By Russell Kelley
Russell Kelley is a retired lawyer who divides his time between his home town of Palm Beach and his adopted city of Paris, where he worked for 20 years. He and his wife Lynn are avid travelers. His great-grandparents, grand-parents and parents were all Chicagoans.
Kjosfossen Waterfall
Nærøydalen Valley
To celebrate the New Year, we traveled to Chile’s Southern Patagonia, otherwise known as “The End of the World.” Last summer, we headed in the opposite direction, cruising up the coast of Norway to the Arctic Circle. Here is our trip report.
We were among the few Paris residents who stayed in the city during last year’s Summer Olympics, which were spectacular. A trip to serene Norway was the perfect antidote to a post-Olympics hangover. From perhaps the most crowded place on the planet to one of the least populated; from man-made grandeur to natural splendor; from extravagant Thomas Jolly (the creator of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies) to sober Vikings. What a contrast.
We were only in Norway (Norge, in Norwegian) for nine days. It is a big country, so we focused on the coastline with its spectacular fjords and port cities. After two nights in Bergen (“the capital of Western Norway”), we traveled to Tromsø (“the Gateway to the Arctic”). You can fly from Bergen to Tromsø in two hours, drive the 1,120 miles (taking the most direct route, which would be a pity) in around 30 hours, or take a coastal ferry for four days, making 20 stops along the way. We chose the last option, and were glad we did. After disembarking, we spent one night in Tromsø, and then flew to Oslo for two days to wrap up our Norwegian adventure.
Norway has the fourth largest land mass of any country in Western Europe (behind France, Spain and Sweden), with a population of 5.5 million clustered around only 108 cities and towns. (Believe it or not, France has 35,000 communes – the most of any European country.) At 17 persons per square kilometer, Norway has the lowest population density in Europe. Who are these hearty people?
We know about the Vikings. But what happened next?
Satellite image of Norway on the left and nearby countries in the winter
NORWAY’S HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL
The Viking Era
While the land that is now Norway was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers around 9,000 BC, the Norsemen (Northmen) first ventured onto the world stage during the Viking era of “trading and raiding”, whose Golden Age started in 793 when Vikings plundered St. Cuthbert’s monastery on the island of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland in Britain, and ended in 1066 when King Harold Godwinson of England killed the Viking King Harald Hardrada and annihilated his army at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire (only 24 of the original 300 Viking ships were required to carry away the survivors). (Immediately after the battle Harold force-marched his army back to the south of England to confront a second set of invaders, this time from Normandy. Harold’s army was defeated by the Normans of William the Conqueror, and he was killed, at the Battle of Hastings.)
The Oseberg Ship in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo (Vikingskipshuset), built between 815 and 820 and used as a burial boat. Credit: © Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway; licensed CC BY-SA.
The term “Vikings” referred to the warriors who participated in the voyages of conquest, who were a subgroup of the Norsemen who inhabited Scandinavia (today’s Norway, Denmark and Sweden). The Vikings from what is now Norway focused their raids on the British Isles and neighboring islands, although they later launched raids across the Mediterranean. The Vikings from what is now Denmark raided their way down the western coast of Europe, including attacking Paris four times during the 8th century.
At first, the Scandinavians sailed to foreign lands in search of trade, but discovered that the lands were poorly defended and ripe for plunder. The early raids were carried out by chieftains from clans dispersed around Scandinavia. The Viking chieftain Harald Hårfagre (Fair-Hair) defeated the other Viking chieftains at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872 and united Norway for the first time.
In 997, Trondheim (then called Nidaros) became the first capital of the new kingdom of Norway.
Norwegians colonized the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland during the 9th and 10th centuries. Leif (pronounced “Life”, not “Leaf”) Ericksson reputedly was the first European to set foot in North America (in Newfoundland, Canada) around the year 1,000.
The Middle Ages
In 1024, King Olav II founded the Church of Norway and established Christianity as Norway’s state religion, which hastened the end of the Viking Era. The first cathedral in Norway was built in stone in the Gothic style in Trondheim starting in 1153; construction continued into the 14th century. In 1537, Lutheran Protestantism replaced Catholicism as the national religion. During the 500 years preceding the Reformation, between one to two thousand wooden “stave churches” were built in Norway; only 28 survive.
