Bergen
Marty and I enjoyed exploring the beautiful city of Bergen on a rainy day. Even with the weather far from perfect, we could not ignore the charm of this place. Bergen is both dramatic and welcoming. The colorful buildings, narrow streets, and changing weather give this Scandinavian harbor city its storybook appearance.
For centuries, Bergen served as one of Norway’s most important port cities and became a major center of the Hanseatic League. Merchants from Northern Europe traded fish, timber, grain and goods through Bergen’s harbor, helping shape both the city’s prosperity and its international identity.
History and daily life blend together in Bergen. The colorful buildings and historic streets are not frozen like a museum. People live, work, shop and gather among these centuries’ old surroundings.
Today, Bergen remains one of Norway’s most beloved and historic cities and serves as the gateway to many of the country’s famous fjords.
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The Gol Stave Church
Among all the buildings preserved at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History is the Gol Stave Church. Dark, soaring, and unlike any church I had ever seen, it immediately transported me back more than eight hundred years to medieval Norway. It is one of only twenty-eight surviving stave churches in the country, making it a […]
The Royal Palace
Walking up Karl Johans gate toward the Royal Palace, it is impossible not to notice how the building dominates the end of Oslo’s grand boulevard. Set on a gentle rise overlooking the city, the palace has become one of Norway’s most recognizable landmarks. Yet its story is not simply one of royalty. It is also […]
The National Gallery
One of the places we visited in Oslo was the National Gallery, a building that for generations served as the home of Norway’s greatest artistic treasures. Completed in 1882, the gallery became the country’s principal art museum, preserving works by Norwegian and European masters while helping to tell the story of Norway through art. Although […]
