Day 20 Wednesday 4 September

Bergen has 60 days of sunshine per year, which leaves a lot of days of liquid sunshine and grey skies. They have a saying here – there is no inconvenient weather, just inappropriate clothing. We took note of this and when reception gave us an hour by hour rainfall forecast in mm, including a 5.8mm downpour and thunder and lightening, we accepted the extra umbrella that was offered.

When we woke and drew back the curtains the rain had well and truely settled in, and it didn’t feel like our sunshine mojo was going to work today. We did have a peek at the Naples forecast and that is reaching 32 today – so we enjoyed this last moist cool day of 14 degrees without complaint.

Bergen was always going to be a quick turnaround, so looking on the sunny side of things I said to Vern that at least we don’t have to feel as though we have to rush and cram too much in – Funicular was out due to visibility so all we could do was head into old town and enjoy the old Hanseatic buildings and fabulous fish market. This also gave us plenty of time to get back to the airport with no rush (triple checking departure times) as the cheapest transport between city and airport takes 45 minutes. This means there is 1.5hrs of travel just to get to the tourist sights, and we needed to be back at the airport by 3:45 to get our bags and check in.

The light rail from airport to town is comfortable, modern, clean, efficient and relatively cheap for airport transfer at 38 NOK each. They run around every 5 minutes in the peak times of day and deposit you right at central station or further into the city centre an easy 7 minute walk to the port – old town area. The trip in went through tidy residential areas with different coloured typical monopoly game looking buildings in the simple shape with steep A-frame roof and cheery soft colours punctuating the predominately white buildings.

The city centre streets that we saw (which wasn’t a lot to be fair) were also modern and clean with a few more smaller older and wooden style buildings than Oslo has. The city didn’t feel over crowded and is probably filled with more tourists than locals. The population here is around 600,00, and they have 300 cruise ships dock per year. This of course is not all the tourists, as others will arrive like us via plane or ferries.

We smelt the fish market before we saw it – not a horrible smell but a grilled fish aroma. It is a row of outdoor gazebo style eateries on the edge of the port, with the old town on one side. There are seated areas and cabinets with an impressive array of fresh and cooked seafood including salmon, prawn, crab, caviar, whale, and seal oil. I felt a little repulsed at the whale – it looks very dark red fresh and black cooked. For clarification, neither whale or seal are on my food list.

A travel tip here is takeaway incurs a 12% tax on top, and eat in a 24% tax. Even though I had eaten a good breakfast (of fish of course), this was my last opportunity of northern fish before the carb rich Italian diet. When I saw the lovely fish (not whale) in the nice cool air – on ice I was able to fit in a fresh Kina which was sweet and slightly more delicate than at home. They had huge ones there too, which I didn’t try as I nearly broke the budget on the one little one!

Whilst at the first stand looking we heard familiar accents and passed a comment which opened up a conversation. Whenever you hear someone from the other end of the world there is a connection and ease of conversation. The male asked where we were from and said he knew Whakatane because he was a kiwi originally – now Australian. We chatted a while and exchanged travel tips.

Theirs was some Air B&B on their self drive which they booked last minute and cancelled their fully refundable booking.com rooms. But it came with a caution as you have to double check Air B&B carefully at the little details such as whether you can eat or drink in the apartments, cleaning fees etc. Or whether the hosts are ones that cancel out the bookings which is what I have seen and wouldn’t want to risk. They had booked a fabulously cheap cruise on Vacations to Go – an American business. Worth checking it out, the cruise for 7 days on a balcony suite, with all drinks and food was only around 1200 AUD each.

Moving on down the line of tempting displays I saw some reasonably priced soups 59NOK and fish cakes for 15NOK. There was a more senior than me English man eating a fish cake so I asked him what it was like – if it was any good. He replied very good and offered me a piece in good natured fun – to which I first said no, but then he encouraged me to take some so I broke off a tiny piece. It was nice – so I bought both the soup and the cake and really enjoyed the delicate and sweet fresh flavour of both. It seemed to be getting wetter and colder as we huddled under and awning, with our breath turning into condensation as we ate our warm snacks. I think that made it even more comforting and delicious. Another stand was selling fresh fruit and we got a mixed blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry pottle for 49NOK, which was also very nice.

