Urbane Wilderness (Norway)

Before it’s too far in the rearview mirror, we wanted to write a bit about the rest of Norway that isn’t just the outdoors – the culture and the people. As our previous post probably let on, Norway is a country driven first and foremost by its geography. We visited two major cities – Oslo and Bergen – and a handful of small towns in between. Based on what we observed throughout our trip, it seems that the natural world plays a hugely important role – be it in terms of government (a long history of isolated, quasi-independent settlements), culture (recreation and sports are all nature-related), or the economy (oil, fish, hydropower, and more oil).

Architecture

Bergen town center, overlooked by seven mountains.

Downtown Bergen

A long time ago Norway was a place that was survived rather than lived in. People toughed it out in small towns at the mercy of the weather, disease, and their all-too-friendly neighbors. Even finding level, dry ground to build on was a huge challenge.

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a town on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them.. (Bergen; the photo is actually level, the buildings are slanted because of the underlying swamp)

The historical architecture is an eclectic mix of old (or reconstructed) wooden houses that regular people used to live in and monster stone fortresses and churches from when the neighbors were less cordial.

Haakon’s Hall, site of much feasting

More recent developments – particularly in Oslo – illustrated the significant impact the country’s newfound wealth has had on its cities. New projects were under construction in many areas, often in places which had formerly been severely run down. But even here, we noted the emphasis on creating outdoor spaces and maintaining a focus on the natural world. Oslo’s opera house has been designed to echo the form of a glacier rising from the sea, and visitors are encouraged to hike to the summit (naturally).

Oslo’s amazing opera house

Voyaging

The result of centuries of hardship is a population which has been whittled down to a daring, resourceful and, above all, resilient core. We observed more than a few highlights, the first being the remnants of the Viking age. In Oslo we went to an amazing museum with a set of preserved Viking longships which had been buried as part of funeral rituals in the past.

Walking in you see the towering prow and imagine the terror that some poor coastal dweller felt a millennium ago seeing such a prow emerge from the mist offshore. The next thing you notice is the workmanship – these ships were artfully constructed out of a set of smoothly-shaped overlapping boards held together with iron nails. Finally, you try to imagine this thing sailing off the Shetland Islands or going out to Iceland and you realize how tough the sailors must have been. High seas in an uncovered boat with low gunwales must have meant a lot of bailing while completely exposed to the elements.

Fancy a quick raid across the North Sea?

This willingness to embark on long-distance nautical adventures in less-than-comfortable vessels continued well past the Viking era. We were fortunate enough to visit the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo. For those of you not familiar with the story, Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian anthropologist who sailed a balsa wood raft across the Pacific Ocean in 1947 to demonstrate how South Americans could have colonized the islands of the South Pacific. After noticing some cultural commonalities between residents of Polynesia and South America, he met with little support from the anthropology community and decided a dramatic demonstration was in order. So he rounded up a crew of six serious adventurers, made a raft, and sailed it across the Pacific. Never mind that all the experts he spoke with said that the ropes used to tie the balsa logs together would be worn through by the friction of the logs within a few days of setting out. Of course, the cherry on top was that Thor was afraid of water and had no sailing experience.

The Kon-Tiki

The bridge / bedroom / living room / sole shelter that the crew of Kon-Tiki had for more than three months on the Pacific Ocean

Naturally, the group of optimistic adventurers succeeded despite more than a few close calls, and Thor became a national hero. He went on to sail a boat made of papyrus across the Atlantic called the Ra II. This one took two tries since the first one took on too much water, but it should be noted that papyrus is known more as a material for making paper than a component of serious naval engineering.

The Ra II, Egyptian in form, but bearing more than a passing resemblance to a longship

Our estimation of Norwegian ruggedness was further bolstered by a great evening hanging around sipping grappa with one of our AirBnB hosts and a couple of his friends. They were ski instructors during the winter and kayak instructors during the summer months…as they explained, if you only do one or the other you won’t maintain the proper physique balance between the upper and lower body. Serious discussion ensued about the apparently exquisite feeling of having one’s beard iced over during the winter, and also the joy of hiking up a mountain to fell trees.

This ever-present connection to the outdoors even affects fashion. The men wear a lot of lycra (broga pants?) so that they’re ready to spring into action at any moment, and we decided that the country must surely be the top market for North Face apparel. When the rain starts, rain shells suddenly appear on everyone out on the street as if by magic and things continue without a hitch.

