7 Things to do in BERGEN Norway Go Local Cal McKinley

So today we're going to be taking a look at the city of Bergen, Norway. A place known for its beautiful landscape, expensive prices, and surprisingly its up-and-coming street art scene. Anyway, I'm going to be taking a hard look at this city to try and find out what the best it has to offer. Let's do it. So if you're like me, when I first started doing research about Bergen, I didn't really know a lot of the history of Norway. And so I imagined sort of a small fishing village nestled in the fjords. But Bergen boasts a much bigger footprint than that. It's been a major center for trade since 1020 AD and with a current population of 280,000, it's widely known for its higher education, media, international shipping routes, and tourism. The latter of which has exploded in the last few years. The more I learned, the more I realized how many layers this city could have. I couldn't wait to explore them. So I'll go ahead and start with the fish market because like I said, fishing has been a major aspect of Bergen's economy for hundreds of years, opening in 1200 AD. Today the market consists of an indoor market which is open year-round and an outdoor market which is open during summer. Now the market has gotten fairly touristy, so the prices will be a bit inflated. That being said, all the fish is insanely fresh and absolutely delicious. So you end up not feeling too bad about paying a bit more. You can pretty much pick any of the stalls because they all sell essentially the same stuff. But definitely wander around for a bit and check out the different stalls to see which has the freshest looking fish. So next I'll try and tackle the biggest tourist attraction in Bergen and that is its fjords. Now a fjord is basically a narrow body of water surrounded by huge jagged cliffs or mountains that are created over thousands of years by melting glaciers. And Norway has one of the largest concentrations of these in the world. It's the kind of picture that you put on a postcard. They're just that iconic. Now there are a ton of different fjords that you can travel to while in Bergen depending on how much time you have. So if you're looking for specifics like tour packages or when the best time to go is, definitely check out my write-up which I'll put a link for in the description because there's just no way I can cover that much information in this video. Number three, the Bregen Hanseatic Wharf. This was the old port of Bergen and was the center of power for the Hanseatic League in the city. Now for those of you who don't know, the Hanseatic League was a collective of German merchant guilds that came to dominate maritime trade for over three centuries. Even though they weren't considered a state, they were the powerhouse of Europe during this time. Today it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has sprung to life dozens of arts and craft shops. However, if you still want to find the unique authentic atmosphere of the Hanseatic period, don't be afraid to follow some of the narrower alleyways to the back of the buildings. It'll get less touristy the farther back you go. I just got done taking a look at the fortress of Bergen and the tower specifically was pretty interesting. Just how I like my monuments with construction. Here we have your classic 18th century ladder. Checks out. They covered pretty much the entire fortress's history including a German ammunition ship blowing up the harbor that wounded like 3,000 people and almost destroyed the entire fortress. There's also a dining hall which you have to pay extra to get access to. I don't really recommend it. It's literally just room after room of tables and chairs. This never ends. And then sort of a huge dining hall King Arthur style. Kind of cool but not really worth the extra money. The fortress itself is actually still an active military post I guess you would say. So you'll every now and then you'll see soldiers kind of roaming the ground which sort of adds the effect. All in all I'd say it was pretty well done. So next on the list we have number five, Mount Fløyen which is one of the most popular mountains to visit. It gives you spectacular 360 degree views of the city. So naturally there's going to be a lot of tourists. Now there's two options. You can either hike up or you can take the funicular which will take about eight minutes and cost you 125 kroner for a return ticket and 65 kroner for a single. Now I recommend getting the one-way ticket to the top and then exploring some of the trails that start from there and then just walking back down depending on the hike you choose. Now there is a restaurant up there but the prices of course as you can imagine are very high so I'd recommend steering clear from that and bringing your own snacks and water and so forth. So the staple of any international trip should be discovering the culture's food which can tell you a lot about the people and the place that you're going to. And Norway is no different. Traditional Norwegian cuisine is based largely on materials readily available which means the freshness of ingredients is the name of the game. The dishes aren't necessarily complicated but it's how you prepare it that makes it special. One of the classic dishes is called smørrebrød which is essentially an open-faced sandwich but they combine so many different unique ingredients that it makes it really special. And of course as I've said before the diet is centered mostly on fish so try and eat as much seafood as you can but that doesn't mean that you can't seek out other Norwegian delicacies. So right now I'm on the hunt for Bergen's famed reindeer hot dog topped with like crispy onion and some other Norwegian specialties. It's supposed to be pretty good and one of the cheapest meals you can get here. Let's get this going. Hello. Hi. Can I have one of the reindeer sausage please? Come with the crispy onions on top and everything? Yeah. Perfect. I recommend lingonberry sauce, mustard, and the crispy onions. I'll do it. Here you go. Thank you so much. I don't even know how to attack this. There we go. Holy ----. That's phenomenal. Look at that thing. Last but not least, number seven. Street art. Now I've always been a huge proponent of street art because I think it gives character that's unique to the city and in many ways it's reflective of the local culture and Bergen's street art scene has been explosive with hundreds if not thousands of pieces covering its walls. There's even a website bergenstreetart.com where you can find the latest works and newest pieces. Interestingly enough the famous street artist Banksy actually made a visit here in 2000 way before he was well known and completed eight pieces many of which have been covered up by the city not knowing that later on they would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hindsight's 20-20 right? Before you go I've partnered with a great new company called Indohemp. They create really cool artistic hemp backpacks and 10% of every sale goes to non-profits helping child poverty in Nepal. Just go ahead and click the link in the description of the video and use the code golocal to get 10% off of your order. So guys I hope you enjoyed that video about Bergen. If you've been there yourself and you have some other suggestions feel free to leave those down below in the comment section. Other than that hope you guys have a great day and I'll see you later.