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.

Svåsand

Down by the fjord at Svåsand, close to the main highway, there is a long row of boathouses, one of the well-preserved, older boathouse locations along the Hardanger fjord. It is the farms at Svåsand that have their boathouses here, four main farms with origins far back in time.

Hamre Church

Hamre Church has, by all accounts been one of the four main churches in Horda County in the Middle Ages. Hamre was a main church for the whole of Hordaland. Timber remains in the present church show that there was a stave church here in medieval times.

Hosanger church

On Christmas Day 1795, at 5 a.m., the lightning struck the church in Hosanger. After three hours, the timbered church from the 1600s, which had replaced the stave church from the Middle Ages, was in ashes. Already on New Years Day in 1796, a sermon was held for the Hosanger population in the main church at Hamre, to which the congregation belonged earlier,

Eidfjord church

The old stone church at Eidfjord has an open position on the terrace at Lægreid. In a diploma from 1310 it transpires that Torgeir on Sponheim donated a gift for the erection of the church in Eidfjord. Thus we can assume that the church was under construction at the time. The elements in the style confirm such a dating.

Fana church

In the Middle Ages the stone church in Fana was a place for pilgrimage, containing a miraculous silver crucifix that could heal the sick. A hill to the west of the church is still called Krykkjehaugen (the crutch hill); according to belief this is where the sick threw away their crutches. Perhaps this church, lying where it does at the old half county boundary , also held a special position in relation to the district churches in the county.

Domkirken

Fantoft Stave Church

Gaupås

Kalandsvika

There is little to say about the opportunity for surveying from the bird observation tower in Kalandsvika: 155 different bird species have been sighted in the Kalands water shed. Take your binoculars and visit the tower in late spring - early summer or during the winter half of the year. If you are lucky, you might get to see a rare bird species.