Live by the Sun - Love by the Moon: DAY 151 - Bryggen and North Sea Treats

Aug 17 - So much to see in Bergen

Bergen is the 2nd largest city in Norway. History shows that Bergen had many fires, but the greatest fire happened in 1702 when 90 percent of the city was burned to ashes. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre, and in 1955 parts of Bryggen burned down. In 1349, the Black Death was brought to Norway by the crew of an English ship arriving in Bergen.

The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are located on Byfjorden and the city is surrounded by mountains. For this reason, Bergen is known as the city of seven mountains.

"Feed the birds...tuppence a bag."


This guy looks VERY grumpy. It's Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th century Norwegian playwright. He wrote Peer Gynt and A Doll's House which became the world's most performed play by the early 20th century.

Born in 1810, Ole Bull was a composer and virtuoso violinist.

Ole Bull helped Edvard Grieg with his career.

One of my favorite composers - Edvard Grieg.

Dramatic masks on the Theater building.

Playing basketball in the rain. They get used to that as most every day it rains here.

A moment of sunshine to get a photo by the pier.

Love doing the "selfies."

I took this picture to say hi to my niece, Natalie.

The city of Bergen was founded in 1070. The area of the present Bryggen constitutes the oldest part of the city. Around 1360 a Kontor of the Hanseatic League was established there. As the town developed into an important trading centre, the wharfs were improved. The buildings of Bryggen were gradually taken over by the Hanseatic merchants. The warehouses were filled with goods, particularly fish from northern Norway, and cereal from Europe.

The following pictures are from the area of Bryggen. It was very unique, but we didn't get much time to tour around the area.

"You lookin' at me?"

Notice the building behind me - a little crooked and quite crazy.

St Mary's Church is the only remaining of twelve churches and three monasteries built in Bergen between its foundation during the reign of Olav Kyrre (1066–93), traditionally 1070. St Mary's Church was taken over by the city's large German population in 1408 after which it was popularly called “the German church” By belonging to the wealthy Germans, St Mary's is richly adorned and escaped the fate of being turned into a ruin, unlike several of the other churches in the city. Not until 1874, long after the German domination in the city had vanished, did it again become an ordinary parish church, even though sermons were held in German until after the First World War.

St. Mary's Church, nearly 1000 years old.

Surprise...surprise - another lion

These trolls are very happy, aren't they?

The 700 year-old Fish Market is VERY famous. It was so interesting with all the different kinds of fish and all the ways they cooked them. We didn't buy anything (very expensive), but it sure smelled and looked great.