Bryggen

Bergen has burned repeatedly throughout its history. The Bryggen wharf district has been destroyed and rebuilt after fires in 1702, 1855, and 1916. Each time, the merchants rebuilt using similar wooden construction methods and approximately the same layout, which is why the gabled coloured buildings you see today look medieval but are mostly 18th and 19th century. The Hanseatic League’s German merchants who controlled trade here from the 14th century designed the original quarter; subsequent generations copied it because the form worked. UNESCO listed it in 1979.

The Quarter

Bryggen is a row of narrow wooden buildings along Bergen’s waterfront, painted in reds, yellows, and ochres, with dark narrow alleys running between them toward the back of the block. The alleys contain workshops, small galleries, and craft shops that have operated in one form or another for centuries. Walking them gives a better sense of the scale and logic of the original trading houses than looking at the frontages from the harbour.

The Hanseatic Museum & Schøtstuene inside one of the restored buildings is the most useful introduction to what the Hanseatic system actually was: a medieval trading federation that controlled northern European maritime commerce for two centuries, with Bergen as its Norwegian hub for the dried cod trade. The museum covers the daily life of the German merchant apprentices who lived and worked in these buildings, isolated from the Norwegian community around them, for years at a time.

Mount Fløyen

The Fløibanen funicular from the city centre below Bryggen runs to the top of Mount Fløyen (320 metres) in seven minutes. The view from the summit over the harbour, Bryggen, and the surrounding fjords is the best you will get in Bergen. Hiking trails from the summit run through forested slopes; the descent on foot takes about 45 minutes and passes through residential Bergen.

Eating

Bergen has excellent seafood, predictably, and the Fish Market (Fisketorget) on the waterfront adjacent to Bryggen has been operating since 1276 in some form. Buy freshly cooked king crab here at tourist prices; it is worth it once. For a proper sit-down meal, the wharf-facing restaurants in converted warehouse buildings along Bryggen’s side do Norwegian fish dishes at prices that reflect the tourist location. Eating in the streets behind the waterfront is better value.

Getting There

Bergen is 7.5 hours from Oslo by train through one of the more dramatic rail journeys in Europe (the Bergensbanen crosses the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,300 metres). Flights from Oslo take about 45 minutes. Bryggen is a five-minute walk from the main train and bus station.