Bergen - Sun, Then Clouds

Bergen, two days in August on the west coast of Norway. The city is said to be one of the rainiest in Europe; yet on Sunday, not a single cloud: a whole afternoon and evening of sunshine, from the depths of the tramway to the railway station. On Monday, the sky returns to its usual colour, and Bergen becomes grey and quiet again.

Light shafts and escalators of an underground station, seen from below, Bergen — Bergen

Beneath the city.

Sunday starts underground, in an underground tram station. Light shafts, escalators climbing towards the daylight, a star-patterned marble floor, and a ray of sunlight falling all the way to the bottom. On the tram, a young woman reads her phone, a big bag on her lap.

Bryggen.

Then Bryggen, the old Hanseatic wharf listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its red, orange and white wooden houses line up facing the water, and behind them narrow passages open up between the facades. In a shop, a reindeer head watches over an old cart; on a bench, an elderly couple rests in the sun.

The harbour.

Along Vågen harbour, the quays empty out. A man waits under a bus shelter, another rests on a bench, his leather bag beside him. Across the water, Bryggen and the white houses climb the foot of Mount Fløyen, and in front of the Mathallen food hall, a woman crouches to dig through her bag.

A mural of a young woman and cherry blossoms on a black gable, Bergen — Bergen

The city in the evening.

Late in the day, the light turns orange. Two men walk down the street, the terraces are full, the cathedral tower glows in the setting sun. On the gables, large colourful murals watch the pedestrians go by, a scaffolding catches fire with light, and the railway station closes the day under its great arched window.

The park bandstand surrounded by flower beds, Bergen — Bergen

Monday, under the clouds.

The next day, the light is flat and soft. In the park, a lady in a flowered dress chats with a man in red trousers, and the bandstand disappears under flowers. At the foot of a bronze monument, a punk with a red mohawk waits, two women chat on a bench. In the cobbled lanes, a stencil of a meditating man, a tattoo sign calling out “Let’s Buzz!”, and under a covered passage, a large pixelated portrait of Marilyn.