Bergen

will go down in history as the city where I got lost.And the city where there is not a decent coffee shop.I got lost looking for the elusive cup of coffee.I had walked the main streets,I had walked the side streets,I had trodded up and down both sides of the Fisketorget [ Fish Market ].Nothing.Zilch.Zero.Bergen, once the capital of Norway and now the second largest city of the country,has a lot going for it.After all, the tourist board describes it as the "gateway to the fjords" and the gateway it undoubtedly is but a culinary centre of the region it ain't.The history of the city is riveting.Olav Kyrre,"The Peaceful" founded a settlement in 1070 calld Bjorgvin-"The pasture between the mountains".It had expanded rapidly,German Honseatic League had built a trading factory there in 1343,in fact the Honseatic museum is my favourite museum,it is a recreation of living in medieval times,quite dark and oppressive yet wonderfully authentic.Over the coming centuries in spit of the Restoration and numerous fires the city has flourished and established itself as one of the leading centres of culture in Scandinavia.The composer Edward Grieg was born in Bergen.The city is blessed with the most glorious setting."The pasture between the mountains" it truly is.Even queuing for the funicular ride is exciting.The loveliest building to look at from the outside is by The Fish Market,it houses Starbucks.It just does not make sense to me.But then nothing makes sense in this haphazardly put together city,yet everything makes sense.But I still got lost!I asked a heavily painted lady which way was my way and after 10 minutes of walking I came to realize it was the wrong way.I asked again a young boy who surprisingly spoke bad English[I had read it once that if grammatically correct English is heard in London,it is spoken by a Scandinavian],but after a few gestures,nods and smiles in no time was I being shuttled back to the ship.Once on board I came to a conclusion that I may come to love many things about Norway and its people but a good cup of coffee will not be among them.