Bergen 28/05/25

Only one rain shower today and that was in the evening and didn't get me wet.

The centre of Bergen 

I had a day in the city doing the sights and a couple of museums. The first, after wandering across to the other side of the city, was the maritime museum.

Model Viking Ship

There is a fascinating display of shipping through the ages, mainly with beautifully made models, starting with the early viking longships and ending with modern commercial vessels.

A beautiful motor boat

The early longships are all modelled at the same scale 1:6 which makes comparison easy, and there are some beautiful small full size boats.

Model shipbuilding yard

I spent ages looking at all the exhibits and then walked through the university district, which was a delight, on the way to see where the venue for tonight's jazz concert was.

Bergen street

The next venue after a 'traditional' fish burger for lunch was again on the other side of the city. The advantage of continually crossing the city was that there were usually a group of musicians on the outdoor stage performing something Norwegian.

Pianist on the outdoor stage 

The Kobe Gallery is in four separate buildings but I only managed to visit one before I ran out of time.

Kobe gallery

A wonderful exhibition of paintings by Norwegian artists including many by Edvard Munch.

Munch, self portrait 

Hans Heyerdal, Girl with kitten

It was time then to head back to the hostel for a shower and get to the Natt Jazz venue.

Munch,Inger on the beach

The venue is an old sardine factory by the harbour and has three stages with a big roofed space outside where the first performance took place with Ola Kvernberg and his sextet performing his composition "STEAMDOME III" with the full Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Incredible!

Symphony orchestra and jazz band

The night continued with performances by another six groups of musicians on the three smaller stages. 

Alogte Oho and his sounds of joy

Altogether a fantastic night and when I emerged in the early hours for the walk back to the hostel the rain had stopped and of course at this latitude it wasn't really dark.

Bergen at night