We love Bergen! It is now our favorite city of the trip. Too bad we only had one full day.
Norway is "troll country". You see trolls in all the gift shops. They were part of Viking culture. From small trolls that made your baby cry to large trolls that threw the big rocks down from the hills, trolls were used to explain the world around the Vikings.
Believe it or not, that is a table covered in Lego blocks that those kids are playing with. We found this, plus a lot of other games in the town square.
Actually, the Legos and games go hand-in-hand with Bergen's history. It was a fishing town, but you couldn't really fish in the winter. So board games, like this medieval chess set, were a common way for people to while away the long winters. The days were short with lots of rain and snow. Bergen is called by some the rainiest city in the world. We fit right in, although it never rained on us.
This was a smoked fish platter we had for dinner last night at the Bergen fish market. There were three kinds of smoked salmon, smoked halibut and smoked mackerel. Oh yes, and smoked whale, not exactly a fish. We enjoyed everything except the whale.
Our guide Nica explaining the dried fish hanging above the fresh fish. Exporting dried fish (cod) was the way people in medieval Bergen made a living. Today Bergen is more of an oil town, providing a home port for the nearby North Sea oil rig crews. But the dried fish is still a favorite. Great with beer I have heard, but we never found out. Bergen, by the way, has a very nice local pilsner.
Looking up the hillside in Bergen. Tomorrow we head out, so this is our last post from Scandinavia.
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