Bergen travels

The weather has been bad the past few days. It's not been that cold (in the mid-50s) but it's been raining a lot. Yesterday John took me to the harbor area of Bergen and we walked around for a couple of hours. The buildings are so old! We started at the Rosenkrantz Tower, parts of which date to 1270.

I was particularly interested in some strange keyhole shaped openings. I thought maybe they were for cannons, but I don't see how anyone could aim through these holes. A quick google search hasn't helped, so they'll be a mystery for now.

Here's a picture from across the harbor, showing the whole place. It's part of the tower on the right that dates to 1270.

Rosenkrantz Tower

We then walked along the waterfront where there are a series of very old wooden buildings. These are the buildings that are iconic for Bergen—they're on all the tourist items (along with trolls). This area is called Bryggen and it is a UNESCO’s World Heritage site. Most of the buildings date to the 1700s, but the foundations date to the 12th century—the buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1702.

Bryggen

The building in the center is being repaired. I noticed on several buildings in the area that they cover them with cloth facades as they work. If you look closely you can see that some of the buildings are not standing straight, particularly to the right. I think the ones on the left are already restored. Here's a sign explaining the work being done on one of the buildings to the right.

This is a very touristy area, and most of the buildings have shops in them now. Expensive shops. But the whole area was filled with interesting architecture and cobbled streets. I liked the roofs especially. There are a lot of tile roofs here. In some areas, if you just look at the red tile roofs, you might think you were in southern Florida. But, just as frequently, the roofs are black tile. According to John, the cheaper roofs on residences are plastic tiles and the more expensive are stone and last a long time. Here's a taste of the roofs and area around Bryggen.

And, because it just had to be there, here is a McDonalds in a building that dates to 1710. At least they didn't let them put up golden arches. (I also saw 7-11, Subway, and Burger King.)

I got a pastry at a bakery called Godt Brod. It was a filled bun with berry jam and egg cream. Yum. And, yes, I got berry goo all over my face. Then John insisted that I try a fish cake at a nearby restaurant, and it really was good! They are made with ground fish and potato flour, and either steamed or fried.

We walked in the fish market, and this is where I really had fun taking pictures. All the seafood was as fresh as it could be and very photogenic. The mean looking fish is a lysing. When I asked, the fishmonger said I was sure to have eaten it before, as it's a hake. She picked it up for me to photograph the teeth. What I craved the most (but didn't photograph) were bags of really tiny clams. I love steamed clams, the smaller the better. The ones here were smaller than a quarter. Ah, I just noticed that they are in the picture with the shrimp! I could eat both bags of those in no time at all, steamed and served with melted butter (just ask Jake!).

We drove around so that I could get pictures from the other side of the harbor, and drove up to look at a super yacht that was docked. Honestly, this thing was so big that it almost boggles the mind. Of course, there was a helicopter on deck.

I was going to add something about decorative manhole covers, but that's going to have to wait till tomorrow.