The city of Bergen is the second largest town in Norway and - fun fact- was established in 1070 when King Olav returned from fighting King Harold the battle of Stamford Bridge 1066.
The bustling city thrived on the harbour and fish market and has been occupied by Germany for much of its history, which can be seen from the timber architecture.
At all of our previous ports, the course ship has been docking right in the centre of town but in Bergen the ship ‘parked’ in a commercial cruise port and got a shuttle bus into the city centre.
My first stop was Begenhus Festnig a.k.a. Bergen Castle. The fortress was built in the middle ages and includes Haakon’s hall and Rosenkrantz Tower. It was mainly used as a military fortress yet the only time that it has seen any action was in 1665.
A British fleet ‘attacked’ a dutch ship in the port of Bergen and the Norwegians were left with no choice but to defend their port. as it turned out the dutch made an agreement with King Charles II to share the cargo, or something like that. with the exchange too happen in Bergen. The problem was, nobody told the Norwegians.
An early departure from Bergen saw us return to the ship for lunch and for me this also meant a second visit up to The Cookery Club for Great Bakes.
In the two hour session we made Portuguese custard tarts; the secret to a thick custard is the addition of cornflour, lean and almond polenta cakes and a demo of strawberry and cream meringue roulade which would go down a treat at Wimbledon time.
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