Bergen – art, maritime history and spectacular scenery
Bergen is the perfect place to embark on your fjords cruise in Norway. Ringed with seven hills and seven fjords, it has a rich maritime history, a fabulous food scene and world-class art galleries to explore. This compact city is incredibly laid-back so you’ll quickly feel at home. Indeed, it can feel hard to tear yourself away for your exploration of Norway’s fjords on a cruise, by car or on a train.
In Bergen a trip on the Fløibanen funicular will take you up Mount Fløyen. From here you can meander down through the steep, cobbled narrow streets, lined with clapboard houses.
The Hanseatic Museum in the Bryggen area is housed in a perfectly preserved 18th-century merchant’s house, It offers a great introduction to the city’s trading past. Art lovers can simply follow their aesthetic noses to find the many art museums and galleries located here.
Just a few nautical miles away you will encounter the Norwegian Sea’s most spectacular coastline. Notched with deep inlets and graced by mountainous backdrops, the fjords are snow-covered in winter and vivid green in spring. In the distance the Sognefjord is one of the longest fjords in the world, and the Jostedal Glacier is the largest block of ice on mainland Europe.