Not the first place you’d think of going for a short break in November; Bergen. Not the VERY first anyway.

We left Newcastle basking in an unseasonably warm 18°C, with happy Magpie fans drifting in the direction of St James’ Park clad in little more than their stripey tops (though I did notice a few had trousers and such on too). We were scheduled for a short hop across the North Sea in the general direction of North East, (hoping all the time that the skipper of our vessel had a better idea about navigation than did we), and had therefore carried along some fairly heavy duty clothing, which felt, in the warmth of that pleasant Saturday afternoon, to be a bit over the top. Little did we know, gentle reader. Little did we know.

Now that last paragraph would, in most of the world’s ports, send a shiver of dread up many a spine. Docks are not noted for being located in the best part of town. There’s a readily available reason for this fact, which is that traditionally the kind of people who worked and lived aboard ships, and those who’s jobs might be to tend to said ships, to load and unload cargo and so forth, were not the most respectable of citizens. Docks are usually as far away from the respectable parts of a city as they are close to deep water.

Bergen’s whole raison d’etre is to be a deep water dock. The fjord on which it was built, back in about…well, there are differences of opinion about exactly when Bergen became a settlement of any importance, but one matter of record is that it was granted municipal status in 1070 by Olav Kyrr, and by 1240, it had been declared Norway’ capital.

So there we were, in the centre of Bergen, were we but aware of the fact. It was dark, it was cold, and we didn’t have a clue where to go, so doing what all blokes do in these situations, I guessed, and set off. Emma, being a shrewd judge of these things despite her tender years, followed…having first asked a customs officer, and having been told to go left at the end of the dock. Had I insisted on a right turn, she’d have been right there suggesting an alternative route. Actually, either way would have been fine, as we found out the next day.

A stroll of about 400m took us to a widening in the road, and a steep alley leading through a jumble of small wooden houses, which didn’t seem real. More like a film set or a Christmas grotto at a REALLY expensive store. It was impossible, as we climbed the cobbled alley, not to see into these perfect houses, where everything seemed to be made of wood, and you could sense the cosiness contained within their walls. Oddly though, we still didn’t see any people!

At the top of our climb, we headed right on a curving city road lined with shops of all sorts, though quite a few were nautically inclined; chandlers etc.

From there we dropped a little further down the hill until the road once again achieved sea level…we had found the docks again, rather sooner than I had anticipated. By this time it was around 10.30, the wind had picked up, and it had started to snow. Time to call it a night and head back aboard our floating hotel.

We boarded our bus right by the dock and were greeted by our guide, who was sporting a Leeds United club tie. After beating off a few rival fans he explained in perfect English that he had lived in Leeds for many years, and his wife’s best friend was married to some Leeds United player of the 60’s. We forgave him almost as soon as he had translated into less than perfect English for the benefit of those who don’t do ‘perfect English’ in case it makes them look soft.

In no particular order, let me try to describe some of the scenes of downtown Bergen today.

Nowadays, Bryggen houses two museums: the Hanseatic Museum and the Bryggen Musum, and some SERIOUSLY expensive shops.

We stopped at a bus stop near a handsome development of expensive looking homes, and were treated to views across the valley and the whole Bergen peninsula…but only a bit at a time, as cloud and mist drifted across below us, intermittently obscuring our view. The mountains around Bergen are not high, but they are steep and dramatic, and give a feeling of shielding the town. Bergen is known as ‘The Town Between Seven Mountains’, and the presence of those mountains is what gives the town the feeling of being sheltered. It’s like being indoors in a warm room looking out at driving rain…chocolate and/or alcohol usually come into that mental image for me…can’t think why.

As the League’s presence in Bergen pre-dated Luther, the Church was originally Catholic. It is now Lutheran (By far the most predominant religion in Norway) but has remained unchanged inside, still with many paintings and statues, and much more lavish than any Lutheran chapel elsewhere.

Some other things to see: the Leprosy Museum. This sounds pretty grim, but it was in Bergen that research into the causes and treatment of leprosy was centred in the mid 19th century. To find out more, try a search on Google for "Armauer Hansen".

Another good weather trip would be to Voss. There’s a webcam on www.bt.no/kamera/ which gives you views and weather reports

If you, like us, decide to go in the autumn or winter, it’s worth remembering that Bergen lies on roughly the same latitude as parts of Alaska, the southern tip of Greenland and huge swathes of Siberia. Take clothes! If you wuss out and do a summer trip, remember it’s a west coast town…think Glasgow, Seattle. In short think RAIN. Bergen gets some very pleasant weather in the summer due to the Gulf Stream being a close neighbour, but it rains a lot.

The best guide site we found on the web was the official Bergen site at www.uib.no/guide/