Let’s visit Bergen

With Bergen we were now in the second largest city of Norway, but with 284.000 inhabitants still a small one. The mountains rise steep behind the coast and only the surrounding islands provide space for the suburbs of Bergen.

Bryggen – Hanseatic commercial buildings at the harbour

The city of Bergen was founded around 1070 and in 1350 a “Kontor” or trading post of the Hanseatic League was established, which became the centre of the Hanseatic commercial activities in Norway.

Talking to a sheep farmer
How stockfish was transported to the storage rooms at the Bryggen
Historic passages between the storage buildings

The main building of the Hanseatic Museum is under renovation and closed until 2025. But we could visit the “Schøtstuene”, the historic assembly rooms of the Hanseatic merchants. Here they ate together and held meetings. Only in these buildings open fire was permitted, which made them a much sought-after meeting point in winter.

300-year-old vine paintings adorn the walls
At a separate cook house the food was prepared for the merchants
“Statsraad Lehmkuhl” – built in 1914 – a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy

Bergenhus Fortress with the Haakon’s Hall, a medieval stone hall constructed in the middle of the 13th century, during the reign of King Håkon Håkonsson. In medieval times, it was the largest building of the royal palace in Bergen and it is the largest secular medieval building in Norway. Sadly it was not open to visit.

We spoiled ourselves with a fantastic lunch while enjoying the view over the harbour to the Bryggen.

After spending a day in a city we were ready to drive into the mountains again and eager to go for a hike. Not far from Bergen we wanted to visit another glacier. How that turned out tells you our next post.

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