Visiting the center of Oslo, after all, is not so easy.
All the alleys leading to the center are not free: you must pay!!
And, once you are in, you must find a place to park: really not so easy,
even in underground parkings.
We decided not to visit any museum and headed for another "must":
HOLMENKOLLEN AND HIS SKI JUMPING PLANT.
At the foot of this sport monument you can visit a museum dedicated to
the history of Norwegian ski, from 600 B.C. to nowadays.
Once you are on top of the jumping tower you can see all around the
scenery of all Oslo, not only, but your sight may spread for miles and
miles away. If this is not enough for you, you may go to the television
tower situated on top of a hill not so far away: from up there, for sure,
you may keep under control the whole province of Oslo with all its
forests, mountains and endless green meadows.
Leaving Oslo we drove South heading for LARKOLLEN.
If you like sea, in Larkollen you may find a camping site hidden into a
forest and situated on an isthmus with the ocean on one side and a natural
bay on the other, full of boats. From there you can see all the islets
and the opposite coast. One of the island is very special because , with
ebb tide, you can reach it by walking on the rocks protruding out of the
water. If you have the chance of having a motor-boat you will be
delighted by visiting all the surrounding inlets and coves, very peculiar
with their rounded reddish rocks.
Go there at sunset, between 7 and 11 p.m.. Yes, that is the right time.
Dont forget that from June to August you have the Midnight Sun.
Actually you cannot see it directly but you can imagine it behind that
special glow.
As a matter fact it is almost daylight for 24 hours a day!
We left Larkollen and made up our way for FREDRIKSTAD, a bulwark during
a war with SWEDEN from 1787 to 1816.
FREDRIKSTAD is a fortified town which now is a actually an open-sky
museum with all the surrounding walls, the ancient hamlets, the cobbled
square and with the ancient buildings once used by troops.
All around the town walls a special track, you may go on foot or with a
bike,alllows you to have a full sight of the whole town.
From Fredrikstad you may very easily reach HVALER, the last of four
islands all connected, each other, by bridges, one of which almost at water
level. At any rate the last connection to Hvaler is under the
As a matter of fact, after paying your toll of a few crowns, water.
you dive down into a 4 km tunnel 180 metres under the water level.
When you head out you will simply be astonished by what surrounds you!
Houses are all white in colonial style which armonizes perfectly with
all the special landscape.
As already noticed during our travelling, even more here, everything
has been built with a great respect for the environment.
Houses are there, the roads as well, but all this is beautifully fused
with the woods, the meadows, the red rocks of the coast.
Nothing disturbs your sight in this magic place.
Even the church, with its cemetery standing by, seems to be there to
beautify the landscape.
It is actually a perfect fusion of beauty and peace of the soul and
only one who has been there can understand what our feelings were in
that moment in that small piece of heaven. From this island you may see
the coast of Sweden and, driving there, through Fredrikstad, we met on
the road special panels showing the symbol of the clover.
If you ever meet them, stop and follow the arrows.
They will lead you to discover some Viking graves or very interesting
rock engraving dating back to prehistory.