5.9.18 Bergen then Hurtigruten Cruise.

Up and checked out a bit later this am. 

Off to hop on hop off bus. First one full. There are 5 or so cruise ships in Port so we reckon they are the problem.  

View from my room this am.

Lake at the city centre

Me with Fishmarket

These two practicing selfies while waiting for the bus.

Main st view

The old buildings of Bryggen. Sorry a bit obsessed with them.

The Hanseatic Museum which I checked out later in the day.

An old market we think. The facade looks like a wedding cake.
After hop on hop off we each went our separate ways with about 5 hours to spend looking around. Basically we all looked at St John’s Church up the top of town, then checked out different things. Variously shopped, had coffee, did Museums and met back at hotel 4 and half hours later. 

Following are my pics from the wander. 

Old and variously coloured buildings. Also lots of hills

I was fascinated by the shapes and colours of skyline.

More church steeples and street views.

Looking up to the University.

Back at the Lake. These flowers provided a pop of colour.

The new and very ugly Town Hall.

More of the housing up the hills

Rotunda and old building.

Mainly the rotunda

Some street art and not a truer word

More street art





Curved street full of amazing cobblestones in patterns and now imported from China cos they are cheaper. Bergen was the first city to have cobblestones in Norway.

Step and skinny cobblestone pathways.

The only way home for these folk is up.

Cat # 1.

Street art

Cool fire hydrant.

Later in my wander around I visited the Hanseatic Museum. 

The Hanseatic Museum is situated centrally on Bryggen in Bergen. The museum shows how the German merchants from The Hanseatic League land worked. From 1350 to 1750 these merchants traded stockfish and grains from their office in Bergen. The museum was opened in 1872 and has two trading houses, one facing the sea and one in back of the tenement. You may walk through this building from 1704, the only house on Bryggen which has kept its original interior.

The German Hanseatic folk were pretty well organised, with lots of rules and regulations as to how they plied their trade.

An example of the painted walls from back then.

View to the street.

The Room in the corner, was where the paperwork was done, by the Owner or principal of the company.

Quite luxurious if you were this far up the pecking order. and if you look behind the door of the cupboard, you can see secret stairs that allowed them to move around the place behind the scenes.

NB the dried fish hanging from the roof. They traded dry fish from Northern Norway, for grains etc from Europe.

Scales for weighing the fish, which came dried by the masses.

The beds of the apprentices, there were 8 apprentices and 4 beds.

Hanging fish. Still good to eat 15 years old...not sure I would.

The bosses beds, which the apprentices had to make through a hatch at the back, as they weren't allowed to enter the boss or Journeyman's room.





A photo depicting them barrowing the fish between the buildings.

The entry fee entitled entry to the Hanseatic Museum and the Schotstuene which was up the street and near our Hotel. On my walk there I came across a lovely couple from Melbourne, he was asking me about how the photos were going, he is experiencing the same difficulties with the light. We chatted for a while. Then I happened by the back of the Bergen Museum, there was an archeologist working on some excavated ruins in the basement, she was brushing off bit of wood, and tagging them.

The Schotstuene, was the only building allowed to have a fire, as the old wooden buildings were prone to destruction by fire. So the Schotstuene, was the gathering place to get warm and fed for the Hanseatic folk. It was an amazing culture and structure.

Archeologist working on some old timber ruins.

Here I am outside the Schotstuene

Some of the sitting area in the house.

Water and towels to wash.

When the apprentices did something wrong their names
were written here on the blackboard. Then the Journeymen
would announce the misdemeanors and point to the guilty
apprentice with the stick below, as it is rude to point with your
finger. Then their punishment was meted out. It was lashes with
a bulls penis - most humiliating evidently.
I wonder if this was the start of Assertive Discipline!!! 

The pointing stick

These stoves provided the warmth, they were lovely
pieces of cast iron work. 

This coat of arms is Bergen's I think, as it was also
on the council building and council cars.

An old window, see middle pane up close below.

1706...after the 1702 fires, much was rebuilt.

A lamp that used fish oil as fuel. The wicks poked
out of the spouts and oil was in the base.

One of the rooms that they gathered in to eat, and be warm.

Down another level was the Cookhouse. Fire was lit down the centre
and food cooked. The coals were transferred to the stoves upstairs...If I understood it correctly.

The Schotshuese

From there I wandered UPHILL behind our Hotel, into a local neighbourhood.

Street art, maybe a radio station? Joy FM?

Patterns in the cobblestones

Looking down onto St Mary's Church

A small BMW electric/hybrid car.

Higher still, nearly at height of Steeples.

Cat #2 having a feed on his porch.

Then I looked down and saw it's 'cathouse' completed with ramp across the gap, under the porch.

A stylised Churchaption

We met back at the hotel about 4ish, then a cab around to the Hurtigruten terminal. Checked in quite quickly and then sat in the cafe looking at the ship for a bit, as we can’t access our rooms til 6. 

Waiting to check in.

Our ship.

Ready to get on the Ship MS Notdkapp.

Time to board



We checked out the ship and looked around at the other rooms. Then up to the lounge area, we sat and then did our safety briefing, got connected to the wifi and had a look at the shop. 

Having a sticky beak at the better rooms on level 5.

Ready for our Safety Briefing.

Ready to learn.

Safety briefing.

We are only a little bit hopeful of seeing Northern Lights.

Blond haired blue eyed Avatar giving up the thumbs up.

Into our rooms to unpack. There is plenty of room and storage. Tracy and I are sharing so we sorted ourselves out. Far more seamlessly than anticipated. 

Leaving Bergen.



Little boxes on a hillside



Under the bridge with a jet ski chasing our wake.







Out on Deck 5. It was a tad chilly and windy.

Then it was time for dinner - a buffet tonight. It was a bit of a feeding frenzy. Lots of yanks, Germans and Norwegians. We’ve seen a few Aussies. After dinner there was a welcome chat with a chance meet the captain, engineer, head of house, chef and tour guides. They also gave us a rundown of things. 

We were pooped but a bit more looking around inside and out before heading off to bed.