Oslo – Shopping with a charming atmosphere

March 17, 2007
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Welcome all Lifecruiser’s passengers and others who want to participate in this cyber cruise. What jolly good time we’ve had since boarding the ship in Stockholm last night! I’m honored to welcome you to Oslo, Norway together with my blog pal TorAa!

Oslo, the capital of Norway – 548,617 within city boundaries – is the seat of the Norwegian Government and Parliament, and the Royal Palace is situated at the end of Karl Johan Street – the main street of Oslo (click pic on the left). The city’s many astonishing features are unusual for a European capital. The city limits encompass wilderness areas as well as an array of restaurants almost unparalleled in Scandinavia. In winter, the city has an artificial skating rink only a stone’s throw from the National Theater and the University. Oslo City Hall is located in the city center only a few hundred meters from the city’s main street and overlooks Oslo Fjord filled with moored pleasure craft, shrimp trawlers, cruise ships, charter boats and ferries to all the islands.

Oslo is considered to be one of the most leading shipping cities in the world. During peak season, many cruise ships dock at the quays that are still within walking distance of the city center. It is only a ten-minute drive from these same quays to splendid bathing beaches with clean water.

While here, I suppose you like to go shopping. Therefore I’ve brought my wife, originally from US, who can help you explore from an expert shoppers point of view. But first: you might be hungry, so let’s start at a trendy little Café called Café Sør. Sør means south and this café has a southern Europe flair to it. Decorated it warm Spanish mosaics and terra cotta coloured walls it has a warm and trendy atmosphere and serves a fabulous caffe e latte:

All pics taken with mine or my wife’s Nokia phone (click to enlarge)

Greek and chicken salad at Café Sør

Then let’s take to the streets for some shop till you drop window shopping. There are few malls in Norway; most of the shops are still small charming little boutiques which each present their own specialty. I think it is so much more fun to wander along the streets and see in all the pretty windows, stopping to look a bit here and a bit there. My wife and I prefer that to the large chain stores where everything is exactly alike no matter which city you live in. Here you go to the pharmacy (chemist) if you need to buy medicine, the fish market to buy seafood, and the cosmetics store if you want to buy cosmetics.

The oldest pharmacy – a little side street café

Exotic fun if you like – fresh fish of course!

There is a rich assortment of street side cafes, outdoor flower shops, clothing stores, and interior decorating boutiques. If you are coming here to go shopping though, you should bring a lot of money. The quality is good but the prices are high. The prices reflect the income here so don’t go into shock when your caffe e latte costs you the equivalent of over 4$ or a bit less than 4€ or a paint of beer: 8$!

Street side flower shop – Nordic designs if you like

Norwegian products, wool sweaters and reindeer fur as well as blown glass

Still hungry for more shopping or sightseeing in Oslo? Here are a few of my posts around the year:

* Blizzard networking in Oslo
* Preschools exploring Oslo
* Holmenkollen: Oslo cultural highpoint
* Cultural diversity in Oslo
* Wikipedia about Oslo

And then I highly recommend you to visit the other host of Lifecruiser’s cyber cruise while anchored here in Oslo. The one and only TorAa at his mirror!

Habits, Travel Norway