It seem's like Bergen has been one of those places we have been "heading for" for a long while and as such, our expectations have been building for it. The tourist information map, picked up in Olso, has been peeking at us from the door pocket in the cab for what seems like weeks on end and I guess we had high expectations from the start.

For a lot of people Bergen is the gateway to Norway since many Cruise ships dock here to unload their cargo of American tourists on the town! The weather played a large part in our visit - a mixture of rain showers (well, more like torrential downpours!) and a misty overcast. Wild camping, on the face of it, is quite a challenge. The whole of the town is 'zoned' which means resident parking permits and so forth. We did find one spot just outside of a zone near a playing field which made for a interesting nights sleep since it wasn't totally level! There is a 24 hour car park for motorhomes , but this charges £16/day which is more then we paid in Stockholm. There is some free parking, however, at the Marina on the right hand side as you enter from the top - but it looks as if this area is being redeveloped so this may not be here for long.

Bergen itself was pleasant enough, it was disappointing that a lot of the shops at Bryggen (a world heritage row of wooden houses dating back to the 1700's) was occupied by tourist tat and even the fish market was blighted with it. Prawn topped Bagel (HALF a bagel!) for £7 and 'Fish and Chips' for £14. I'm ashamed to admit it, but in the absence of a packed lunch we sneaked into McDonalnds for two cheeseburgers £2.20. Did you know that Norway is home to the most expensive Big Mac in the world? It was over £9 for a medium big mac meal! Suddenly that £7 bagel looked tempting...

No visit to Bergen would be complete without a visit to the top, you can actually walk down so if you don't mind doing so just get a single ticket. We're happy to be back amongst the Fjords and away from the crowds Wild Camping with only the wildlife for company. 

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