After checking into our room around noon, we decided to try and power through the day checking out some sights prior to getting some long needed rest from the sleepless flight to Scandinavia.
Bergen is on the most westerly portion of Norway and dates back to 1070. Back in the 13th century, Bergen was the kingdom of Norway's first Capital.
The fortress you see below, was a garrison with a
tower for the king's residence and a large hall for his banquets. The structure dates back to the 1300's and today the grounds are mostly used for big events such as the Bergenfest, the musical festival taking place this weekend.
On our way to the King's quarters, we passed by the town's famous waterfront that we had seen in so many of the books about Norway.
The row of colorful gabled wooden buildings you see in the background date back to the 1400's when German merchant's established a fishing trading post at the location.
This area of town is known as the Bryggen Hanseatic Quarter. In it's hayday, Bergen was one of the largest wooden built city's in the world, but suffered a series of catastrophic fires that burnt much of the city to the ground time and again. In 1702 the locals learned from their loses and rebuilt incorporating stone and brick into the structures of their city.
Therefore, these blue, red and green wood buildings are actually not the original structures from the 1400's but were rebuilt in the 1700's. Still, quite impressive.
After a quick walk through the highlights of the city, we decided to head back to the hotel and freshen up for dinner, leaving sights for further exploration tomorrow.
We decided to jump right into the culture and venture out to a local eating establishment for our first big meal of the trip. Our restaurant of choice was called Pingvinen (meaning Penguin in English... the language must not be that hard too pick up right???), and had a true assortment of authentic meals that were definitely outside of our realm of comfort for exploring on our first meal.
We decided to play it safe and ordered "Meat balls." A few minutes prior to the meal arriving, Jennifer gave Sam a whimsical look and anxiously asked, "you don't think they literally meant meat BALLS, do you???" We had a little chuckle over this but told her I thought we were safe. The meal came and the balls were pretty similar to what we traditionally think of as meat balls opposed to the testicles of some cow. The meal tasted similar to sausage in the shape of meat balls and had a nice pairing with some fingerling potatoes, mashed pea soufflé and a berry glaze. Henry tried the meal and had mixed reactions, preferring the nutrition from his mother.
After our meal we headed back and called it a night at 7:30 pm, looking forward to getting some long needed rest and excited about our first full day to come tomorrow.
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