Day 56 - Bergen, Norway

Day 56 – Bergen, Norway – Tuesday 10/7/12

Weather – Cloudy. 12C - 15C

Sunrise – 4.29am

Sunset – 10.57pm

Time difference - minus 8 hours ex Sydney

After embarking our Bergen pilot this morning at 5am, we entered Hjelete Fjord, and navigated 36 miles through the sheltered waters of the fjord to our berth Bontkabo 2. We were up on deck at 5.45am enjoy the sail in. We were greeted by brilliant sunshine, and a lovely picturesque vista of the fjord.

No sooner had we popped into the buffet for breakfast, than the sunshine was swallowed by heavy low cloud cover,and it did not reappear for the rest of the day, so we had timed it right :)

We strolled off the ship not long after local authorities gave their clearance. We had no plans today, no tours, and no real must see or do things. We did have a desire to ride the Funicular to the top of Mt Forien, but we wanted to wait for the heavy low cloud cover to clear, otherwise we would not be able to see anything. As it turned out, the cloud never lifted, if anything it got lower and lower, and thicker and thicker. We spoke to some friends who did do the Funicular as a Princess tour confirmed that it was a fizzer for them for that reason.

So a stroll along the promenade into the area of boardwalk where the Fish Market is., and an ATM visit as we did not have any Norwegian Kroner. The Fish Market is a cacophony of vibrant colours, sounds and aromas, and a nice place to browse elaborate displays of seafood, produce, flowers and handicraft.

We visited the Tourist Centre, and whilst Donna was checking out the what and wheres, I utilised the free wifi to upload a few photos on the blog. I was about to start loading the full deck of photos onto Facebook, but it was time to go, so another time Nathan, you will have to suffice with the couple I put on the blog of each city.

We followed the waters edge around to the Aquarium, about a 30minute walk. We were quite struck with the prices in Bergen. I dont know what the general cost of living is like here, and I expect there is a price inflation factor in the tourist strip, but things are noticeably expensive. I am hanging out for a haircut, but the prices for a mens haircut here is between 250 NOK ($42 AUD) in the main shopping strip, down to 200 NOK ($33 AUD) in the back streets. Scrooge McSteve is baulking at paying $28 AUD on the ship, so I will wait for a bit longer, although it is getting noticeably untidy.

We worked our way back from the Aquarium into the city centre via the back streets, and then looked around the main square, Torgallmenningen, which was decidedly quiet, as we was still before 10am, when most things open. There are lots of tourists out and about, with 4 cruise ships in to boost the numbers.

We then walked through to the end of the square and came to some lovely parks and gardens Festplassen (getting good with these Norwegian names huh :). The is a large lake , Lille Lungegardsvann in the centre of the park, so it is all very nicely laid out.

We noticed a local suburban tram terminating nearby, and went over to study where and where it went, and after navigating our way through the Ticket vending machine, we hopped on board. The trams are modern, clean and quiet, but like everything else here, expensive. It was great to get out of the city and into the suburbs and see a bit of local life. The price of haircuts in the burbs dropped to 180NOK ($30AUD), still too expensive for this little black duck. The tram terminated in a suburb called Nesttun, which is up in the surrounding hillside, but not all the way up. It was a really nice tram ride, and at times really picturesque, and some times not quite so. There was not much to see in Nesttun, so we bought our return tickets and rode back down to the city.

There is no such thing as fare evasion here. I thought it was really interesting that everyone bought a ticket, and validated it, not like when we were living in Melbourne where fare evasion is rife. Just when I was getting quite impressed by the honesty of the locals, it was all explained. Fare inspectors jump on, and ride every tram, armed with PDAs to scan everyone's ticket to make sure it is valid...oh, so that is why they all do the right thing :)

Back in the city, and we were hungry, so we returned to a fishmongers place that sell fish and chips..when in Norway one must eat fish from a fishmonger, huh. To out astonishment the fish turned out to be a frozen crumbed fish from a packet, it was really tasty, but not what we were expecting from a fishmonger!!

The return walk to the ship is lined with market stalls and shops that were keen to take the remaining NOK that we had.

At 5pm Sun Princess thrust off the berth and swung about, and retraced our courses through Hjelete Fjord. After flicking the pilot and clear of Hellesoyflua, Sun Princess steered a westerly course towards our next port of call, Lerwick.

We actually missed the sailaway, as we had a lay down to rest the walking legs about 4.30pm, which turned into a long nana nap. We also missed pre-dinner drinks as we did not wake up until almost 7pm.

After dinner we went to 50's rock and roll night, and had a few dances, as we were not tired huh. We also strolled the deck very briefly, as it was windy and cold out there, but it was a bit bizarre to be able to walk in broad daylight at 11pm. As we have an inside cabin we dont actually see what time it is getting dark, but a friend, Wendy, who is in a balcony, said she was still up at midnight last night and it was not yet dark, so it will be even later tonight.

We are a long way from home now, and after Shetland Islands tomorrow, we head further north to Iceland, which will be about as far from home as we can get on a cruise ship. The beanies, gloves and scarves will be coming out from the suitcase from under the bed tomorrow as it is getting a bit cooler again now. Still havin fun :)