Norway's fjord gateway — Hanseatic wharves, fresh seafood, and the world's most beautiful rain
Bergen is Norway's second city and the traditional gateway to the fjords — a compact, hilly port where the Bryggen wharf (a row of colourful medieval timber warehouses) frames a fish market that has operated for centuries. The city averages 239 rain days per year, a fact Bergenites wear as a badge of honour, and the perpetual wet keeps the surrounding seven mountains lush and the air salt-sharp. The seafood is exceptional: Nordic cuisine here means fresh salmon, bacalao (salt cod, a legacy of the Hanseatic trade), and Bergen's fish soup at the Fisketorget — and the funicular up to Fløyen deli…
Bergen was founded around 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and became Norway's most important city during the medieval period, growing wealthy as a member of the Hanseatic League of northern European trading cities from the 14th to 17th centuries. German Hanseatic merchants built and occupied the Bryggen wharf for the trade in dried Arctic cod (stockfish), shaping the city's architecture and commercial culture for centuries; Bryggen was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 as the best-preserved Hanseatic trading post in Scandinavia. Bergen served as Norway's de facto capital for parts of th…