Keeping up with our international travel schedule, we were back at Stansted Airport early Saturday morning to catch a Ryanair flight to Oslo.We soon discovered Norway as the stunning country of fjords, Viking heritage and also one of the priciest places in the world to buy alcohol. Our travel plans for this trip were initially put on hold after news of the inner city bombing/mass shooting. The events made us anxious about safety and the mood of the city. However, this was an over-reaction as Oslo was brimming with energy, activity and resilience.
Travelling to Oslo
As the flight time was slightly later in the morning, we swapped the minicab with the Stansted Express train from Liverpool St - a more cost effective but overall longer commute to the airport. On arrival, pur Norway adventure started off in Rygge - the Ryanair airport located a fair distance from Oslo city. In hindsight, we should have booked a flight that didn't require an hour long shuttle bus to commute in / out of town. We were also lucky regarding entry visas (which we didn't need but not that we had remembered to check beforehand) as we only considered this travel necessity whilst waiting in the queue at Immigration.
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Ships docked at the harbour, sunny day in Oslo
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The shuttle bus dropped us off at the main bus terminal and armed with an offline version of Google maps, we made our way to the Tourist Information centre and validated our Oslo Pass - a 24 hour ticket that enabled free entry to key tourist sites and public transport around the city. Based on the price of the Pass, we needed to see at least 4 museums to break even, which didn't seem like a problem given the weather was perfect for walking around.
At the port, we noticed three large cruise ships that had docked in for the day. One resembled a floating office block, whilst the other two smaller ships were ferries that travel between Oslo-Denmark and Oslo-Germany on a daily basis.
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| A city full of fountains |
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| Fountains near Karl Johans Gate - the main street |
With only a vague understanding of one phrase in Norwegian Det er bra, we assumed that most things would be in English (an assumption that Scandinavians were fluent in multiple languages) and we would have no trouble conversing with store attendants and tour guides. We also noticed there were a few phrases in Norwegian that had some similarity with English so that we could guess the meaning:
* busstasjon = bus station
* kaffe = coffee
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| Summer flowers in Oslo |
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| Outside the National Theatre |
Thon Hotel Oslo
Our first stop was to check into our hotel - part of a chain of hotels that is common across the Nordic countries. From first impressions it looked nice and on par with our expectations for a three star hotel - tidy and provided breakfast. However it wasn't until night-time that we realised how much ambient noise came with having a strip club as a neighbour. A travellers tip - use Google Maps to identify less than desirable businesses near your hotel as they may interfere with you getting a good night's sleep. Luckily, we were both so tired from a days worth of sightseeing that we fell straight to sleep, shielded from any sort of street lighting by some very thick Scandinavian curtains (presumably to keep out the rays from the midnight sun).
When we ventured out of our hotel, our first stop was to the Oslo Tourist Information Centre to pick-up a map, find out valuable information about tours to local attractions and also to work out the most efficient means of transporting ourselves around the city. Oslo has a visitor's pass (Oslo Pass) that operates over a set period of time, includes public transport and free entry into a broad range of museums. We chose the 24 hour version and used it to kick off our own self-guided city tour, stopping off at the Royal Palace, National Theatre and Parliament House.
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| The Royal Palace |
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| Outside the National Theatre |
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| The Storting - Norwegian Parliament House |
Akershus Fortress
After lunching on a non traditional Norwegian meal of Burger King, we set about locating our first sightseeing attraction - Akershus Fortress. This was a medieval castle and royal residence dating back to 1299.
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| Castle Tower |
Walking along the walls of the fortress, we saw some spectacular views of the fjord and leisure boats sailing out on the calm water. Oslo is surrounded by hills of pine forest that are mixed in with multi-coloured timber cottages along the main peninsula and on the dozens of small islands.
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| View from the Castle |
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| The Great Hall |
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| Stained glass windows, The Great Hall |
The medieval castle reminded us of Dover Castle - thick stone walls covered in tapestry, opulent gold decorated furniture and oil paintings of past Kings that ruled Norway and Denmark jointly. Inside there was a dungeon and a crypt with the bodies of the royal family from the early 1900's and the remains of a Norwegian King that participated in the Crusades. An audio guide was used to gain a better insight into the castle's history including the associated ghost stories.
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| Walking into the castle dungeon |
Oslo Cathedral
After visiting the fortress we stopped by Oslo Cathedral for a very sobering moment at the fields of flowers and memorials dedicated to the people that had lost their lives in the recent shooting and bombing. Both sides of the cathedral were lined with fresh bouquets with many tourists also purchasing flowers and writing notes to add to the scene. Further up the street, the area near the Prime Minister's office was still off-limits to the public due to the damage from the bomb blast.
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| Oslo Cathedral |
Noble Peace Center
At dinner time, we found ourselves at the City Hall Dock in readiness for our 3 hour dinner cruise of the fjord. We had arrived about an hour too early before boarding time, so we decided to visit the nearby Nobel Peace Center - set up by Alfred Nobel (of chemistry / Nobel Gas fame) and the venue for the Peace Prize award ceremony each year.
