We arrived in Bergen around 1:30am after our late night flight from Edinburgh. After a brief check in to our hotel, the Clarion Admiral, we got a bit of sleep then woke to start the Norwegian Leg of our trip!
This trip was 45 years in the making. No joke. My mom went to Norway in 1981 and I was entranced listening to her stories, seeing the pictures, and seeing the various keepsakes she brought home. From that moment on, I’ve wanted to go to Norway with her. After talking about it the last couple of years, we finally made a plan, had my brother and sister in law join in, and got it booked.
So the first order of business on Day 1 was meeting up with them at the hotel breakfast buffet for hugs!
Not a bad view with breakfast!
The weather forecast leading up to this trip was awful – cool and rainy all day. However, it was beautiful that morning, so we quickly headed out to the funicular to the top of Mount Fløyen to take full advantage. Luckily the queue was pretty small and we were able to get up there before the crowds got too bad.
And boy what a view!
We spent a good hour or two wandering up here and ran into goats and even took a brief walk into the forest as well.
I’m so glad we got up there when we did as not only was the weather perfect, but once at the bottom, we saw the line was insanely long and easily would take an hour just to get to the top.
Next up on the agenda was exploring Bryggen, the old town/wharf area of Bergen.
We ducked into a couple of shops then found some lunch. Chuck and I were exhausted as we didn’t get much sleep the night before, so we headed to the hotel for a quick nap while the others went to other nearby sites. Plus Chuck had a work call.
Later that afternoon, I met up with my mom on my quest for a Skillingsbolle – a large, buttery cinnamon bun that is Bergen’s signature pastry. Unfortunately they were sold out for the day, so we got a delicious hot chocolate instead.
Chuck joined up with us then the 3 of us wandered around Bergen some more. We even took our time strolling thru the famous Fish Market.
At this point it was time for dinner, but also had started raining. I saw there were reservations at this Norwegian restaurant that had Norwegian meatballs so we walked the 15 minutes over there to find it completely full. Apparently I misread the availability on their website. Oops. Queue walking around for a while checking menu after menu and also finding most places completely booked which was really frustrating. Eventually we found somewhere and enjoyed a nice meal before we headed in for the night.
We woke the next morning to rain and clouds. Kind of a bummer, but it also made the scenery stunning!
We had breakfast at the hotel, then checked out and headed out to explore Bergen some more. We all met up for a delicious seafood meal right next to the water before heading out in different directions again.
Since we had time to kill, I continued my quest for a Skillingsbolle and this time I had great success!
Next thing we knew, it was 3pm and time to grab our bags to head to the ferry terminal to board our ship!
Bergen was great. I was so happy to finally get here after hearing about it 45 years ago. What a great start to the Norwegian part of our trip!
