Sights in Norway
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Spiralen Tunnel
To get beyond the industry of Drammen, take a trip up the 1650m-long Spiralen tunnel to the 200m-high Bragernes for a lovely view, as well as good waffles at the Spiralentop Café. And if you still can't quite face the drive back down the six-spiral tunnel - reminiscent of a never-ending indoor parking lot - go for a walk in the Drammensmarka. Bus No 41 does the trip three times daily from Bragernes Torg (around NOK20, 15 minutes) on weekends during the summer.
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Ringve Museum
The Ringve Museum is Norway’s national museum for music and musical instruments. The Russian-born owner is a devoted collector of rare and antique musical instruments, which music students demonstrate. You can also browse the old barn with its rich collection of instruments from around the world. The botanic gardens, set within the surrounding 18th-century estate, are a quiet green setting for a stroll. Take bus 3 or 4 and walk up the hill.
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Vadsø Church
As so often in these small Finnmark communities, the Church is the most interesting structure architecturally - and all too often the only building to have survived the devastation wreaked by retreating Nazi forces. Vadsø's didn't. Built anew in 1958, it's simple enough yet rich in symbolism. The twin peaks are intended to recall an iceberg, the Orthodox-inspired altarpiece looks metaphorically over the frontier and the rich stained-glass depicts the seasons.
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Tafjord Power Museum
The Tafjord Power Museum, located within a now-defunct power station, shows how the advent of hydroelectric power changed the valley. The road that climbs from the village up to the Zakarias reservoir passes through a bizarre corkscrew tunnel and, a couple of kilometres higher up, a short walking route drops to the crumbling bridge at the dam’s narrow base, where you feel at close range the stresses this 96m-high structure has to tolerate.
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Polar Museum
The 1st floor of this harbourside museum, in a restored early 19th-century customs house near the colourful Skansen docks, illustrates early polar research, especially the ventures of Nansen and Amundsen. Downstairs there’s a well-mounted exhibition about the hunting and trapping of fuzzy Arctic creatures on Svalbard before coal became king there. Note the nasty exploding harpoons outside; the whale didn’t stand much of a chance.
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Hovedøya
Ferries running to the half a dozen islands in Oslofjord leave from Vippetangen quay, southeast of Akershus Festning. Hovedøya, the closest island, has a rocky coastline, but its southwestern side is a popular sunbathing area. There are walking paths around the perimeter, some old cannons and the ruins of a 12th-century monastery. Boats to Hovedøya leave from Vippetangen once or twice hourly from late May to mid-August, less the rest of the year.
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Nobel Peace Center
Norwegians take pride in their role as international peacemakers, which explains the central location of the Nobel Peace Center in Aker Brygge. The centre is Oslo’s most technically advanced museum, with an array of digital displays that are intended to offer as much or as little information as the visitor desires. Don’t miss the Nobel Book on the 2nd floor or the movie theatre streaming films on the history of the prize and its winners.
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Olavsgruva Mine
The Olavsgruva mine is 13km north of Røros. The moderately interesting exhibition is made worthwhile by mine tours, which pass through the historic Nyberget mine, dating from the 1650s. The modern Olavsgruva mine beyond it was begun in 1936. The ground can get muddy and the temperature in the mine is 5°C; bring a jacket and good footwear. To get to the mine, use your own wheels or take a taxi (Nkr450 return).
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Sogn Og Fjordane Coastal Museum
The two main buildings of the Kystmuseet are chock-full of fishing exhibits and there’s a model 1900 fishing family’s home too. Also within the complex are several old warehouse buildings, moved from Florø and Måløy, and an old herring salt house. On a more contemporary theme, the Snorreankeret oil platform display illustrates the history, exploration and exploitation of the North Sea oil and gas fields.
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E
Arctic Cathedral
The 11 arching triangles of the Arctic Cathedral, as the Tromsdalen Church is styled, suggest glacial crevasses and auroral curtains. The magnificent glowing stained-glass window that occupies almost the whole of the east end depicts Christ redescending to earth. Look back toward the west end and the contemporary organ, a work of steely art in itself, then up high to take in the lamps of Czech crystal, hanging in space like icicles.
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Kirkelandet Church
Architect Odd Østby’s inspirational church was built in 1964 to replace the one destroyed by Nazi bombs. The angular exterior, where copper and concrete alternate, is sober and measured. Inside, all lines direct the eye to the 320 panes of stained glass at the rear of the chancel. Moving upward from the earthy colours at the base, they become paler and, at the top, replicate the ‘celestial light of heaven’.
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Otternes
Between Flåm and Aurland, and high above the fjord perches the restored hamlet of Otternes, a complex of 27 restored buildings, the earliest dating from the 17th century. To get full value from the visit, follow the one-hour guided tour (Nkr20 extra; available in English four times daily) and plan a rest break to lick a locally made organic ice cream or eat a bowl of rømmegrøt, a rich sour-cream porridge.
