Rosenkrantztårnet, Bergenhus Festning, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway

From the first step that I stood on the quays around Vågen, Bergen's former military fort caught my eye. During my stay in the city, the tower named after one time governor Erik Rosenkrantz was part shrouded in scaffolding and that is why I have gone for a more intimate view of the building here. If it was not being restored at the time, I definitely would have gone for a wider view of this survivor from about the sixteenth century.

Because I did not hang about the place until the last morning of my 2016 Norwegian visit, the photo comes from then. Designs on sampling hill country meant that I passed it the day before while some Americans at the back gate were saying among themselves that they saw a serious hiker in the way that I had equipped myself. If only they had realised that they were overheard by a native English speaker like themselves…

You can visit the fort free of charge and learn about its role in history. Once, its guns fired to ward off English naval vessels that were pursuing a Dutch ship. Previous diplomatic exchanges should have meant that the battle never happened, but word of the new understanding had not arrived before the perceived incursion took place.