Bergen and this wasn't the weather forecasted!

Today is our last Norwegian port, Bergen.  We have previously been to Bergen and pretty much covered the history of the historic wharf and its Hanseatic sea-trading heritage.

So today our plan was to simply take the funicular up Mt. Floyen and do some hiking on the trails on top of the mountain that overlooks Bergen.  The weather forecast was:  Sunny with a high of 68 degrees!  Perfect!

But that's not the weather we faced when we walked off the ship!  It was foggy and there was a mist in the air.  We were not surprised.  Bergen gets an average of 80 inches of rain annually.  A good year has 60 days of sunshine...but not today.

Determined to hike, we put on our rain jackets and headed to the funicular station.

On the way up the mountain, we could see some of the town through the fog.

 And as we got closer to the top, we saw less of the town...

 When we reached the top and walked out to the viewing area on top of the mountain, this is what we saw...

The view is actually quite nice on a clear day, but not today.

We had a hiking trail printed out on a map so off we went.

The mist was more of a light rain up here in the clouds.  Bergen is probably the rainiest city in Norway.  It's a great place to grow moss...

We tried to follow the hiking map and came upon what we thought was referenced as the cabin...

so, on we trekked.  We thought we were at a lake when we saw the bench...

but we were not sure.  It was either the lake we thought we were walking beside, or the side of the cliff with the town down below!  

We would come to a Y in the road, and there was no signage to direct us.

We looked for signs posted, but only saw this.

Not exactly sure where we were on the trails,  we came upon a runner who pointed us in the direction to walk to reach the funicular station.

A while later we saw signs!

And knew we were close..

Knowing we still had time to hike, we headed to a nearby lake.  This one we could actually see.
We stopped and talked with a young lady from Australia and learned she had participated in the Iron Man Race that we had watched on a pub's television just a few days ago!

Then it was back to the funicular station; there were a lot more people there now, hoping for a view.  It was better by now, but not worth lingering here.

So we caught the next funicular and headed down the mountain to the city.

We walked around the Bergen Hanseatic Quarter, called Bryggen, where there is a long row of old warehouses...the typical postcard picture of Bergen.

I noticed a name above one of the buildings that was new since our last visit.

The last name is my maiden name. 

Some of these most photographed buildings are undergoing a facelift, but their image is still portrayed on the front.

Soon it was time to walk back to the ship.  We walked through the Fish Market and this time, thanks to a little Vicks under the nose, I didn't lose Terry disappearing across the street.

It was a short but still an enjoyable day here in Bergen.  We were sailing by 2;00 pm as the captain explained we had to go full speed in order to reach Southampton, UK by Saturday morning.

July 5 at Bergen:  Sunrise, 4:21 am; Sunset, 11:05 pm

One more day of sightseeing before we fly home.  To continue reading, scroll down and click on Newer Post.