"Ulriken is the highest of the Seven Mountains that surround the city of Bergen. It has a height of 2,110 ft above sea level. Ulriken has an aerial tramway, Ulriksbanen, that can bring people up and down the mountain. At the top there is a TV tower and a restaurant. There is a network of trails along Ulriken as well."
So, after I returned back from the airport on my bike via the tunnel in the morning, we had lunch in the Air Bnb and then debated whether or not we should make the walk and trip to the top of the highest of the Seven Mountains. It was raining on and off, and the summit was coming in and out of view from the clouds. In the end we decided to get outside, regardless of the weather, in typical Norwegian fashion.
The walk from our Air BnB to the foot of Ulriken was a round trip of just over four miles. It was a good way to see a part of Bergen on foot that I hadn't seen yet, and the walk was pretty easy. When we arrived at the cable car at the base, the girls rode up to the top while Jonathan and I took the Oppstemten (the stairs).
The steps are 750 meters long and consist of approximately 1,400 steps in total. The stone stairs and stone works were also built by sherpas. I would say that it's a comparable effort to walking up the Manitou Incline. Although it was raining on and off, the trails and the top of the mountain were packed with a bunch of people. The views of Bergen and the harbor from above were great when we could them clearly enough. Luckily, the clouds cleared while we were at the top for a few minutes so I could take some good pictures.
The restaurant at the top was packed! I got the impression that a hike and restaurant was something locals did for fun with their kids on a Sunday afternoon. Stacey and Julia had been waiting for a table for a little while and managed to grab one for all of us. We (the kids) enjoyed a delicious burger and fries with a view, and then we all took the cable car back to the base of the mountain for the walk home.