Transport

We spent a good portion of our time in Norway driving across the country – from Oslo to Bergen and back again via a near-continuous run of breathtaking scenery. [Side note: Ethan can now competently drive a manual transmission car! And there was only one panic-induced clawing incident during the teaching phase]. We were blown away by the ease with which we were able to drive through some seriously rugged terrain. The Norwegian road system includes a number of extremely long tunnels (the longest car tunnel in the world, we later discovered), some impressive bridges, and a vast number of expertly run ferries.

Ethan concentrating hard

 

How to keep a driver from falling asleep in a 24 km tunnel: artificial caves with alien lighting

Undergroundabout!!!

Ferries are a normal part of life

Bridges: for when the fjord is too big to ford

Natural riches

Norwegians’ mastery of their environment has historically extended to their economy, and the country has benefitted from a very successful fishing industry which continues to this day. Norwegian cuisine unsurprisingly involves a lot of fish, and fishing involves ruggedness, solitude, and the challenge of the seas – all very consistent with the country’s Viking heritage.

A floating printing press of high-Omega 3 currency

The Bergen Fish Market / arthropod abattoir

Norwegian fast food: fishcakes without bacon, fishcakes with bacon, fish balls, fish pudding, fish pudding in a wrap, fish soup. All very tasty and scalable to one’s budget through varying fish content (we weren’t clear on what they replace the fish with)…

Even more important to the Norwegian economy over the last few decades has been the oil industry. The discovery of oil on the Norwegian continental shelf has been a windfall that cannot be overstated. Norway has become one of the richest countries in the world, and has prudently invested its oil earnings in order to provide an extremely high standard of living to its citizens for a long time to come. While the industry itself is largely invisible since the production is offshore, the wealth is visible everywhere: everything is the best that money can buy, be it cars, houses, statues, public infrastructure, etc.

Oslo

We both loved Oslo – a tiny capital city (population est. 600,000), it definitely punches above its weight in terms of both historical beauty and modern character. Here we learned a lot about Norwegians’ approach to public spaces – as with the land, the concept is that they are jointly owned by everyone and should be freely enjoyed. Buildings like the royal palace and the city hall (which is, of course, the site of the Nobel Peace Prize award) are generally open to explore.

Karl Johans Gate, perfect for some people watching

The royal palace – with spectacularly relaxed security (or did they just want us to think that?)

The city is highly walkable, and we explored it pretty thoroughly. Since Oslo doesn’t face the space constraints of many major urban centers, the streets are filled with green spaces, fountains and a huge number of highly diverse sculptures. The waterfront promenade was a particular highlight, filled with  glass-fronted wine bars and seafood restaurants as well as plentiful outdoor lounging space (with fluffy blankets and electric heaters because, as we have mentioned, Norway knows how to do outdoor living).

The waterfront – highly fashionable dining

Spaceman, two ways

Flower stalls

Electric Cars

[Ethan here] As many of you may know, Norway is the leading country in terms of electric vehicle adoption in terms of market share, and not too shabby on an absolute basis either. As an electric-car obsessive, Norway is awesome; poor Jess had to deal with my constant Tesla-spotting interruptions. A big reason for this is the massive subsidies that the government provides for such vehicles, but people seem to genuinely take pride in the whole thing. Given the power comes nearly entirely from hydro, it’s pretty nifty, although perhaps a bit ironic given how dependent the economy is on petroleum.

Just a regular street in Oslo. The thicket of red arrows are all of the electric cars

Food

A word on budget: Norway is very, very expensive. We rapidly became adept at surviving the gasp-inducing prices, mostly by subsisting on a diet of eggs, muesli and bread. Plus the occasional low-fish fishcake (see above). Norway didn’t seem to us to be as food-centric as many of the other places we’ve traveled to, but we were mainly focused on the supermarket and didn’t entirely explore the restaurant scene.

Enjoying some supermarket chicken – big splurge of the day

We did get some meatballs once, because when in Norway…

Bonus vistas

We will leave you with a few more pictures we took en route – the country is so photogenic it’s hard to pick.

Mountains, greenery, and water

Lots of hills + lots of water = crazy cloud patterns

A strong competitor for the most desirable vacation house location in the world

Unsuccessfully staking out for the lake monster of Seljord in Telemark (stylish spotting benches conveniently provided)

Even parking lots are picturesque in Norway

A nice fly fishing location