Biked, hiked and psyched about Bergen

Bergen bewitched me. All my fears about Bergen weather with 9 inches of rain on average for the month of September were cast away in a  summer spell of six straight sunshine filled days. Norway’s second largest city is the environment where I biked, hiked and psyched about Bergen. A week in Bergen was one of my most relaxing international adventures in years.

One of my first activities was to hop on a bicycle and check out the landscape.

Around Bergen the road is generally going uphill or downhill. I could not sustain that for more than a couple hours. Stinging legs from uphill climbs pained me into submitting to walking for the rest of the trip.

California Dreamin’ in Bergen with a view that looks like San Francisco’s Golden Gate.

Bergen is city parks and wilderness, museums and cruise ships, old traditions and new technologies.

Bergen is ageless. Bergen is a vibrant city of young people and a city of healthy people living long.

There are the fish market, Bryggen and fjord cruises for tourists. The weather was too nice to be inside and the wilderness too close and available to spend the day confined with people on boat and bus rides.

Hiking around is my favorite activity and Bergen offered a playground of places to walk and different vantage points to see.

Floyen is a lovely park walk at 320 meters. Ulriken is a bit more of a mountain scramble to summit 643 meters if you do not ride the cable tram up to the top.

Seeing Norway and meeting Norwegians was easy on the trails. In the outdoors is where locals seemed to be more willing to take a moment to talk. Although, even on the mountains it seems people take pride in moving quickly and conquering the environment.

There are several ways to descend the 2,100 feet of Ulriken.

Parasailing off Ulriken is something I had seen from the harbor. The view was even better from near the top.

Three days of hiking around Bergen revealed to me that women seem to outnumber men hikers by about 4 to 1. Interesting data point.

Bergen revealed Norway’s strength and beauty to me.

Thanks for six days of sunshine Bergen. Thanks for the memories of Bergen outdoors.