It can be a party just to wander out and about in Bergen on a balmy summer evening. The streets throng with people milling in and out of cafés sampling food or enjoying a beer on Bryggen.
Outdoor restaurant at Bryggen during Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race 2001
Photo: Per Eide/ Bergen Tourist Board
Photo: Per Eide/ Bergen Tourist Board
During the day you can eat smoked salmon and fresh shrimps on the busy Fish Market, while a true Bergenser will be tucking into fish cakes and spicy ‘shilling buns’!
From fish cakes to festivals, and spring bursts into action for Norway’s largest cultural event – the annual Bergen International Festival. Out of all of Norway, it had to be here because Bergen has such a festive atmosphere.
Edvard Grieg’s birthplace has all the right ingredients of intimacy, charm and enthusiasm. Even so, weather experts were consulted for the best time of the year. Bergensers have a thing about the weather. But they don’t let things stop just because of a drop of rain! The show must go on.
And there are many shows, many annual festivals - from Blues to Ballet, from Raves to Rachmaninov. We Bergensers grasp any excuse for a festival. Nothing is too trivial. We make a celebration out of anything - street entertainment, theatre, all around the city, in shops, in parks – even over statues. And if there is no particular anniversary, something else will be found to celebrate!