Bergen , is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. The urban population is around 250,000. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway.

The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are located on Byfjorden, "the city fjord", and the city is surrounded by mountains. Bergen is known as the city of seven mountains. We arrived in Bergen having travelled the entire length of the Sognefjord.

The first taste of the city was a stroll along Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf, the most picturesque esplanade we have seen with the traditional timber ancient buildings. A stroll through the back streets of Bryggen brings you back to the Middle Ages, as a lot of the architecture is preserved or rebuilt in its original form.

It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League and on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education. Bergen port is Norway's busiest in both freight and passengers with nearly a half a million passengers visiting Bergen every year.

The principal export from Bergen is the famous dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. In the sixteenth century the British went to war with the Hanseatic League over Icelandic cod and they only withdrew from that war after some casualties and because they discovered a new source of cod off the coast of America.

With its ideal location right in the heart of the fjord region and being situated between the Hardangerfjord and the Sognefjord, Bergen is the perfect starting or ending point for trips to one of the world’s biggest turistic attractions – the fjords.

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