Norway
Bergen
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2 days (broken up by a week)
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Day 4: Fish Market, Wharf, Bryggen, Cornelius Restaurant
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Day 10: Balestrand to Bergen, Mount Fløyen
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Day 11: Walking tour, fly to Lofoten Islands
Hotel: Moxy - Location not the greatest as it is a 30-minute walk from the center of town but for us it was “free” as we used points. Convenient to get to from the airport as light rail dropped us off within a 5-minute walk to hotel. Funky lobby. Nice view of a harbor. Large room and bountiful complimentary breakfast with MANY people. Gym was similarly way too small for even the few people trying to use it. Blackout curtains were very helpful to allow sleeping in to 7:30.
Favorite restaurant or bar: Cornelius Sjomatrestuarant - Wonderful experience. Worth the splurge.
Day 1: Fish Market, Wharf, Bryggen, Cornelius Restaurant
We had a quick (30 minute) flight to Bergen on Widerøe. We did not encounter any security lines.
The light rail to Bergen Sentrum (City Center) was right outside the airport down an escalator. Pay to $5 fare with your credit card before getting on. The train runs every 10 minutes.
Dropped our bags off and headed into central Bergen in the rain.
Walked along the Wharf. Prior to that we went through the Fish Market which is a handful of shops and eateries. Not that impressive but we are spoiled with the Fish Market in Seattle.
Walked around Bryggen, Bergen's famous UNESCO World Heritage medieval wharf.
Got out of the rain and stopped at Vagel (love the vibe) for a cappuccino when I reminded Larry we were going to have a very late night (think it helped us).
Dinner at Cornelius Sjomatrestuarant was a wonderful experience. It is not cheap ran us -$500 (fixed menu for 2, 2 glasses of champagne and a bottle of wine) but a very memorable birthday for Larry.
Started with a 25 minute boat ride and bubbly to the restaurant.
The restaurant is on private island with just the restaurant and a villa. It opened in 2004 and has capacity for 300. There were only about 50 patrons. This restaurant inspired the movie “The Menu”
We had a fabulous table along the window.
This was a 4 hour dinner that flew by including 5 courses (4 seafood, 1 dessert), a tour of the wine cellar and the funny restaurant owner - Alf, sharing his history. Which included him spending 4 years in the Seattle area farming oysters. We became fast friends with him. We experienced our first sunset in Norway. Around 10pm.
Said goodbye to Alf around 10:20pm and headed back to Bergen via our boat.
Hotel: Moxy. Location not the greatest as it is a 30 minute walk from the center of town but for us it was “free” as we used points. Convenient to get to from the airport as light rail dropped us off within a 5 minute walk to hotel. Funky lobby. Nice view of a harbor.
Large room and bountiful complimentary breakfast with MANY people. Gym was similarly way too small for even the few people trying to use it. Blackout curtains were very helpful to allow sleeping in to 7:30.
Day 10: Balestrand to Bergen
We had about a four hour drive to return the car at the Bergen Airport which included a ferry ride (-10 minute wait). After a magical day yesterday with no rain, the drizzle and gray was back. No real views on this drive.
After checking into our hotel we skipped the funicular line and instead walked up Mount Fløyen. Took us about an hour. Even the views along the way were great.
First mile was through the residential area, either steps or paved switch backs. Second mile through a beautiful verdant forest area of switch backs.
When we made it to the top there was a platform (restaurant, cafe) with incredible views.
Way down was only about 45 minutes. Took a different route thru the forest section, and it was rich with moss and streams.
Stopped off at Pergola Mat og Vinbar. Dark lounge vibe. Ended up getting a good bottle of wine (the house for $65) charcuterie board and vegetarian flatbread. If you know wine, apparently the higher end wines are actually a good price, the lower end are relatively expensive based on how Norway applies wine tariffs.
Hotel: Bergen Harbor Hotel. Fantastic location! One block from the funicular. Nice room and very good breakfast (served smoked salmon and herring)
Day 11: Walking tour, Flight to Lofoten Islands
After a great breakfast at our hotel we did a 2 hour free walking tour (you just tip based on what you think it is worth - suggested 15 euro pp) through Guru Walks. It was very good. Even though there were lots of people on our tour the guide spoke loudly and clearly so we understood her well. Learned a lot about the local area.
