Since we had just been in Bergen last year when we took the North Cape and Summer Solstice cruise with Princess, we decided not to take a tour there. That meant that we could sleep in a bit (until 7:30) and have breakfast before venturing out. When we got up, it was cloudy, windy and rainy -- did not look like a good day. After breakfast we went out on the back deck to check out the weather. It was misting and a little breezy, but wasn't too cold, probably in the 50's. Checking the weather on my Kindle, I found that the Norway government meteorological report predicted that there would be no rain in Bergen from 10:00 AM on. So we put on our raincoats and brought our umbrellas, but headed out.

We were docked at a commercial port with no tourist terminal, but I found a map and there were big arrows and the words "to city center" painted on some barricades along the street nearby . We followed the arrows and soon came to a parking lot where, along with the HOHO buses, there was a tour "train" offering a free ride to the city center. We, along with most of the passengers who got off the ship at about the same time, took advantage of the offer. When we got to the city center (maybe 6 blocks away), the driver told us first about all of the attractions nearby, where we could find toilets and the visitors center and warned us about pickpockets. He then promoted his approximately 1 hour long tour on the train. We weren't really interested. I had just two things in mind: lunch in the fish market and Bryggen. Bryggen is a UNESCO World Heritage site and consists of the area where the original 12th century settlement lies. Because the buildings were wooden there were successive fires through the years and what you see now is built upon the old foundations.

We started by walking through Bryggen. The colorful warehouses there had been built in the 18th century by the Hansiatic League and are symbolic of Bergen . Most of them have been turned into restaurants, shops and offices. Along our walk were several signs describing what we were seeing. We had hoped to get a guided tour, but the Bryggen museum told us one of their guides was sick and the other tour was full. Bryggen is an archeological site as people have lived here for over 800 years and we could see one of the excavations through the window of the museum. We walked over to Mariakirken, the oldest building in Bergen. It was once a Catholic church, but is now Protestant. It had been recently renovated, but it was not open on the day we were there.

We continued our walk along the back side of the buildings and there were more signs telling the history of the area -- it was almost like an outdoor museum. We continued on to the fish market. While we were told it is not like it was in years past when the fishermen brought their catches to sell, it is still an interesting place. There were people selling beautiful fruits, dried fish, whale sausage, jams and jellies and more. In addition there were several places where you could buy fresh fish and other sea food (including the largest crabs I have ever seen) and all of the fish markets were restaurants as well. You could get fish chowder, shrimp, fish & chips, seafood platters and more. We bought a couple things to bring home, but had seen a restaurant in Bryggen that we wanted to go back to. They had Norwegian tapas on the menu outside -- and it included such things as cod cheeks and smoked whale . We walked back to the restaurant, but it turned out that the tapas menu was only available after 5:00 PM and there was nothing else on their menu that appealed to us. So back to the fish market! We ordered 2 shrimp skewers with one order of salad and potatoes. The shrimp was made with butter, lemon and wine (we watched them make some before we ordered) and was delicious. The weather had continued to improve and it was pleasant sitting near the harbor for lunch.

After lunch we thought about taking one of the tours, but decided instead to just walk back to the ship. On the way we visited the grounds of the Bergenhus Fortress, one of the best preserved castles in Norway. It was actually a shortcut to the ship -- and had a spot where you could get a nice view of the harbor. I was also able to get a classic photo of us in front of the warehouses on our walk back, using the timer on my camera and a trash can as a tripod.

We ate later than usual because we had dinner in the Italian specialty restaurant onboard, the Canaletto. Cruise Specialists, our travel agent, had given us a complementary dinner there. The food and service were both excellent, but servings huge. We had bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil with our appetizers of antipasto and veal meatballs. For entrees we had rigatoni with sausage and lemon sea bass. For dessert we shared Lemoncello creme. Next time we will share an entree, too. The lemon sea bass was our favorite.

By the time we finished dinner, it was too late to go to the early show -- so we just spent a quiet evening in our cabin.