We ventured on and out into the steady rain like seasoned Norwegians. I had my gortex waterproof shoes and merino socks and we both had our Mac in sack rain jackets as well as umbrellas so were reasonably well equipped. Vern who does not have gortex shoes did hit a puddle or two, but its only water isn’t it?

The old town wooden buildings dating back 1,000 years (not all original) are very Bergen touristic cute. They almost lean against each other in support and some of the stairways and doors are the wonkiest I have ever seen as if in a theme park fun house. We had a wander through the wooden lanes and found a quaint cafe to have a coffee and last sweet Norwegian cinnamon roll (which also has cardamom). Whilst we felt a tinge of regret that the sun wasn’t shining to illuminate and enjoy all of what Bergen has to offer, at least we got to see it as she more often is – verses the colour enhanced bright buildings and blue sky promotional travel pictures.

As we got on the tram to go back to the airport the sky had lightened and the rain eased to a very light drizzle. When we got to the airport it had stopped and the slightest slither of blue – grey had appeared in a few spots. There were also some very ominous grey clouds rolling in for the next down pours… We collected our bags and concluded our check in for Air France flight to Naples. The flight stoped in Paris first with a 1 hr transfer, arriving in Naples at 2300.

The first leg of the Air France flight went smoothly – smallish plane and not the most comfortable. It was full for the 2.5 hr flight. When we arrived there was an hour to change and we were in the same part of the terminal so I thought I would have time to quickly shop and or have a snack as we only got a mini ice cream on the flight and it was dinner time. Problem was we landed on the tarmac and had to wait for buses that then had a good 7 minute drive before we got to the terminal. Then we saw they were boarding and it was another 10 minute walk to our gate. Stress on, but we made it in time for another full flight into the sunset and off to Naples. Fortunately we got a sandwich and a wine, which is an advance on a mini ice cream. We were even offered seconds on the sandwiches, which we took as they were actually very nice. A white vegetarian with carrots, courgette and rocket with a light farmers-cream style cheese, and the other flavour was a small soft ham and cheese roll.

We arrived in Naples on the tarmac (again) at 10:45pm after a fun low flight over the city to land with heavy braking within the city area. It’s only about a 10-15 minute drive to absolute down town by taxi from the airport and boy oh boy was that an experience. Firstly you line up outside the airport where security checks where you are going then allows a taxi to take you – ensuring they don’t rip you off and charge you a fixed fee – around €25. Then the fun begins – 75 km through city streets – weaving in and out of unmarked lanes – where there is a gap you shoot it. 11pm there was still a lot of life around – cars, buses and scooters galore. You went from what looked like one lane roads, to four vehicles jostling a way forward and entering things akin to roundabout from all angles in a crazy bull rush.

We launched through narrow streets, wider streets, into squares and roundabouts in a city that looked like something out of a futuristic movie where there has been a apocalypse. I honestly had to shut my eyes about 3 times, and the whole ride was punctuated by me tensing and gasping in breath as we narrowly missed other commuters. I kept bracing myself for the bang or crash – although we arrived fully unscathed. Our hotel was in a shabby square seemingly in the middle of a tangle of mess.

OK, shaking but in admiration of the skill of our young driver, we gave him a tip and took a breath to enter our accommodation which reminded me of a scene entering an abandoned or haunted mansion. I booked the hotel on the basis it was in a good location for walking to historical sites, that it is a renovated old Italian ‘palace’ and had excellent reviews. To my relief the inside was nice, clean and classically decorated, and we were welcomed royally and efficiently. Our room is large, the bathroom not too bad a size with rain shower and no bath, however it has a bidet which I like…

The reviews said the bed was comfortable but to me it felt like a slab of granite after my lovely northern soft beds. Never mind, it was after midnight by the time we had showered and got horizontal. Poor Vern has caught a nasty cold, so hoping it doesn’t come my way or last too long for him. A new day tomorrow and slightly apprehensive about the crazy city we have come to.