WOYWW - Historic City & Midnight Sun

No crafting done this week but I have a very happy excuse as we spent a wonderful long weekend in the historic city of Bergen on the West Coast of Norway.

The visit was inspired by an article I read in a travel magazine a couple of years ago saying how lovely the city was - and that I had the desire to see the Midnight sun on my bucket list !

And Bergen certainly came up trumps on both those fronts !


We arrived to a damp day on Thursday - but were so lucky with the weather Friday & Saturday as every local we met was keen to tell us they had just endured 92 consecutive days of rain and everyone was beyond depressed ! So for us to have some sunshine - even if it was still quite chilly - was a blessing !

We were staying near the historic area of Bryggen with its medieval Hanseatic warehouses lining the harbour-side. These were the trading base of a thriving community of German seafaring merchants from the 12th century onwards - they had a fascinating museum where I took a tour & learnt about the rather austere life they lived !


We were able to wander around the city - the cobbled streets were rather a challenge for me pushing Much Beloved's wheelchair but we were determined not to miss anything !


We visited the Aquarium, toured the city sights on a bus with commentary, ate some wonderful seafood, drank the local Hansa beer (food & drink was breathtakingly expensive with a small glass of beer costing nearly £9 each !!!).

We took a boat trip around the extensive fjord like harbour leading into the city from the sea which was rather bracingly chilly but we loved seeing the scenery & the city from the sea as generations of seafarers would have experienced arriving in the town.

In the lower right hand picture here you can see the boat dangling from the steel structure.

This is where people who will be working on the oil rigs out in the North Sea come for there safety training and these steel structures are how the emergency escape boats are launched into the sea.




Most spectacular of all took the Floribanen funicular railway to the top of Mount Floyen (the city is built on seven mountains of which this is the highest) and just gazed for ages at the stunning views out over the city, the mountains & the fjords beyond - amazing !












 And yes I did get to go out at Midnight and it was still light - that was pretty amazing too !
It did get dusk by about half past midnight - but was getting light again by half past 2 in the morning - I have no idea why I had such a craving to see this but I am very happy to have experienced it !!

This is me out in the historic area of Bryggen at well past midnight !

Have all my photos printed ready for a scrapping session at the weekend !

Hope you have a great crafty week
Love Ali x