Mini-tour of Scandinavia: Bergen

Our trip to Bergen ended up being more a walk around this harbor city with its small town charm. It's not a large city, but it was founded way back in 1070 as a commercial center, and since then it has played a key role in the Norwegian economy.

You immediately realize what a beautiful city Bergen is the moment you step out of the train station. We were greeted by the picturesque Lille Lungegardsvann, a "lake" (it's really more like a huge pond) right in the middle of the city. There were several lovely patches of green grass that, coupled with the lake and a few squares scattered around the city center, gives you a sense of space and freedom, and several trees and flowers of all colors added life and vibrance. And the city is so clean!

One thing soured my experience here though. We headed to the Central Station early that day to buy our overnight tickets back to oslo for that night. Two days ago, I learned that these tickets would cost about 299 NOK per person, and I thought I would just buy them when we got to Bergen. HUGE mistake. This price was apparently what they called Minipris, which is a massively discounted price. What I didn't know was that you had to buy this Minipris ticket 24 hours before your trip. Otherwise, you pay full fare. And by full fare, I mean 1,103 NOK per person in the sleeper. That meant I lost P10,000 because I bought my tickets late (or well, less actually because we took the sleeper, and I think there's an additional 300 NOK per person to go on it, so maybe I lost "only" about P6,000). Damn! I was kinda reeling after that and couldn't let it go really, so for the next couple of hours I felt a bit deflated.

Anyways, we were not in the museum-going mode so we ended up just going around and looking at the interesting sights this beautiful city. Some of the places we visited:

Torgalmenningen, which is the main square of Bergen. It runs from the statue of Ole Bull, the Norwegian violinist who is often called Norway's first international star...

...all the way to Fisketorget on the harbor. I don't know if all the fishmongers here are part of some union or organization, but they do sport the same "uniform" - bright orange rubber overalls - that you can see on the guy in the right side of this pic.

On the other side of the harbor across the Fisketorget is Bryggen. It's a series of wooden houses and buildings that line the harbor and add so much personality to this area that it is actually part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

We also passed by a couple of churches, the Domkirke and the Mariakirken. But from a sight-seeing perspective, most of our time was spent on Mt. Floyen. Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains, of which Mt. Floyen is the most popular and accessible (due to its proximity to the center). The tourist information center recommended that we take the Floibanen going up, then just stroll down the walking paths going back down. The Floibanen is a funicular that takes people to and from the top of Mt. Floyen.

Bergen is supposed to be renowned for rain, and in fact, there was a heavy fog that covered the entire city in the morning, hiding most of Mt. Floyen. But, as my colleague later on told me, we must have been lucky to get there on one of the ten days in the year that it wasn't raining in Bergen (that's an exagerration of course). The fog lifted close to noon and when we were at the top of Mt. Floyen, which was 320 meters above sea level, the sun was out with a vengeance, the sky was blue, and the views of the city were magnificent.

The trip back down left me and mom really tired, mainly because I had this very wrong notion that it would take 20 minutes to head down and it turned out to be more like an hour. We then spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling by the parks, much like the rest of Bergen who had set up camp in one of the many grassy areas or on the multitude of benches that were generously placed all over town.

There really are a lot of other places to see here (if you are willing to shell out a bit of money to pay entrance fees), like the Akvariet, Bergenhus Festning, and the Rosenkrantztarnet Tower. I also just found out too late that there are city walking tours available (we should've taken one of those). You can find more about Bergen here. One minor downer about Bergen is that it seems to be the most expensive city I have ever been in. To try and put things to perspective: a Quarter Pounder Meal in Stockholm costs about P400, in Oslo P500, and in Bergen P550. So if you do visit Bergen (and it certainly is worth a visit), just make sure you save up for it. And remember, make sure you avail of the Minipris tickets!