Stave church at the Norsk Folkemuseum on the Bygdøy Peninsula outside Oslo.
Photo: Haakon Harriss. Owner: Norsk Folkemuseum.
Trade flourished in the 13th century. Norway exported salted herring, dried fish (known as “stockfish”) and timber to England, and returned with corn, woolen cloth, weapons and luxury goods. Around 1300, Germany replaced England as Norway’s most important trading partner.
In 1349-50, the Black Death killed a third of the population of Norway.
The Hanseatic League
During the 14th century, the Hanseatic League put the seaport of Bergen on the map. Around 1100, German merchants sailed the Baltic Sea and the North Sea in convoys known as “hanse” in order to protect themselves from attack. The merchants were called “Hanseaten”, or members of the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League developed into a northern German trade league based in the Free City of Lübeck and centered around the Baltic and North Seas, with over 150 member cities at its zenith. The Hanseatic period lasted from the 1200s to the 1500s.
In Norway, the Hanseatic League took control of Norwegian trade, establishing its first office in Bergen around 1360 in the neighborhood called Bryggen (Wharves). The office was run by up to 2,000 German resident traders who did not mix with Norwegians. The Hanseatic merchants of Lübeck formed a state within a state in Bergen for the next 400 years. Following the closure of the offices in the Hanseatic home cities of Novgorod (1494), Bruges (1550s), and London (1598), the office in the fourth and last home city of Bergen finally closed in 1761. Many of the German traders then took Norwegian nationality and joined the local community.
The Hanseatic League in 1400. The four home cities are underlined twice. Other member cities are underlined once
The councilors in the Hanseatic home cities negotiated the rights and privileges their merchants would enjoy in foreign ports. The member cities formed alliances and were capable of going to war to force their host countries to cede to their demands. One such war was the Hanseatic-Danish War of 1361-1370, where the Hanseatic League led by Lübeck defeated King Valdemar IV of Denmark, forcing Denmark to grant extensive privileges to the Hanseatic League, including free trade throughout the Baltic Sea. It was clear that the Hanseatic League was not only a trading power, but a military one, as well.
Denmark-Norway
To counter the influence of the Hanseatic League and block German expansion northward into the Baltic region, in 1397, at the initiative of Queen Margaret of Denmark and Norway, the three Nordic kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (which then included much of present-day Finland) and Norway put aside their differences to unite under a single monarch. This created a “personal union” between the three nations known as the Kalmar Union after Kalmar, the southernmost fortress in Sweden where the union was ratified. (A “personal union” is a combination of two or more kingdoms that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct.) Since the population of Denmark was greater than that of Sweden and Norway combined, Denmark was the de facto leader of the Kalmar Union. After Sweden left the Kalmar Union in 1523, Norway became the junior partner in Denmark-Norway, with its king in Copenhagen and no say about its foreign affairs.
In 1536, King Christian III of Denmark and Norway made Lutheranism the state religion.
Christian IV, whose long reign extended from 1588 to 1648, was “the [Danish] king who discovered Norway” because of the 30 trips he made to Norway, where he founded four cities. After the great fire of 1624 destroyed the old city of Oslo, Christian IV decided to relocate and rebuild the entire city in the area below Akershus Fortress known as Akershagen. Christian IV built a network of roads in Akershagen and required all citizens to move their shops and workplaces to the newly built city, which he renamed Christiania. Akershus Fortress was later converted into a palace and royal residence.
In 1660, there were only eight “market towns” (kløpstad) in all of Norway. In 1800, there were 23. The medieval towns were still the most important. In the middle of the 18th century, Bergen’s population of 14,000 was twice as large as the next two largest cities, Christiania (now Oslo) and Trondheim, combined.
At the end of the 18th century, Denmark was an absolute monarchy. Norway was directly administered from Copenhagen as a collection of counties rather than as a separate kingdom. Between half and two-thirds of Norway’s gross national product was transferred to Denmark. The French Revolution broke out in 1789. Napoleon’s conquests spread republicanism across Europe. The time was ripe for change.
