Day 13 - Thursday in Bergen

Our tour guide today, Frank, a native Bergendian, showed us around various neighborhoods within walking distance of our hotel. The history of Bergen going back to 1070 has been shaped largely by devastating fires over the centuries, the last one in 1955. A number of the remaining wooden houses from the 1700s are sinking as they were built on landfill close to the central quay in the city center.

Cruise ships can dock just near the city center, and there were two big ones in port, disgorging hundreds of passengers to the area. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, but even with all the added visitors it did not feel crowded.

I have deliberately not talked about meals, as that is generally not of much interest (we did avoid whale and elk on several menus), but our lunch was included with the tour, and it was a doozy. We were served the tasting menu, featuring the chef’s version of classic modern Norwegian cuisine. The first course was a fish soup which was as rich with cream and butter as anything I have ever been served - the fish dumplings were delicious. The second dish was a modest-sized piece of stockfish, a Norwegian version of cod where the fish is hung up to dry and not salted. I found it to be tasteless with an odd texture. The third course was a reindeer tartare mixed with chopped beets and capers with a poached egg yolk on top. I wish I had taken a picture of the perfect orange ovoid sitting plump and inedible (for me at least) on top of the tartare.

Some Bergen photos:

Almost Discrete




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