Getting to the top of Mount Fløyen above Bergen is a special treat for two reasons. First, the funicular ride itself. Most other funiculars that I know take less than a minute to travel to their upper terminals which, coupled with 10-15 minutes wait to depart from the lower ground, makes the experience somewhat fleeting and unexciting. On Fløibanen, you may still have to wait the requisite 10 minutes for the ride. But it takes nearly as much time to traverse its comparatively longish ascent, giving you enough time to appreciate the changing view angles. It also makes a couple of stops along the way to accommodate locals who reside on the mountainside, which can be amusing when one of those locals, burdened by several shopping bags, finds herself surrounded by a few dozen tourists.
The second reason is, of course, the views. You get to see all of Bergen from here. In the golden hours of the evening it is simply magical.
Here are several different focal-length perspectives of Bergen Havn.
The only minus is, you can only see the roofs of Bryggen from here, not its colorful front houses that we saw in this post. The brown roofs are towards lower right corner in the above photograph.
Another part of central Bergen is in the next shot, with St. John’s Church as the main feature and the piers of Damsgårdssundet beyond.
A close-up of harbor-level buildings with Korskirken and one of the hairpin turns of the mountainside street.
A view of Lille Lungegårdsvannet, which is actually originally a natural lake that was shaped into its current form in mid-20th century.
The buildings on the far side of the lake comprise the multi-gallery art museum that we did not fit into our itinerary. We did, however, spent a pleasant half-hour full of contemplation and people-watching on a bench under the trees by the lakeside.
The viewing platform is not the only point of interest at the top of Mount Fløyen. There is also a large park with a children’s playground and many walking and jogging trails. In the wooded area, a gallery of primitivist wooden sculptures attracts adults and children alike. Which clearly bothers this creature that is just trying to do its business.
The sunset occurs really late in these parts of Norway in early August, and we did not stay on the mountain for that. Nonetheless, it was certainly one of the highlights of our Bergen stay.
These and other pictures taken on Mount Fløyen have been added to my Flickr Western Norway album.