Bergen, Bryggen, funicular, (more) pastries and (more) fjords
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Our focus in Bergen after 5 weeks of travels hither and yon was to enjoy several days of respite. Whew! Arriving late afternoon our first day, we scooted out to pick up some groceries and vino and settled in for the evening.
Feeling it necessary to set aside the tourist push to visit museums, churches and fortresses, we opted for strolling, relaxing, enjoying a boat trip or two, sampling some local pastries, dining on light home cooked meals and soaking in the ambience of the place with its natural beauty and interesting history - all good stuff.
Our first outing was on a rainy morning when we hopped on the funicular to get a view of the city. Our AirBnB was practically at the doorstep of the funicular ticket office - easy peasy. Given the weather, we didn’t spend too much time up top but certainly got a good view of the city and harbor. You can see the funicular tracks to the right in the image below.
Rainy day view of Bergen center/harbor from the funicular
Happy flowers outside the funicular shop
We strolled over to Bryggen, the popular Unesco World Heritage site (and jewel in Bergen’s crown) consisting of a community of commercial wooden buildings connected by wooden passageways. Currently you’ll find them housing shops, museums and restaurants but there’s a lot of history that goes back centuries. You can read more about it here.
View of Bryggen
Between the buildings
Of course, after our Flåm experience, we had to give boller another try from a well thought of bakery right on our street. How handy is that! Two different fillings this time - the almond version (mandelbolle) had a nutty almond filling layered in the dough in addition to the pastry cream in the center; the fyltbolle contained a mix of pastry cream and blackberry jam. Interestingly fyltbolle translates simply as filled bun. My brief search tells me that the jam/cream combo is common, buuuuut . . . . I suppose you could fill ‘em with whatever tasty filling your heart desires.
We found the dough too soft and not as good as those in Flåm. The almond bun needed a bit longer baking time methinks, being on the pale side for our tastes. Plus, I prefer my pastries on the smaller side - not too big, not too little. That’s it - no more boller for us.
Mandelbolle and fyltbolle from a nearby Bergen bakery
A couple of our mornings/early afternoons were taken up by cruises - one a short cruise of the Bergen harbor and the other a longer cruise through the Osterfjorden to Modalen, said to be the second smallest municipality in Norway. It was established in 1910 and wasn’t accessible by road from Bergen until 1976.
A slice of Bergen from the harbor
Stunning waterfall on the Osterfjorden (photo courtesy of Steve Soper)
View of Modalen (photo courtesy of Steve Soper)
Otherwise our city strolling led us to discover various interesting sculptures as well as lovely spring flowers.
Hmmm . . . . homeless?
It has certainly been tulip time in Scandinavia!
On a bit of a whim Steve, the choux paste lover, picked up a pistachio èclair from a Parisian style shop (Sebastien Bruno) in the center shopping district. We also snagged a croissant and a pain au chocolat from a bakery in Bryggen to enjoy with our morning coffee (by now you should know that we invariably include pastry sampling in our itinerary.)
Over priced èclair
We agreed on a so-so rating for all. Steve deemed the choux OK but without enough pistachio flavor, too sweet overall and très cher.
We gently heated the viennoiserie in the oven the following morning and upon first bite found the taste to be sort of metallic and not pleasant. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but I suspected it was some aura from the oven that did it. After a few minutes and another bite, the off flavor seemed to have dissipated. In general they were otherwise light, crispy and very well laminated so the flavor issue was odd. Who knows.
Nice croissant lamination
Time to say goodbye to Bergen. Gouda here we come. Let’s hear it for cheese!
Bergen’s festplassen
