Bergen is a lovely city, with colorful houses and surrounded by beautiful countryside and mountains. We walked around the wharf (Bryggens) area, had a light dinner with a variety of seafood, at the Fish Market. Our hotel was the very comfortable Augustin, where we were upgraded to a large “family” room, which was actually a handicapped room!

We visited the Hanseatic Museum, housed in a restoration of a tenement building used for trade in Bryggens. We took the tram to the Edvarg Grieg house, Troldhaugen, toured the house, composer’s hut, and grounds, and attended a piano recital in the concert building, which looks out onto the hut and lake. Back in central Bergen, we continued to walk around neighborhoods and had a simple and good dinner at Pingvinen (Penguin) in a student area.

We toured the Rosenkranz Tower and Haakon's Hall of the fortress, the Bergenhus Festningsmuesum (with an exhibit about the Norwegian Resistance during World War II), the Fisheries Museum, and the Kode museums (there are 4; Kode 3 has an excellent collection of Munch paintings). Dinner was at Klosteret Kaffebar, a café in a hilltop residential area near the university.

Right in town is the Fløibanen, the funicular that goes up Mount Fløyen. Our last day in Bergen, we, along with several school groups, rode the funicular and then hiked past small lakes and up to the radio transmission tower. On the way back, we stopped for a picnic lunch; as we finished, a thunderstorm rolled in. We took shelter at the Fløibanen mountain terminus until the rain let up, then walked all the way back into town. One could walk for miles and days along the mountain trails. Returning to our hotel lounge, we had coffee, tea, and cookies while awaiting checkin at Hurtigruten. After checking our bags, we walked back for another dinner (different menu items, though) at Pingvinen, then returned for the 8 PM ship departure.