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| Nobel Peace Centre |
The center is split into several exhibitions. One storyboard describes the life of Norwegian recipient Fridtjof Nansen - an explorer and humanitarian that set up the Nansen Passport - a passport system for refugees / stateless people.
Another exhibition focuses on photos showing conflicts around the world - Sudan, Syria, Columbia and the impact on people's lives. Multimedia presentations also relayed the story of the 2010 recipient - Liu Xiaobo who was not able to travel to Norway to receive the prize due to his continual incarceration in China.
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| The Nobel Peace Prize |
Fjord Cruise
Before boarding the boat, we had a quick pint of traditional Norwegian beer, Hansa and didn't fail to notice the hefty price tag that comes with buying alcohol in Scandinavia.
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| The local beer - Hansa |
Our cruise for the nigh was on-board a 19th century wooden clipper where we would be entertained by music and a prawn buffet. The music turned out to be 'anything' but the 'blues' that was promised on the brochure - a mixture of commercial songs, old classic American tunes and Norwegian folk songs. The scenic views of the fjord were amazing. Food was traditional and simple - an unlimited supply of prawns (that we had to shell ourselves), mayonnaise and nordic bread. Drinks onboard were expensive - a bottle of white wine costing the equivalent to £40 but dinner time was made more interesting by a flock of seagulls that followed our boat and demonstrated their aerobatics with catching food in midair and also being hand fed in full flight.
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| Our 19th century cruise ship |
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| An island church |
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| Hand feeding seagulls with prawns |
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| Norwegian seaside cottages |
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| Sunset over the fjord |
After our boat docked into the harbour, we realised that our boat had been the 'tame' one of the fleet - the other vessel was a more lively affair with middle aged women engaging in table top dancing and plenty of drunken slurry singing that carried into the night.
Viking Ship Museum
The next morning was a complete contrast to the beautiful sunny warm weather of the day before. Raindrops streamed down the windows and we were glad to have brought umbrellas and wet-weather gear. On the agenda - visits to 3 museums located outside of the city centre, in the area of Bygdoy, accessed by bus strip, following signs in Norwegian and also other tourists.
The first stop - The Viking Ship Museum. Following on the theme of past posts, this building housed the restored remains of three Viking Long Ships discovered in burial grounds outside of Oslo. The wood had been preserved and human remains of wealthy individuals were found inside, along with treasures and everyday household implements. The Viking Ships were famed for having a flat base that enabled travel through shallow water, in particular up the River's Foss (York) and Liffey (Dublin) where the Vikings had established colonies.
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| The inside of the Viking Longship |
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| The side view of a Viking Longship |
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| Viking wooden animal head |
KonTiki Museum
Our next stop was the maritime themed KonTiki museum based on a Norwegian explorer: Thor Heyerdahl's theory that ancient civilizations across the world made contact and traded with each other prior to age of Christopher Columbus. His theory is based on the similarity of the reed shaped boats that are common to many cultures, theorizing that they could have been used to cross the oceans.
To prove his critics wrong, he sailed for 101 days across the Pacific Ocean using a wooden raft made of native materials. This structure was made using illustrations by early Spanish explorers as a guide. The Spanish had observed families of South American Indians floating on large rafts in the middle of the ocean in the 16th century. Thor Heyerdahl became famous for his adventures that included the exploration of Easter Island, known for its large stone sculptures - moai. A film about Thor Heyerdahl's adventures was made in the 1950's.
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| Mei and a replica Moai from Easter Island |
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| Olie and the Kon Tiki |
Polar Museum
The last stop on our cultural day trip was a visit to the Polar museum. The large building housed the Fram - a famous ship that participated in the international race to reach both the North and South Pole. It is an enormous ship, capable of housing enough supplies for a crew to live off for 5 years in the event they were landlocked in ice. In the expedition led by Roald Amundsen, the Fran was used to carry the first 'team' to reach the South Pole, beating Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who made the mistake of bringing horses instead of dogs for transport.
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| The Fram, used in many polar expeditions |
Homeward Bound
After the museum visits, we boarded a ferry back to Oslo city just in time before our 24 hour visitor pass ran out. The dreary weather dissuaded us from heading to a famous sculpture park or the Edvard Munch museum, who painted 'The Scream'.
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'The Scream' by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch
Image source: unknown |
Instead we filled our time watching a game of beach volleyball that had been set up on the pavement outside the tourist centre and spent a few hours at Pepe's Pizza waiting for the bus back to Rygge Airport. The distance between central Oslo and Rygge Airport meant that we had to time our activities to ensure we caught the right shuttle bus. So in hindsight it may have been more convenient to book a flight into the main Oslo Airport at Gardermoen.
Rygge Airport
At Rygge Airport, we spent a further few hours (more time at the airport than actually the duration of the flight time) at the Irish Pub munching on buffalo chicken wings and stuffed jalapeno peppers whilst we waited for boarding time. Our flight back to Stansted Airport landed around 10:40pm and to our relief, the non EU-UK passport line had only about 20 travellers and we were soon back at home before the end of Sunday night.
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