In late medieval times a group of German merchants created a commercial alliance that spread as far inland as Berlin and as far north as Bergen. This Hanseatic League was vital in developing trans-European trade networks that are still in place.
Berlin is Germany’s largest city, and by some accounts, the largest city in the EU. It’s also a good starting point for an adventure. Instead of going east into Poland and the Baltics (been done before) or south to Prague, Vienna, and the Balkans we headed west towards Hamburg and Scandinavia.
Traditionally Germany’s largest port city, Hamburg traces its roots back to Charlemagne. Essentially destroyed in World War II, the city’s rebuild started while in the British Occupation Zone. Although occupation ended in 1949, British influences continued, including a residency by the Beatles in the early 60’s. One unusual characteristic of Hamburg is its lack of skyscrapers. Other than church or tv towers, no buildings as tall as 400 feet.
The capital of Denmark for over 500 years, Copenhagen has its share of palaces. We saw several of them. Although expensive, Copenhagen is a pleasant place to live with green spaces, convenient mass transportation, and plenty of culture. For those not satisfied with this offering, there is Freetown Christiania, a squatter’s commune occupied since 1971.
Another 1,000-year-old city, Bergen came to prominence as a Hanseatic city in the 14th century. While there’s still history to be seen in Bergen, much of it has gone up in smoke over the years too, as about every 100 years a fire takes out some landmark (most recently in 1955). Although our photos don’t suggest this, Bergen is the rainiest city in Europe.
Norway is known as the land of fjords, with almost 1,200 of them. The longest of these is the Sognefjord, stretching some 127 miles from Skjolden to the Norwegian Sea. The cruise is part tourism, part public transportation as some of the communities on the fjord can only be reached by boat.
Our Fjord cruise landed at Flåm. The return to Bergen starts with a Flåm Railway train to Myrdal. On this scenic route the train travels 12 miles in about 40 minutes going from essentially sea level to about 900 feet at Myrdal. It’s very scenic; these pictures don’t lie.
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