Bergen, Norway
Even though Bergen is now a city of 230,000 spread out over the fabled seven hills, the heart of the city has not changed in a thousand years – the harbor and the sea beyond remain preeminent. The ocean has made Bergen rich through the centuries and in one period from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, Bergen was a hub of the Hanseatic League. Bergen was one of the four principal depots of that trading organization and while London, Novgorod, and Bruges no longer retain significant remnants of the former organization, the spirit of the Hanse lives on in this western Norwegian town. One side of the harbor still betrays its Hanseatic heyday with aged buildings leaning precariously on one another for support.
We visited Troldhaugen, the home of Edvard Grieg, in the morning. The house was the summer residence of the Griegs, who migrated like some bird species, leaving their home in the autumn for a winter season on concerts, only to return to summer overlooking the fjord. The museum’s presentation was excellent – a clear and detailed description of the composer’s life and the impact of his music on western culture in general and Norway in particular.
We also motored to the Fantoft Stave Church, a reconstruction of a church destroyed by arson in the early 1990s. The majesty of the old church is conveyed in the new one.
We departed Bergen in the face of a freshening wind. We were assisted off the dock by a tug – great adventure for the watchers on deck. An abbreviated recap preceded our dinner, which included fresh fish from our stop yesterday morning.
Even though Bergen is now a city of 230,000 spread out over the fabled seven hills, the heart of the city has not changed in a thousand years – the harbor and the sea beyond remain preeminent. The ocean has made Bergen rich through the centuries and in one period from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, Bergen was a hub of the Hanseatic League. Bergen was one of the four principal depots of that trading organization and while London, Novgorod, and Bruges no longer retain significant remnants of the former organization, the spirit of the Hanse lives on in this western Norwegian town. One side of the harbor still betrays its Hanseatic heyday with aged buildings leaning precariously on one another for support.
We visited Troldhaugen, the home of Edvard Grieg, in the morning. The house was the summer residence of the Griegs, who migrated like some bird species, leaving their home in the autumn for a winter season on concerts, only to return to summer overlooking the fjord. The museum’s presentation was excellent – a clear and detailed description of the composer’s life and the impact of his music on western culture in general and Norway in particular.
We also motored to the Fantoft Stave Church, a reconstruction of a church destroyed by arson in the early 1990s. The majesty of the old church is conveyed in the new one.
We departed Bergen in the face of a freshening wind. We were assisted off the dock by a tug – great adventure for the watchers on deck. An abbreviated recap preceded our dinner, which included fresh fish from our stop yesterday morning.
