Bergen, Norway

If I know one thing about breakfast, it's lox. If I know one thing about hungover breakfast, the answer is still lox. But if I know one thing about hungover mornings, the answer is NOT fish market.

Unless, of course, you happen to find yourself in Bergen, Norway. Bergen is a tiny coastal town in Norway known for its beautiful fjords, ungodly sun schedule (all the time, or not at all), and its smoked salmon. I completely forgot that lox doesn't always come from Manhattan (any deli of your preference, I don't want to cause fights). Norwegian smoked salmon is famous- and at its freshest, the Bergen fish market, the salmon really earns its reputation. I guess I should have known... as my mom said when I emailed her,

"I hate to say I told you so but I told you so. It comes from there. Like duh.
Love
Mom"

Here are a few pictures from the spread. There were probably ten stalls, each promoting (in different languages ranging from Italian to German) the same thing: wild smoked salmon, smoked salmon cured with cognac and dill, fresh salmon cuts, and dried whale. We of course tried a bite at each stand, and while most were about the same, the best were the bites with the "Gravlaxsauss"- Norwegian is funny- which is a mustard dill sauce from heaven.



If you wanted more than just samples, there were also seafood plates and sandwiches for cheap Norwegian standards- 4 euro for two bites. Norway is... EXPENSIVE.

The Bergen salmon melts in your mouth. You barely have to chew to enjoy the subtlety of their cognac-cured salmon. And with all the free samples, you're bound to be satisfied. Just don't try the whale; it was disgusting. Like a weird fish steak that didn't really understand what it was trying to be, dried whale sent me gagging to a trash bin. I apologized to the vendor, of course, who gave me an extra bite of salmon to cheer me up and ensure that I would smell like lox for days on end.