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Today was our last day in Norway and we spent the day in Bergen, Norway's second largest city and former capital. Bergen is known as Europe's rainiest city and today it lived up to its reputation.
We started off at 9am with a market tour with Chef Renata. The markets we have visited so far don't really get going until later in the morning, lots for us to se anyway. These chef tours include tasting of local specialties, this time whale, local sausage, cloud berry and lingonberry jam were on offer. I didn't try the whale - Norway is one of a very few countries that still have a commercial whaling industry. I learned during the whale lecture I attended that this is more of a government commitment to heritage than a citizen driven economic or food issue. The lecturer suggested one of the ways to help the whales was not to eat the meat - phew, I look like a conservationist rather than a fussy eater!
Bergen is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains, which we were assured exist. Today we had lots of low cloud and rain so they were in possible to enjoy. The weather also meant we skipped the famous funicular ride since there would be nothing to view. We did visit the historic Bryggan District, a UNESCO world heritage site filled with historic wooden buildings, traditional architecture and lots of side streets filled with shops, museums and a chance top see the way things were built.
Today was also the day we claimed our VAT refund. Most countries here have a VAT - similar to our HST only at a much higher rate, 25% here in Norway. Visitors can get about 19% of that tax back on goods they are taking home with them, things consumed in Norway are not eligible. While the process is fairly simple, you do have to be aware of it. Sadly I wasn't paying enough attention and we made a few purchases without following the rules - so no refunds on those! I am now studying up for our next countries!
I also forgot to include in my post about Froya that the Norwegians have a way of cleaning the sea lice off of their farmed salmon. Farmed salmon is a huge industry here and Norwegians are very proud of it. They have specialized equipment on boats that travel to the salmon pens and somehow the salmon pass though the equipment and the sea lice are literally brushed off the fish. This is apparently effective and not harmful to the fish or the environment. Lots we could be learning I think! Tomorrow is a sea day and then we land in Dundee, Scotland where passengers on this leg will disembark and new folks will join us.
We started off at 9am with a market tour with Chef Renata. The markets we have visited so far don't really get going until later in the morning, lots for us to se anyway. These chef tours include tasting of local specialties, this time whale, local sausage, cloud berry and lingonberry jam were on offer. I didn't try the whale - Norway is one of a very few countries that still have a commercial whaling industry. I learned during the whale lecture I attended that this is more of a government commitment to heritage than a citizen driven economic or food issue. The lecturer suggested one of the ways to help the whales was not to eat the meat - phew, I look like a conservationist rather than a fussy eater!
Bergen is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains, which we were assured exist. Today we had lots of low cloud and rain so they were in possible to enjoy. The weather also meant we skipped the famous funicular ride since there would be nothing to view. We did visit the historic Bryggan District, a UNESCO world heritage site filled with historic wooden buildings, traditional architecture and lots of side streets filled with shops, museums and a chance top see the way things were built.
Today was also the day we claimed our VAT refund. Most countries here have a VAT - similar to our HST only at a much higher rate, 25% here in Norway. Visitors can get about 19% of that tax back on goods they are taking home with them, things consumed in Norway are not eligible. While the process is fairly simple, you do have to be aware of it. Sadly I wasn't paying enough attention and we made a few purchases without following the rules - so no refunds on those! I am now studying up for our next countries!
I also forgot to include in my post about Froya that the Norwegians have a way of cleaning the sea lice off of their farmed salmon. Farmed salmon is a huge industry here and Norwegians are very proud of it. They have specialized equipment on boats that travel to the salmon pens and somehow the salmon pass though the equipment and the sea lice are literally brushed off the fish. This is apparently effective and not harmful to the fish or the environment. Lots we could be learning I think! Tomorrow is a sea day and then we land in Dundee, Scotland where passengers on this leg will disembark and new folks will join us.
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