Bergen Norway

- charm and personality

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, with it's more than 225 000 inhabitants. It is situated on the western coast of Norway.

This beautiful view, taken from one of the surrounding mountains, shows the city in all it's charm.

For almost a thousand years, this has been an important harbour for travellers from all around the world. It is the most important cruise harbour in Norway, and more than 350.000 cruise passengers visited the town last year.

The "Bryggen" area is placed the on UNESCO's World Heritage List, and is visited by hundreds of thousands tourists every year.

The foundation of the city is estimated to be about year 1070.

The importance of the town came from the trade of dry cod. From around year 1100 the fishermen in Northern Norway brought their fish here, to be traded in for equipment, clothing, food and other. The importance of the town was increasing, and the growth brought more money and more trade year by year.

Through the 15th and 16th centuries this was one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, and until the 1830's this was the biggest city in Norway.

The City Seal

This is the Coat of Arms, or actually it is an old, City Seal from 1833.

The seal is showing a silver castle standing on golden hills, probably an image of the Seven Hills that surround the city. The background color is red.

The golden frame around the seal, has the inscription "SIGILLVM COMMVNITATIS DE CIVITATE BERGENSI", which means "The seal of the town community of Bergen".  Unlike almost all other Norwegian municipalities, Bergen never got one of those modern and officially approved coat of arms. The City Seal is based on an old, city seal from late 1200's.

How to get here

Bergen Airport Flesland is situated about 20 kilometres south-west of the city centre, and is served by airport buses, scheduled buses, boat and taxi. This is one of the main international airport in Norway.
From Flesland you can fly to 19 domestic and 38 international destinations.

You can also travel by railway, the Bergensbanen, connecting the city to Oslo and from there to the rest of continental Europe.

Express buses can take you to Ålesund and Trondheim, or to Kristiansand and Oslo. This is the ending port of the south for the Coastal Express or Hurtigruten, that takes you to many harbours, towns and places along the coastline between here and Kirkenes.

Hotels and accomodation

For a good choice of hotels with discount prices, visit the Hotel page for more information.

Bryggen and the Fishmarket

We recommend to take your time to see the old Bryggen (Norwegian expression for The Wharf). These are the remains of a lot of commercial buildings from the Hanseatic periode, and are, as mentioned before, on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage. Bryggen today houses mostly souvenir- and gift shops, as well as some restaurants, pubs and a museum. 

In the Bryggen area you can find several recommendable hotels, like Thon Hotel Bryggen which really place you in the city centre during your stay.  Bergen is really a beautiful town, with several historical buildings, not to mention the famous Fish Market. The Fish Market is one of the most visited tourist attractions.

Another must when visiting is «Torget». Torget means "the market", and here you will also find a friendly and busy market offering fruit, vegetables, flowers, handicrafts, and souvenirs.

It is nice to walk around in the city centre, to watch the beauty of the houses and the harbour, and to find a charming, harbour restaurant, to enjoy a beer or a cup of coffee, and just watch the people passing by.

Edvard Grieg and Troldhaugen

If you ever come to visit, we also recommend you to visit the Troldhaugen, which was the home of Edvard Grieg and his wife Nina for 22 years.

The house was build in 1885, and became a museum in 1928. The museum exhibition offers an overview of the life of Edvard Grieg.

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in this town in June 1843, by parents Alexander Grieg (merchant and Vice Consul) and music teacher Gesine Judithe Hagerup. The Grieg name was originally spelled Greig after Scottish origins.

Some of Edvard Grieg's most know works are from his music to Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt", and includes "Morning mood" and "In the Hall of Mountain King".

In the museum you will learn more about his childhood here in the town, his study in Leipzig (Germany), the years in Copenhagen (Denmark), and of course about his life as a famous composer. Edvard Grieg was also a famous internationally performing pianist, as well as a director.

Edvard Grieg died in 1907 at the age of 64.

Sister Cities

Want to know the sister cities?

* Asmara, Eritrea

* Gothenburg, Sweden

* Newcastle, United Kingdom.

* Seattle, United States

* Turku, Finland

* Aarhus, Denmark

* Quebec City, Canada

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