We are on the way back to Bergen after visiting the Edvard Grieg House, Troldhaugen. It’s still raining, but we have settled in with it. Our guide is asked about all the electric cars here and we learn Bergen has an abundance of them because of tax breaks that were originally offered as an incentive to buy an electric car. It was too good a deal, as it turns out, because there were not enough taxes being raised to support maintenance on the roads. Now, no more car tax breaks are offered and a road tax is applied when you use the roads. The license plates are scanned when you get on a main road and the bill is sent to you. That resulted in Norwegians, who live in the “burbs,” not using the main roads, avoiding the extra tax.  The result is the bigger cities are suffering because people are choosing to work and shop closer to home, where they can still just pop on their bikes and go, or use a road without the extra tax fee. Bicycles are also abundant here, even in the pouring rain. License plates marked with EC before the number stands for Electric Car. So, we started to look for them and yes, just about all the cars we tracked were electric. In addition, they have removed their busses that used gas and brought back the electric street cars. The guide stated they just had got rid of all the tracks when they re-introduced the electric rail system. If it’s not one thing, it’s another……..but let’s move on to Bergen.

This photo looks like it was taken in black and white photo days to me! It’s one of my favorites! I bet that this building was a station of some kind……..maybe it still is!

As you can see from this photo, it doesn’t take long to get from the mountains to Bergen. Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains and seven fjords.

There is the metropolitan area, and the busy port area …………..(as seen in an earlier post)

and the old warehouses along the original fishing port, that are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That’s where we are headed now. The first thing that you are aware of when you get off the bus is the  strong fragrance of cinnamon! I felt I had been dropped off in a gingerbread village! The aroma was coming from the Baher Brun Shop and as I followed my nose, I discovered the shop was packed with folks waiting in line to get a cinnamon bun…….

This is another look of the warehouses, now turned into shops, mostly appealing to tourists…..You will have to look closely to see the doors! I am surprised these photos came out at all……….it was pouring cats and dogs, which is normal 260 days of the year here!

Another view …….I like the way the shop front  is covered up with a tarp that looked like the shop front………

There were wide doors, narrow doors and inset doors, all in the same building……..

Some of the door entryways, led to narrow passages that went to more shops in the back……..

Some shops had interesting signs……….

And many had vines, that nearly covered the buildings over………

Some doors led to apartments upstairs…….

Here’s a view of the tight squeeze between the buildings……

This shop had Christmas items in the window that were very nice, but to buy them, one had to take the drunken staircase…………

The alleyways between the buildings were getting a little wider…….

and here is the Visitors Center……….

We’ve reached the end of the old warehouse area and the new buildings are in sight, but I wont’t go there. I’m wet and a little cold, so maybe a cinnamon bun and coffee is in order, so I’ll make my way back.

I couldn’t help but peek in here on the way to the bus……..

I had my eye on that umbrella! I may need another one before the cruise is over……..

Well, some days you just don’t get as many cool doors as one would like……..but we have two more weeks in Norway! Plenty of time to find doors! I hope you have enjoyed our small excursion in Bergen today!

Look here to see what others are doing for Norm’s Doors!

It’s easy to do Norm’s Doors. Photograph some doors and post them to Thursday Doors on Thursday!

PS All photos were taken on our IPhones …….we are traveling lighter!