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Jotunheimvegen
Branching off the Rv51 at Bygdin, the 45km-long Jotunheimvegen to Skåbu is quiet and picturesque. It's usually open from mid-June until October, depending on the weather, and you pay a toll, which seems expensive, but it is the only way the authorities can make maintenance of the road viable. There's no public transport along the route but there are campsites at Beitostølen and Skåbu. The route also links up with Peer Gynt Vegen.
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Adolf Kanonen
The formidable WWII weapon known as the Adolf Kanonen is the world's largest land-based big gun, with a calibre of 40.6cm and a recoil force of 635 tonnes. Because it lies in a military area, you're obliged to take a guided tour of the site and to have your own vehicle. Just turn up 10 minutes before departure. The bunker also contains a collection of artillery, military equipment and instruments used by Nazi coastal batteries during WWII.
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Mini Bottle Gallery
Want to see the ridiculous and enormous collection of a wealthy brewer? Check out the Mini Bottle Gallery. This 'gallery' crosses architectural elegance and haunted-house gadgetry with the crass overtures of a puerile club. As you admire tens of thousands of tiny bottles of booze set in an environment whose expensive design surpasses many museums, you're bound to wonder if the place is a joke. The answer comes readily in the bathroom.
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Dalane Folkmuseum
The Dalane Folkmuseum is divided into two parts. The more interesting main section features eight historic timber homes at Slettebø, 3.5km north of town just off the Rv42. The other section is the Egersund Fayance Museum, a walkable 1.5km northeast of town. It displays the history and wares of Egersund Fayance, the ceramic and porcelain firm that sustained the entire district from 1847 to 1979.
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Viking Ship Sports Arena
Hamar’s stand-out landmark is this sports arena, a graceful structure with the lines of an upturned Viking ship. The building, which hosted the speed skating during the Winter Olympics, holds 20,000 spectators, encompasses 9600 sq metres of ice and is 94.6m long. Both in scale and aesthetics, it’s an impressive place. From late July to mid-August, the ice is open to the public for ice-skating (Nkr80).
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Strandgaten 43
Strandgaten 43 is arguably more beautiful than Strandgaten 58 (Skrivergården) and has what's known as a 'gossip mirror' which allowed the inhabitants to keep an eye on the street.
Strandgaten, a street of timber houses constructed after 1843, is well worth a stroll. The house is not open to the public, but the tourist office hands out a leaflet Strolling in Egersund which has a map and informative commentary.
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Otternes
Between Flåm and Aurland and high above the fjord perches the restored hamlet of Otternes, a complex of 27 restored buildings, the earliest dating from the 17th century. To get full value from the visit, follow the one-hour guided tour (around NOK20 extra; available in English four times daily) and plan a rest break to lick a locally made organic ice cream or a bowl of rømmegrøt, a rich sour-cream porridge.
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Norwegian Mountain Museum
Acting as the visitors centre for Jotunheimen National Park, this worthwhile mountain museum contains mountaineering memorabilia, exhibits on natural history (the woolly mammoth is a highlight) and cultural and industrial activity in the Norwegian mountains. There’s also an excellent 10-minute mountain slide show, a discussion of tourism and its impact on wilderness and, upstairs, a scale model of the park.
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Railway Museum
From early June to early September, another popular excursion is the Sunday tour by veteran steam train between Garnes and Midtun. It begins at 9am on the historic ferry M/S Bruvik from Bryggen to the railway museum at Garnes and from there the teak-panelled train inches 18km to Midtun. The whole trip takes four hours (adult/child Nkr200/100). The train trip alone costs Nkr120/60 return.
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Museum
Outside, this charming little museum presents a traditional Sami settlement, complete with an early home, temporary dwellings and outbuildings such as the kitchen, sauna, and huts for storing fish, potatoes and lichen (also called ‘reindeer moss’ and prime reindeer fodder). Inside are Sami handicrafts, farming and reindeer-herding implements, religious icons and artefacts, and winter transport gear.
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Sunnmøre Museum
Ålesund’s celebrated Sunnmøre Museum is 4km east of the centre. Here, at the site of the old Borgundkaupangen trading centre, active from the 11th to 16th centuries, over 50 traditional buildings have been relocated. Ship-lovers will savour the collection of around 40 historic boats, including replicas of Viking-era ships and a commercial trading vessel from around AD 1000. Take bus 618 or 624.
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Gossen Krigsminnesamling
The beautiful, tiny outer island of Ona, with its bare rocky landscapes and picturesque lighthouse, is home to an offshore fishing community. Its one major event was an enormous tidal wave that washed over it in 1670. It makes a popular day trip from Molde. En route, WWII buffs may want to stop off at Gossen Krigsminnesamling, a former Nazi wartime airstrip built by Russian POWs on the low island of Gossen.
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Røros Kirke
Røros’ Lutheran church is one of Norway’s largest with a seating capacity of 1640. Constructed in 1650, it had fallen into disrepair by the mid-18th century and from 1780 a new baroque-style church was built just behind the original at a cost of 23,000 riksdaler (one riksdaler is the equivalent of Nkr4, and at the time miners earned about 50 riksdaler per year).
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