Oslo in 24 hours

Posted: Februar 27, 2016 by luxembourgmeetstheworld

Oslo is the capital city of Norway. It is a both, a county and a municipality but also the most populous city of Norway. Oslo is located in the south of the country but also at the northernmost end of the Oslofjord. Oslo itself has 343 lakes and the largest one is Mardialsvannet.

Before the city got the name Oslo, it was called Christiania. During the reign of King Christian IV, the city was completely destroyed by a fire in 1624. In honor of the king, is was named Christiania. It was a new city, which was built closer to the Akershus Fortress. The village of Oslo remained outside the city gates as a suburb. It was only in 1925 where the name Oslo was transferred to the whole city and the old suburb got the name Gamlebyen, which means Old Town.

Oslofjord

As Norway is really famous for its fjords and as Oslo is located on the Oslofjord, you cannot miss the Oslofjord. A fjord is basically a long inlet with steep sides and cliffs, which have been created by glacial erosions. Most of the fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea, like the Sognefjord in Norway, who reaches 1.300 meters below the sea level.

In Norway, they use the term fjord in a more general way by meaning any long and narrow body of water like an inlet or a channel.

We visited Norway in February and so the fjord was partly covered by ice. This was really strange, because it’s not a lake, but something connected with the sea. But the ice was not that thick, only the sea gulls could stand on it.

I really like the view on the fjord, because it is very calm and the air is very clean and fresh. I’m pretty sure that this scenery can calm you down whenever you’re stressed.

Vikingship Museum

As the Vikingship Museum is located a little bit outside the city center of Oslo, namely in Bygdøy, you have to take the bus to reach it. This museum is part of the Museum of Cultural History and an absolutely must do if you are interesting in Norwegian history.

The Viking Ship Museum is now closed for rebuilding. We will reopen as the Museum of the Viking Age in 2026.

I was really surprised that not many people visited it, because its main attractions are the Oseberg ship, Gokstad ship and the Tune ship. Besides the three ships, they also exposed other belongings from the vikings, like beds, horse carts, tents and even clothes.

The museum is mostly famous for the Oseberg ship, which was found almost undamaged. It was discovered in 1904 to 1905 by a Norwegian and a Swedish archaeologist in a burial mound with numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons. It is said to be older than 800 AD, but its interment into the burial mound dates from around 834 AD.

I was really amazed by the dimension of the ship, it was really huge for being constructed at that time without all our modern technic. Actually I was also impressed by the fact that the Vikings buried their ships and that after all the time under the earth, it still looks so good.

The Gokstad ship is also almost completely undamaged and was discovered and excavated in 1880. With the excavation of the ship, they also found the burial chamber, three small boats and also two tents boards from the burial chamber.

The third ship, the Tune ship, is not in such a good condition as the other two. There is only a part of the body of the ship who is remaining. But even the remains of the ship are impressive.

Basically the whole museum is really impressive even if you’re not interested in history. It’s not a typical museum with a lot of stuff to read, but there are more things to see. You get to know a part of the Viking history, which is really interesting.

Oslo Cathedral

The Oslo Cathedral is the main church of Oslo, but also of Norway and it dates from 1694 to 1967. It is used as a place for public events by the Norwegian Royal Family and also by the Norwegian government.

It is already the third cathedral for Oslo, the two others doesn’t exist anymore. The cathedral is really stunning inside. It’s not very big for a cathedral, but I think it’s absolutely worth it to have a look inside!

There are also some lovely shops close to the Cathedral.

Royal Palace

The Royal Palace is not behind a fence or something like that, but you can approach it very close except for the few guards outside. It was built in the first half of the 19th century as the Norwegian residence of King Charles III, who was the King of Norway and Sweden. Their current monarch in 2016 is King Harald V who started restoring the palace and since 2002 they offer public tours inside the palace. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the Royal Palace from the inside.

I really appreciated in Oslo that they are offering a lot for their people. For example, just in front of the palace, people can ski. There is a small hill and people can use it as a ski piste. There was also a slide made of ice where you normally sit on it and then slide.