Hanseatic Stockfisch Port

In Bergen, we first walked over the large fish market („Fisketorget“). The stalls displayed and prepared a great variety of sea food, even whale meat, but everything was overly expensive.

We liked ‚Bryggen’ – the historic harbour district from the Hanseatic times – very much with its slim wooden houses and narrow alleys. Like in Trondheim, the houses were a combination of living space on the top floor and storage area for their trading business on the lower floors.

A man who ran a tourist shop in a small exhibition on the last fire in 1955 and reconstruction explained to us that the Bryggen people had mostly been exporting stock fish from Northern Norway.

He was also so kind to give us some tips on where to get good sea food for a reasonable prize.

We followed one of his suggestions and enjoyed some interesting fish dishes, delicious fresh bread (as much as we wanted) in sunshine in a quiet backyard. We had a mix of stock fish and mashed potatoes with crunchy bacon, cod cheeks, and a creamy fish soup with a special sour taste and fish balls cod cheeks. Everybody found something they liked a lot. *great*

By now, Bryggen was crowded by tourists. We were happy to gain some walking space by the church ‚Marinakirken‘and in the fortress park of the fortress ‚Bergenhus‘ that has long been the royal residence.

On the way out, we went shopping and got a super delicious cake that had everything we liked: nut dough, butter cream, red and black currents, blackberries, chocolate pieces – and it was not too sweet! *yummy*

In the mountains, we almost got our car stuck or the bottom scratched by rocks when we tried to find a place to stay. Eventually, we found a quiet and save place. It was just a little cold and windy. We were amazed by the amount of stars we could see in the night sky. Even the Milky Way was visible.