Bergen, Norway - July 6, 2023 - Day 5


We had previously spent a couple of days in Bergen in 2013 when we had taken my mom and aunt on a cruise from Southhampton, England to New York via Greenland, Iceland, etc.  We were scheduled to stop at both the Shetland and Faroe Islands but spent extra days in Bergen due to a storm in the North Sea. Thus, we tried to schedule some different tours.

Our rescheduled tour from Glitch #2 (Flightseeing over Dramatic Fjords) was now at 9:30 AM. It was a 1 hour flight on a seaplane over Bergen and surrounding areas.  But due to the clouds, we didn't go up as far as the glacier. Once again, the scenery was very dramatic.  




Bergen is one of the rainiest city in the world with over 80 inches of rain per year, but also the rainiest city in Europe, so although it was cloudy today, this is considered an 8 out of 10 day for weather.

It is the 2nd largest city in Norway (after Oslo) but only has a population of 280,000.


After lunch, we did a tour of Bergen by boat.  Bergen was one of the many cities of the Hanseatic League and the quayside (Bryggen) is now a world heritage site.  Bergen is an international city for aquaculture, shipping and the petroleum industry.  We saw a number of oil platform supply ships in the harbor.  


We passed the $100 million yacht (Rocinante) owned by video game designer Gabe Newell. Berthed next to it was a "yacht support vessel" which are primarily intended to carry the "toys" of the super rich.  We were told they charter for about $450,000 per week.

Rocinante

Yacht Support Vessel

We finished the day with a dinner in one of the ship's speciality restaurants.  The restaurant has a prix fixe 5 course menu with wine pairings that changes every three days.  Our menu tonight was Norwegian cuisine that we both enjoyed.






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