A guided tour on the Fjord provides Oslo in a nut shell: From the Town Hall harbour you’ll pass Akershus Fortress and the New Opera House as well as Kon-Tiki Museum, the Polar ship Fram and the Maritime museum – not to forget a tour through a maze of picturesque islands with small summer houses. So if you want to explore the capital of Norway from a different angle, appreciate nature and want an alternative experience form the stressful, urban life: all this is to be experience from the boat just 10 minutes after departing Oslo city.
Two of our blog friends, Ginnie from Georgia, US and Astrid from the Netherlands, could not make it to the Oslo Blog Gathering in August 2010. So they came in April this year instead, to explore and have a taste of Oslo and Norway; our culture, history, traditions and habits. This post is from their first day of four, to explore the Oslo Fjord by boat:
Departure from the Town Hall (in the background); Ready with camera: Astrid left – Ginnie right.
Before reaching the island, you’ll pass some landmarks, nice to see from the seaside (click pic to bigify & enjoy):
Left: The Akershus Fortress – Right: The new Opera House.
The Oslo Fjord – a deep inlet of the Skagerrak:
Oslo occupies an arc of land at the northernmost end of the Oslo fjord. The fjord, which is nearly bisected by the Nesodden peninsula opposite Oslo, lies to the south; in all other directions Oslo is surrounded by green hills and mountains. There are 40 islands within the city limits, the largest being Malmøya and Hovedøya, and scores more around the Oslo fjord:
Still some ice since its beginning of April – increasing the adventure!
Below: Two of the many light houses in the Oslo Fjord
The Museums on Bygdøy Island:
If you really want to explore Norway’s history, culture and traditions; Bygdøy is the place – easy to access 20 minutes from Oslo city centre by bus or boat (click links to read more about them in my earlier posts):
The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, a large open air museum featuring typical buildings from various periods in our history. The Viking Ship Museum; in addition to two 1100 year old Viking-ships (apparently the best preserved in the world), it also contains various other Viking artefacts and a Viking burial chamber, complete with ancient skeletons. Closest to the fjord, we passed:
Norwegian Maritime Museum which houses a huge collection of ships and boats and records the impact of Norway’s seafarers on our own country and the world. The Kon-Tiki Museum which displays Tor Heyerdahl’s balsa raft Kon-Tiki and Ra II, as well as some other artefacts from Easter Island. The Fram Museum features the vessel Fram, the world’s first ice breaker and the last polar expedition ship made of wood, and presents a history of polar exploration (with a strong Norwegian focus!)
This is only the first day of four posts from our Blog Friends Astrid and Ginnie’s adventures – so stay tuned for more in the next one!
Wonderful pictures! Congratulations, dear Renny!
It looks to me like a journey into Oslo in winter!
It’s really nice to see again some places where I’ve been in summer, now with another light and clothes on!
Thank you for sharing such a marvelous view!
Kisses and hugs to you and Diane.
Now that looks like a lot of fun but I must admit, I’d really prefer that August weather! Must be just that spring fever hitting me. Love the pics! I’ll be waiting for more posts.
We haven’t explored Oslo from the water yet – definitely something to do with the family this spring/summer! Lovely photos as usual Renny
Beautiful Pictures!
Dear Renny and Diane,
We arrived home last night, we don’t know where to start to say THANK YOU for everything.
Your welcome, your hospitality, is heartwarming.
You being the tourguide made it so special, you are a real ambassador for your beautiful wonderful country.
Meeting your family was special, you made us feel like one of your family, thank you.
Your pictures show we had a delightful tour in the Oslo Fjord.
Thank you, thank you.
We both had the chance to see some of your beautiful Norway.
I will be back to see the next posts.
Hope you and Diane had a great time last weekend!
Hugs and kisses.
Astrid and Ginnie.
I’m in the process of writing my first post, Renny, of this incredible trip and am linking to this post. THANK YOU for everything you did with and for us. We’ll never forget it!
I like your attitude towards travel. Hmm…
I’ve been following Ginnie’s adventures for quite awhile now and found your blog through her recent posts about her adventures in Norway… my brother, his partner, my sister and I are going to Sweden in June (to visit cousins and see where our grandparents grew up, met and married before coming to the US), We will pass through parts of Norway (the mountains) by driving from Tärnaby, Sweden to Trofors, Norway, south on the E6 to Stjørdal, Norway where we will head east to go back into Sweden and arrive late in the day in Östersund.
That’s a long way around of saying that after reading your post here, I do so wish we had more time so we could include Oslo as one of our stops… AND also see more of Norway. Our main reason for this visit is to meet up with cousins and research family history. (my sister is a genealogist and neither she nor my brother have never met these cousins whom I met 25 years ago)
Marvelous photos of the icy fjord and shoreline nearby!