The Mountains of Bergen

Norway was calling and I was obedient as my sister spent a semester abroad at the University of Bergen and its notorious student hostel Fantoft. Being heavily loaded with food (as food isn’t cheap in self-sufficiently acting Norway) Norwegian directly chauffeured me from Berlin’s Schönefeld airport to Bergen Flesland, Scandinavia’s most eastern harbour town.

To describe Bergen’s weather in September is a quite simple job if you break it down to the following: a 55 minutes sun-cloud-mix, followed by a 5 minutes lasting apocalyptic rainstorm. Sometimes those 5 minutes might last 24 hours ;-) In short: there is a reason why the university is employing quite a bunch of psychologists who care for foreign student when they study in sometimes quite rainy and dark Norway.

Nevertheless Bergen is a quite lovely and interesting city, whose agglomeration is spreaded over several islands. The only “crowded” place is the area around fish market Torget and historic district Bryggen, which altogether can be seen as city center. From there you can make a funicular ride to the top of Fløyen mountain, a place heavily occupied by the usual camera-wearing Asian fellows. On the other hand it’s worth to make that trip as you’ll have a stunning view over Bergen and while watching again arriving rain clouds.

From the pier near Torget the most round-trips are starting. The best known is surely Norway In A Nutshell, a journey from Bergen, through the massive Sognefjord, via Flåm, Myrdal and Voss back to Bergen. You should start early if you a) don’t want to meet too many tourists and b) arrive Bergen at daylight.
In summer months Norway’s largest and deepest Fjord appears much more friendly than shrouded in cloud and dark. On the other hand the atmosphere of the time between early autumn and late spring lets you reproduce the roots of Norwegian mythology. When arriving Kjosfossen, a big cascaded waterfall, you’ll witness how Norwegians take care of their mythological culture as there siren-like singing dancers appear in front of the water masses.

Another attraction is Bergen’s cute aquarium, which doesn’t have to hide itself behind big names like Cape Town’s Two Oceans. It’s surely a different mix of flora and fauna which can be seen here. Though it’s a very lovingly decorated aquarium and impresses by its different optical atmoshperes to make you feel like being a part of an underwater fairy tale.