for several hundred years in Northern Europe. Basically, it was a German "mob" based in Hamburg/Bremen that organized and controlled trading in Northern Europe. They set up trading houses in all the major ports, and in a few, set up their own enclaves. All the trading house work was done by Germans, speaking German. Shipping was contracted out and organized by the League. All trading was barter with debts and surpluses often handed down through the generations. It was all very successful and the League even managed to fight off pirates now and again.
There is a museum of the trading house in Bergen. A good place to keep from getting soggy.
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| Sleeping accommodations were based on rank. Lower level guys had to double up in the bunks. |
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| Main parlor for conducting business |
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| Ledgers |
The whole thing wound down when nation-states rose in power, banks and money replaced barter, and the stockfish market collapsed after the reformation because protestants ate meat on Friday. (Really!) But, for hundreds of years, it made the economies of cities from England to Russia to Norway work.
The last night on the ship featured two unique things. We watched as a Belgium destroyer arrived and was docked by a couple tugs.
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| Small port. Large ship. Lots of traffic |
Later, one of the tugs nestled up our ship and kept it snug against the pier....all night....outside our cabin.
The second day was better. We sadly said goodbye to the ship and headed for our hotel and dumped the luggage. Time for a Fjord cruise. A make-up call for not doing one in Eidfjord or Stavanger. Later, a ride up the funicular to one of the seven hills.
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| Fjord tour boat |
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| Leaving Bergen |
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| Bergen suburbs |
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| Cool combo floating bridge and single tower cable stay bridge |
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| Recent rain meant lots of waterfalls along the way |
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| More rainbows |
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| Narrows leading to the upper part of the fjord. Used to be a lake and natural dam, but the dam failed and it's now just a single fjord. |
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| Hood up mirror selfie |
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| Town at the end of the fjord |
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| The boat got close enough to feel the spray |
Off the boat, we took the funicular then did some dry(er) sightseeing in town.
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| Going up! |
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| Have they had a recent problem? |
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| The Viking Star and the former Stockholm (it caught up!) |
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| Tiny water taxi |
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| Not business-casual |
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| Everywhere. Literally. |
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| Lush park in the middle of the city |
And, finally to the hotel. This was the "light" over the bed. Yep. Just what you need. A glowing bald eagle.
You thing
this room is something. Just wait for the one in
Oslo....just a train ride away.
Was this the wettest city you visited? Dad
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