UFO Info Week-End

This weather-boarded onion-domed edifice looks like it was designed in Massachusetts and constructed in Moscow before straying half-way across Europe and coming to rest

This weather-boarded, onion-domed edifice looks like it was designed in Massachusetts and constructed in Moscow, before straying half-way across Europe and coming to rest on a rocky outcrop just by the North Sea.Bryggen’s Museum, which details 900 years of Nordic history, is interesting to visit, but if you want to spend time outdoors, take a half-day cruise through the fjords from the central harbour.Don’t spend all of your time out of Bergen as the charm of the place is found wandering its labyrinth of steep, narrow back streets and peeking into the wisteria-clad ramshackle cottages. From Bergen’s point of view, town-planning is something that just happens to other people.Food and drinkLovers of fish and seafood will find that many of Bergen’s restaurants make the best of the variety and quality of the local catch. Treat yourself to one meal at the first-class Kafe Krystall at Kong Oscars gate 16 (tel: 0047 55 32 10 84). It serves wonderful fish dishes from poached halibut to pan-fried sea bream. Main courses cost from £15 and are well worth it.Every other night you can dine out at one of cheaper, funky smaller restaurants and bars.Top of the list is Mr Bean at Kong Oscarsgate 12 (tel: 0047 55 56 03 12). It offers simply the best coffee in town – the latte is a minor miracle of catering – and does a mean seafood sandwich, too.

Add a slab of carrot cake, and you’ll still have change from £10.Bakeries abound in Bergen – Baker Brun on the quayside is very popular – all of them making and serving the local speciality, the “shillingsboller”, a delectable spiral sugar-coated bun, even better when custard-filled.My own favourite, though, is the legendary Godt Brod, just by the YMCA on Nedre Korskirkealm, where morning coffee and a bun – watch it being baked, then eat it warm – will cost you barely 80p.Café Opera at Engen 24 (tel: 0047 55 23 03 15) is full of character – and characters – and is one of the places to see and be seen in Bergen. Sandwiches, salads, and other snacks cost from £4, but be prepared for outrageous amounts of posing.Best of all, eat on the streets Head for the fish market down by the harbour. Marinated salmon bagels, huge slabs of whale meat cut delicately into pastrami-thin slices, incredibly fresh fruit, and enough confectionery to satisfy the sweetest tooth, are all on offer. This is alfresco dining at its best, enjoyed under coloured canopies, against a backdrop of herring-trawlers and ocean-going liners.If after all this conspicuous consumption you are in need of a drink, the most popular of the downtown bars is Dickens at Kong Olavs Plass 4 (tel: 0047 55 36 31 30). The clientele is young, the joint is jumping, and the alcohol flows into the small hours.NightlifeThe place to strut your funky stuff is just outside the town centre in a converted air-raid shelter. Hulen Stiftelsen at Olav Ryesvei 47 is home to many top live bands (well, top by Bergen standards) and oodles of sweaty atmosphere. Closer to town is Bryggen Tracteursted, a rough-and-ready bar with live bands, and Galeien, a hotel nightclub at Bradbenken 3 – great fun, especially if you happen to enjoy spectacularly cheesy 70s music.Deals and packagesPeter Moss travelled to Bergen with Cresta Holidays (tel: 0870 161 0900), which offers three nights for the price of two in September at the Hordaheimen Hotel starting from £311 per person, based on two sharing.

The price includes b&b staying in a double room and direct flights from Gatwick. For £341 per person you can stay in the same accommodation but fly from Stansted.Further informationBergen’s tourist information office is opposite the Torget Market at Bryggen (tel: 0047 55 32 14 80). In the Britain, contact the Norwegian Tourist Board (tel: 020-7839 6255).. What’s the weather like now?

What’s the weather like now?
Stinkingly hot. This summer has seen the worst heat-wave in the Middle East in living memory A couple of weeks ago Amman reached 27C – at night.

During the day, shade temperatures have touched 43C, and even the locals have been taken to hospital suffering from sunstroke.What are the locals complaining about?Lack of water. On the back of the heat-wave has come the worst drought in 50 years. Before this week’s announcement that Syria will be donating supplies of fresh water to Jordan, the city has been under severe water rationing. Some areas received no supplies for two weeks, and people blame the government.Who’s the talk of the town?The super glamorous Queen Rania. Ever since the accession of her husband King Abdullah in February 1999, she’s been in the media spotlight, championing women’s causes and pushing social issues to the fore.