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Friday 2nd June 2017
Weather: Overcast with drizzle
Seas: Calm
Our final port of call this cruise was Bergen. This place is allegedly one of the wettest places in Norway with rain 300 days of the year! Mum has only been here once when it was dry … and we would experience Bergen in the rain.
Once again, we left Mum chilling back in the cabin doing her cross-stitch … she’d lost count of the number of times she’s been here! Jon, Callum and myself got off the ship to explore and the plan was to meet Mum by the fish market just before 12 noon.
There were three other ships in port today – Viking Star, a Costa Ship and another smaller ship. We were off the ship just after 9am and walked from the dock area over to the funicular station … but the queues were winding their way back down the street towards the fish market. There was no way we would get up and back down and meet mum as planned. We set off to explore Bergen.
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There isn’t a huge amount to see but the place is pretty picturesque with old buildings and pretty gardens.
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We met Mum as planned at the fishmarket for a prompt mid-day lunch. We had a quick look around to see all the fish on offer were shocked at some of the prices. It wasn’t just fish on sale – reindeer and mouse sausages were on sale too. We eventually decided on which stall to eat at – open sandwiches all round. Mum and I chose Salmon, Jon the crayfish and Callum opted for the Minky Whale! He declared it was really nice!
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From here, we set out to find the Ice Bar in town – Magic Ice! We’d found something in Bergen Mum hadn’t done before!
Magic Ice is on the opposite side of the harbour to Bryggen and a 10-15 mins walk and very easy to find. When the guy behind the desk did check with us that we could only spend 45 mins inside as they had a party pre-booked and they would be taking over the bar. That was fine, so we paid the entrance fee (NOK 175 – slightly less for Callum!), donned our jackets and gloves and headed inside.
It was pretty good fun as it was the first time any of us had been to an Ice Bar (Mum had been to an Ice Hotel before). Drinks were served in Ice Glasses and the seats, tables, walls and pictures were sculpted out of ice. A few statues but not as many as you’d think.
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After Magic Ice we wandered back around to the Fish Market and onto Bryggen. Mum just wanted to visit the Christmas Shop and Needlecraft shop before making her way back to the ship … whilst we explored the narrow, crooked lanes behind Bryggen. Callum suddenly announced he needed the loo … forget the penny, it’s a pound (NOK10 coin = £1!). There are some lovely silver jewellry shops down the lanes … may be next visit I’ll venture in!
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After exploring Bryygen, we popped into a bar for a Norwegian beer (same bar Bob and I stopped at last September!) before heading back to the ship.
We were scheduled to leave about 3.30pm – and wondered if the Great British Sailaway would be cancelled or moved inside. It was still drizzly which had put a lot of people off attending the sailaway, but the rain didn’t stop Benne and her team from putting on a show.
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Back to the cabin and time to get ready for the final Formal Night of the cruise. Once again, Mum insisted on pre-dinner drinks at the bar before heading down to dinner.
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