Bergen surpasses our expectation...it is not only raining

Brewing thunderstorm over Haugesund

Norwegion summer outfit

Nothing feels nicer than to leave a noisy place and get out into the open expanse of the water.

We have sailed north, through the inner lead and spent two nights in very peaceful anchorages:

Bjøllebøvågen (59º 42’.4N 05º 42’.3E) on the 28.6. and Vargavåg, Fusafjord (60º 09’.2N 05º 27’E) on the 29.6.

It was a particularly nice sail on the first day. A thunderstorm was brewing over Haugesund, but we still had a bright and sunny day, watching beautiful and exciting cloud formations and betting whether the thunderstorm would catch up with us in the end or not. It came very close, but we only caught a few drops of rain, hence my ‘Norwegian bikini outfit’!

A close encounter from behind...

On the second day we experienced what the pilot books describe as the wind increasing and funnelling through the sound between two steep islands in the Raunefjorden. Out of the blue, sailing comfortably in a gentle westerly breeze, the wind dropped and picked up suddenly from the N (5 Bft) and we had to take our sails down.

We also had a moment of trepidation in Raunefjord as we were overtaken by a small cargo ship that passed us at full speed at about 30m!

Sailing towards Bergen, we saw many very large fish farms, some of them anchored between 100 and 200 m depth (as shown on the chart)! They all have a large maintenance barge and some smaller fishing vessels stationed beside it accompanied by hundreds of seagulls. They are an impressive sight. Large fishing trawlers are moored in many places in the vicinity of Bergen, waiting to be deployed.

Buzzing fish market

On the 1st of July we arrived in Bergen, Vågen (60º 23’.8N 05º 19’.3E). I didn't know  anything much about what we were about to discover. We were quite tired and happy too moor on the town quay. As soon as we stepped ashore, we bumped into hundreds of tourists, from all over the world, all armed with photo and video cameras (no criticism!). I felt rather spaced out by the contrast. So we decided after a short stroll through the incredible fish market, still buzzing at 22.00 that we would visit Bergen in the morning. Even the fish counters were manned by people speaking Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese.

Inside the  Hanseatic settlement

Today (2.7.2014) we woke up to a drizzly, cold and misty Bergen. It has the reputation of being the wettest town in Norway. And this is the first overcast day we have had since the beginning of our trip! It seems to be living up to its reputation… however to be fair, the weather was going to change in the next few days.

What I didn’t know is that the row of old crooked timber houses just opposite the quay where we are moored is a maze of what was once the hanseatic settlement, a German trading post which traded dried cod and fish oil against beer, grains, textiles, glass, candles and salt over 500 years (1236 - 1867). The German merchants were all middle class, unmarried men who lived totally segregated from the Norwegian population. Hence the ghetto aspect of the trading post.

Incidentally the local beer is still called Hansa beer and the coat of arms is an eagle in one half and a dried cod on the other!

Today the labyrinth of wooden houses is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is being painstakingly restored. Today there are all sorts of boutiques, art galleries, knitwear shops, leather goods, coffee shops and even offices housed in the narrow alleyways. We noticed many fire extinguishers and sprinklers everywhere. The last big fire which destroyed many of these houses was in 1955.

Apart from this fascinating discovery, we are still to discover the rest of Bergen which is very attractive too.  

Easy Rider heading straight for the last vacant waiting mooring space in Bergen