The city of seven mountains

Depending on which website you are reading, Bergen is either the wettest city in Europe or the wettest city in the world. Great news! Lucky for us Norway is having one of their best summers ever. Last year there were two days of sunshine, and yet in the five days we have been in the country it has only rained once overnight.

Bergen is Norway's second largest city with a population of around 281,000. It is called the city of seven mountains as it is surrounded by nine mountains, go figure, and is also on the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. It is a sunning place which explains the 300 cruise ships that turn up each year. And yes we realise that word is getting a lot of use - but go visit and you will see why!

After another lazy start with a late train to catch tonight, we set out for the day. After dropping our stuff at the train station, we walked up the back side of Mount Fløyen past Lake Skomakerdiket. This is the most popular mountain to climb in Bergen as it has a funicular, so if the 3km of steep (yes more switch backs, private roads, and unformed paths)

climbing is too much you can always get a ride back down. Once at the lake though the views are stunning. Plenty of people canoeing on the lake and picnicking around it. After a short walk down a trail we came to the mountain viewpoint which gave spectacular views of the city, surrounding mountains and the fjords. As the line to go down on the funicular was out the door, we settled for a bacon pancake and a 3km walk back down the front of the mountain, this time on a well formed track.

We wandered down to the Bergen fortress, which was open so we walked through. Turns out this place has a 100% success rate in battle after winning its one battle against the English in the 1600's. Funnily enough, this battle wasn't even meant to occur...however the message didn't get to Bergen fast enough to stop them waging the battle!

Back to the Fish Market to try one of the local delicacies - Reindeer Sausage, not your typical sausage sizzle!

Next stop was the Hanseatic museum. The Hanseatic League, meaning company in Gothic, was a German trading company that operated in the North and Baltic Sea regions between 1360 and 1761. Only Germans could join the League and they managed to take hold of Bergen as a trading post after Norway had suffered from

the plague, talk about taking your opportunities! They exported dried stock fish from Northern Norway and imported grain from Germany. The museum was small but is part of a World Heritage Site and really shows you how they would have lived and how business was done. The current buildings were built in 1704 after the great fire of 1702 wiped out 92% of the city.

From this museum we got free entrance into the Norges Fiskerimuseum or Norwegian Fishing Museum. Norwegians love fishing and fish is second only to oil for exports. This museum was so creative and interactive in the way that it told the story of the seas and the evolution of fishing in this country. Michael learnt about how the seal hunting industry was brought down by Greenpeace and Jo learnt about the salmon farming industry. Both a bit controversial in this country.

After this there was no question what to have for dinner so we headed down to the fishmarket for some Torskesuppe (creamy cod soup), Bacalao (dried cod stew) and whale steak (they can only hunt Minke Whales as they are overpopulated).

We sought a warm pub to wait for our train. The most scenic train ride in Europe some say....well good thing the sun isn't asleep for long because we are going overnight!