Bergen- Rain City

"With its strange situation (surrounded by high mountains), this city has the advantage of a beautiful port and considerable shipping, but also the disadvantage that once on land one cannot get to the city without great inconvenience. This is because the weather in the vicinity of these high mountains is extremely unpleasant and rainy. There has even evolved an expression that is always rains in Bergen, and we have not experienced anything to counteract this saying." (a quote by the Dutch professor Fabricius after a visit to Bergen in ca. 1780).

Domkirken

Fantoft Stave Church

Fløyfjellet

Klosteret

Korskirken

Kyrkjebyrkjeland

Mariakirken

Apart from the king’s estate at Holmen, Håkonshallen and the lower floors of the Rosenkrantz tower, the three parish churches in the centre of Bergen are what have been preserved from medieval Bergen: Mariakirken, Korskirken and Olavskirken (the cathedral). The Romanesque base of the tower from Nonneseter monastery church on the spit between the two Lundegård lakes can still be seen in the landscape, while the other medieval buildings now lie in ruins: the town’s oldest town hall and wine cellar at Nikolaikirkealmenning, Lavranskirken and Maria Gildeskåle between Mariakirken and Bryggens Museum and the Katarina hospital on the north side of Dreggsalmenningen.

Årstad

Alrekstad (later Årstad) is the birthplace of Bergen. The estate was an estate for Harald Hårfagre and several of his descendants: Eirik Blodøks, Håkon den gode og Olav Tryggvason. These first kings moved with their courts and guardsmen from estate to estate. From these estates the king ruled the country.

Rådalen

"...it would not be of any particular economical interest to support the planting of forest as the forest that can be cultivated will leave much to be desired in the way of growth potential." These words stem from the economist that at the end of the 1800s was sent to Stend to inspect the planned reforestation in person. The pioneer G.A.Wilson put the economist's words to shame. The spruce that was planted in Rådalen in the period 1867–1869 became a landmark. No other stand of forest in Scandinavia can boast more trees per unit area.