COOLING OFF IN NORWAY’S HOT SPOTS –
Boston Herald, –August 10, 2000
The views of Norway one remembers will probably include ships and harbors, church spires, snow capped mountains, rows of peak-roofed houses in Martha Stewart colors and lots of water and sky. But nowadays Oslo, named for the mouth of a river–os, and its green banks, lo, is actually a bustling metropolis of half a million people. Set at the head of the Oslo Fjörd, it is divided into two basic parts: the west, which includes large residences for the well-to-do as well as City Hall and the Royal Palace, and the more industrial east. With its highly decorated mosque, a prison, and winding Gronlandesleiret Street where fruits and vegetables are sold in open air markets, the less tony eastern half is the place where most foreigners initially settle.
This year Oslo, dubbed “the Tiger City,” for its power image (not its non-existent tigers) celebrates its 1000th anniversary, which means a bonanza for tourists in the form of parades and parties, jazz concerts, the dramatization of historical events and diverse theme weeks. The purchase of an “Oslo Card” at about $22 per day (8 dollars=1 Kroner) guarantees discounts or free access to local attractions and transit, including The Viking Museum and Folk Art Museums. Both deal with different aspects of Norwegian history: The Viking Museum has on display genuine Viking boats exhumed in 1903 and painstakingly restored, offering a view of dragonhead carvings and authentic details like the holes for oars used by mariners eight centuries ago. The Norsk Folkemuseum is devoted to dry land, and is one of the largest open air museums in Europe. With 150 buildings taken from valley, fjörd and coastal sites in Norway, it simulates the experience of walking through every part of the country.
Oslo is proud of its Nobel peace prize, and a visit to the city might include a look at City Hall, where it is presented, always on December 10th, the date of Alfred Nobel’s death. Rows of chairs stand facing large windows in a marble-floored salon overlooking the harbor, its walls decorated with painted murals of the Second World War and Norwegian history. In Oslo, history is in fact everywhere–even in its restaurants; Ibsen’s favorite, the Grand Café, has his table still there, set for him. A life-size statue of the playwright stands near that of the poet Björnstjerne Björnson’s in front of The National Theatre, and indeed, the city seems enamored of statuary. The verdant Vigeland Sculpture Park features two hundred granite pieces depicting stages of human life and attracts one million visitors every year.
The most popular site, however, is the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, Norway’s oldest. Built in 1892, it overlooks Oslo, and is the largest tourist attraction in the country. The Frognerseteren Restaurant at its summit serves lunch and dinner, is called “dragon style” because of a dragon head carving at its peaked roof, but looks to American eyes very much like a rustic ski lodge. With indoor or outdoor seating, views of the city below, a meal of fresh fish and a glass of Ringnes, the favorite local beer, it is perhaps the defining Oslo experience.
If leaving the pleasures of the city is a wrench, the train ride out of town is surely compensation. The N.S.B. (Norwegian States Railways) trip to Myrdal is scenically dazzling, the ride considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Winding through tunnels, gliding past pine trees and dairy farms, rivers and waterfalls, an occasional village tucked into the mountainside, here and there one sees a road on its way along the green of a snowcapped mountain. Lunch on board may be a casual affair–a sandwich bought from a vendor–or a more serious dining car experience. In any case, dessert should be “Leefsa,” a soft fold of dough filled with cinnamon sugar, a Norwegian specialty.
Arrival at Myrdal gives one a choice: there is the possibility of a four and a half hour hike to Flam, or another, shorter train ride to that destination. It is at Flam that one takes a boat through scenic fjords to Voss, the small town that lies between Oslo and Bergen, and is worthy of a stopover. Voss is a sports lover’s dream, with its body-boggling choices of adventure in the air or on land. Available here are white-water rafting, paragliding, camping, rappelling, parasailing, waterskiing, hang-gliding, kayaking, parachuting. For the less adventurous there is a more profound local attraction: the Voss Folkemuseum. A cluster of farm buildings, ranging in age from one to four hundred years old, stand preserved, transporting the visitor into the working and living farm conditions in past centuries.
On to the glamour of Bergen, the largest cruise liner port in Norway, an hour and fifteen minute train ride away. Two hundred thousand Americans visited here last year, attracted to this ancient harbor city, surrounded by seven mountains and famous for its “Bryggen.” This trading Wharf defines the city and is its core. Although the harbor area was destroyed by fire many times through the ages, each time it was rebuilt, and has kept its original character. Lining the streets are Monopoly-style peak-roofed houses housing shops, apartments, even Scruffy Murphy’s, an Irish pub with its “Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer” motto. Bergen is known for its narrow side streets, cobblestoned and steep, with its old wooden houses looking as if they are leaning towards or against each other. Still standing as it was built in 1702 is the Hanseatic Museum, both residence and storage for an 18th Century merchant and his staff. Go early; long lines form to see the inside of this three-story house. Here one can have the hands-on experience examining cupboard beds, rope tow and hidden staircase, and looking down through original windows at tall ships at anchor below. A “Guest of Honor” Bergen card, similar to the one available in Oslo, offers free museum admission as well as transit and sightseeing attractions for about $20 per day.
It’s not only the harbor with its stiff sea-breezes and open-air fish markets that draw tourists to Bergen. It is also rhododendrons, of which there are 1000 species, and a quarter of a million friendly residents, most of whom, like most Norwegians, speak fluent English. Very popular are cable cars and a funicular that takes visitors to the surrounding mountain tops for dinner and spring and summer evening concerts. And, music lovers will enjoy a visit to Troldhaugen, the hilltop Victorian home of Edvard Grieg, which contains his piano, original furnishings, and handwritten pieces of his music.
As for the “midnight sun”: Norway celebrates its longest day on June 23rd. Daylight lasts for approximately 22, not 24, hours in the south, and nationwide festivities mark the occasion as a holiday–even if it rains.
How to go: SAS or Icelandair. Icelandair offers the shortest travel time between Boston and Oslo. (1-410-715-5153)
Where to Stay: In Bergen and Oslo, the First or Radisson Hotel chains will charge in the neighborhood of $160 per double per night, including full breakfasts. Less expensive accommodations are available at the Best Western or Comfort Hotels. In Oslo, the Oslo Package at approximately $65 per person includes bed and breakfast in a choice of 44 hotels in all categories.
Restaurants: Good to great food is available in every price range. Most expensive in Oslo: Bagatelle or the Bristol Grill. Dinner entrees in the $40 dollar range. The Grand Café has a large lunch buffet. Norwegian specialties at Maud’s. Voss: Fleischers Restaurant has a baronial dining room: fillet of deer, about $30. Bergen: Fiskekrogen is a famous small fish restaurant, entrees about $40. Book ahead here. The Emily Restaurant in the Admiral Hotel is a good bet for lunch – approximately $10.
Contact: Norwegian Tourist Board. (212) 885-9755
www. Norway.org or www.tourist.no