This was initially posted on my previous blog on July 23, 2018.
Bergen was stop 1 on my trip. This is where I met my Flash Pack group, but I had a day and a half to explore on my own before meeting them. Bergen is best known for its colorful wooden houses and being the Gateway to the Fjords. It is surrounded by 7 mountains so my first goal was to take in a hike. I found reviews of the Vidden Trail and knew that was my hike. It is a trail that connects two of the mountains and it was supposed to have incredible views. That was my only set plan for Bergen was doing this hike the first full morning I was in town. I spent the rest of my time solo exploring what I could on foot.
Things to do in Bergen:
Walk around and take everything in
Bergen is a beautiful city so take the time to just explore on foot. Explore the fish market, walk to town center, take pictures of the colored wooden houses, check out the street art, walk around the Fortress. So much to see so just enjoy it. You will also find some fun places to eat and drink while walking.
Hike Vidden Trail
If you look up Vidden Trail, you will find that this is a must do hike while in Bergen. It is around 15km (~9.3 miles) and connects Mt Floyen and Mt Ulriken. I woke up early on Saturday morning and set off to hike up Mt Floyen. I cannot say how incredible it was to just wake up and walk to a well known hike. I was out around 7:30am and the city was empty. It was strange to see almost no one out at that time. The only people I saw were runners. The hike up Mt Floyen wasn’t too challenging but the views were nice at the top. The rest of Vidden trail was stunning. You see different views of the fjord and the surrounding mountains. The path was rocky but well marked. You just had to follow the cairns. I was alone for the first two hours enjoying the trail and the views. Slowly I started to run into trail runners. Several blogs warned me that the locals trail run here and I cannot stress how impressed I was. About halfway through the hike, there were endless amounts of trail runners. These runners were in incredible shape. They were running with small amounts of water for 9 miles up and down the trail. I finished my 2 liters of water with two miles of the hike left but they flew through the hike without issue. I highly recommend it if you are in Bergen. It isn’t easy, but it is well worth the work.
Visit the Museums
There are plenty of museums in Bergen. Sadly I didn’t have enough time to explore them all. The Hanseatic Museum was my favorite museum in Bergen. It is one of the oldest wooden buildings in Bergen, furnished in 18th century style and shows the life of Hanseatic merchants. Your ticket includes admission to Schøtstuene and the Fisheries Museum. Schøtstuene shows assembly halls that were used by Hanseatic merchants during winter time. During the winter, the merchants were not allowed to light a fire in their lodging/working place due to the risk of fire so they spent their time eating and warming up at Schøtstuene. Finally, take the shuttle to the Fisheries Museum. Here you can learn all about fishing in Norway (back in the day and currently). I have so much respect for fisherman and honestly couldn’t handle it myself. These were the only museums I had time to visit but if you have extra time, definitely look at visiting the art museums or the Fortress tours.
Eat Norwegian specialtiesI am not a big fan of seafood, but when in Rome (or technically Norway). Bergen has a huge fish market right in the middle of town. You can sit along the harbor at several restaurants that specialize in fresh seafood. I tried the mussels and have to admit they were very good. My Flash Pack mates enjoyed all of the other types of seafood. I skipped trying more seafood, but had to try reindeer. It was very good and I do recommend it.
Enjoy the heat???Norway was having a record setting heat wave while I was there. It hit around 85+ degrees during the day and it didn’t get much cooler at night. I feel like not many people get to say that I got a great tan in Norway. The only problem with this is that no one thinks to bring only tank tops, shorts, and sun dresses to Norway. In fact, the packing list from Flash Pack said to bring layers. I lived in my one pair of shorts I brought and thankfully I threw in a few short sleeved shirts before leaving. There is also no air conditioning in Norway so there were some hot nights. I also learned that Norwegians love when the sun comes out (especially in Bergen that has 260 days of rain a year). People were laying all over the city sunbathing and just enjoying the beautiful weather.
I loved exploring Bergen and enjoyed my solo time there, but I was thrilled to join my Flash Pack mates for the next adventure and a few drinks.