Walking Tour

Today started a little early. Well, we were awake early, but we didn't meet the tour guide at the tourist centre until ten o'clock. No-one else showed up so we ended up having an entirely private tour. It was wonderful because we were able to go at our own pace and to ask questions constantly. Martin could not be stumped. He had an answer for everything. Okay, so he could have been making things up.

This is Bergen's off season, so there is always space. Apparently in the summer time cruise boats roll in one after another and the streets are wall to wall people. I like it this a lot better.

The weather is cooperating with us. Bergen is normally very rainy. They have an average of 240 rain days every year. Yesterday and today the sky was blue all day, and the prediction for tomorrow is the same.

The tour began at the harbour, looking across and talking about Bryggen. In this picture you can begin to see that the buildings extend well back from the street.

We went into the fish market, which is indoors for the winter. Here we saw stockfish, which we have seen hanging on racks in northern Norway. This is cod which has been hung on racks at cold temperatures to dry. Once dried, they can be kept for up to seven years. This was the major trading item in early Bergen. If you intend to eat the stockfish, it first must be soaked for seven days to rehydrate. I'm afraid it still doesn't look too appetizing.

Rehydrated Stockfish

 Klippfish is also dried cod, but from southern Norway. The temperature is not cold enough, so it is salted and laid out to dry. I don't want any of this either.

Klippfish

Of course there are many options in shellfish.

This commemorates the meeting of Viking and North American cultures (The totem pole is wrong, not the east coast)

Henrik Ibsen in front of the National Theatre

One of the back streets behind Bryggen.

These benches on the sidewalks have wonderful armrests.

Does anybody notice that the angles are all awry. This is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Alleys extend back beyond the street.

Originally, these were all warehouses for the stockfish. A unit this wide would be three stories high. The third floor would be living quarters for up to thirty men. For a row of ten or more warehouse, there would be only one shared washroom down by the water, which flushed into the harbour.

Each row of warehouses would have a building for meeting and socializing. This would be the only building which was heated.

A recent wooden carving of a stockfish (cod)

Incidentally, Martin pointed out that many of the cars passing by are fully electric. Norway actively promotes these vehicles. They provide subsidies and they provide free charging stations. They allow toll-free access to bridges, tunnels and toll highways. There is free parking allowed in parking garages and free use of special lanes on the highway. It is quite remarkable.

Perhaps it is possible because Norway produce virtually all of its electricity using renewable resources, much of which is hydro-electric. In fact they are able to export electric power. They have large oil resources and the largest oil company is state owned, so they have huge financial resources. 

The entire population of Norway is lightly more than that of the Greater Toronto Area. It may be that this smaller population makes it easier to meet everyone's needs.