Bergen - Norway

Back in 2012 Heidi "dollart" travelled to Norway, the expensive south Norway, she said. Norway is on my must visit list but at the bottom of it. This country is way too expensive for a poor portuguese. In 2009 Valérie also visited the country. These are the cards they sent me. 

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and the most popular gateway to the fjords of West Norway. The city still has relics of its Hanseatic heyday, most notably the old harbor of Bryggen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bergen has been ravaged by several fires; the most recent major fire took place in 1917, a fire which destroyed most of the buildings in what is today the central parts of the city center.

 © Aune Forlag AS

 Between 1350 and 1750 Bryggen used to be a Hansa dock, trading and processing area. The wooden houses at Bryggen today were built after the devastating city fire of 1702, but are probably very similar to the buildings that were there before. Despite neglect and fires (Norwegian cities had a habit of burning down because everything is made of wood), a considerable number of buildings have survived and are now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 If you enter some of the alleyways between the storefronts, you really get a feel of what Bergen must have been like in the middle ages. There are a few museums on the history of Bergen and of Bryggen, but the most interesting aspect is probably that almost all of the buildings are still in use. One example is the restaurant Bryggen tracteursted, serving food and drinks in a building first opened for this purpose in 1708. - in: wikitravel