A First Brief Independence
In 1809, Carl XIII became Sweden’s king. He was 61, in poor health, and had no heir. For internal political reasons, the Swedish elected a foreigner, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s 18 field marshals who had served with distinction in various administrative posts including governor of the Hanseatic towns in North Germany, as the Crown Prince in 1810. Bernadotte took the name Carl Johan. Napoleon, who had expressed a preference for his stepson or one of his brothers to fill the role, acquiesced to Bernadotte’s election on the condition that Bernadotte agree not to wage war on France. Bernadotte refused on the ground that his obligations to Sweden might not allow such a commitment. Napoleon did not press the issue.
Due to the old king’s infirmity, Bernadotte quickly took control of the government of Sweden. He was instrumental in forming the Sixth Coalition allying Sweden with its traditional enemies Russia and England against Napoleon. Swedish troops led by Bernadotte were decisive in defeating the French army at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813.
After the Battle of Leipzig, Bernadotte attacked and quickly defeated Denmark in order to secure Norway, a strategic objective since Sweden lost Finland to Russia in 1808. The Treaty of Kiel, which was signed in January 1814, transferred Norway (except for the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland) from Danish to Swedish control. Bernadotte became King Carl Johan of Sweden and Norway upon King Carl XIII’s death in 1818.
The Norwegians rejected Swedish control. They declared independence, and in May 1814 adopted a liberal constitution modeled on the French constitution of 1791 (known as the Eidsvoll Constitution after the town outside Oslo where it was drafted) and elected Danish crown prince Christian Frederik as king of an independent Norway.
The Norwegian Constitutional Assembly in 1814
In response, Swedish troops led by Bernadotte promptly invaded southern Norway and defeated the Norwegian army led by Christian Frederik in a war that lasted two weeks. Sweden then enforced the Treaty of Kiel whereby Norway entered into a union with Sweden, but Norway was permitted to keep its new constitution, revised to stipulate that “The Kingdom of Norway is a free, self-governing indivisible and inalienable realm unified with Sweden under one king.”
Independence At Last
In 1905, Norway proclaimed its independence from Sweden (to which the Swedish king acquiesced), established a constitutional monarchy, and elected Prince Carl of Denmark, the second son of the Crown Prince of Denmark, as its king. He took the Norwegian name Håkon (or Haakon) VII.
The Norwegian Storting passes the “revolutionary” resolution
Like all new countries, Norway strove to promote its national identity by celebrating its cultural heroes of the time, who included playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), and artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944). To that pantheon must be added the “modern Vikings”: the sea-faring explorers Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) and Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), celebrated for (among other feats) their expeditions to the North Pole and South Pole, respectively, both on the three-masted schooner Fram (which now has its own museum near Oslo).
Norway’s capital Christiana returned to its old name of Oslo in 1925.
In 1905, Norway’s population was 2.2 million. Between 1500 and 1800 its population had gone from 250,000 to 900,000, with nine out of ten people engaged in farming. In 1865, Norway’s population was 1.7 million. Today it is 5.5 million.
“17th of May” (Constitution Day) celebrations in Stongfjorden, 1910
Norway was extremely poor when it became independent. Between 1825 and 1925, more than 800,000 Norwegians immigrated to the United States and Canada. Everything changed with the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1969. Now Norway is one of the richest countries in Europe.
Over the past one thousand years Norway has transitioned from the war-like Viking Era to the pacifist present, as illustrated by two examples: Upon his death in 1896, Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, stipulated in his will that a committee of five persons elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) would designate the winner of his annual Peace Prize and that the award ceremony would be held in Oslo. Norway has also actively engaged in peace diplomacy, including facilitating the Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Norway narrowly voted against joining the European Union in 1972 and again in 1994, preferring to maintain its hard-won independence.
TRAVEL
Norway in a Nutshell
Norway’s coastline is like no other, fractured as it is by fjords, the long, narrow sea inlets with steep sides or cliffs, carved out by retreating glaciers at the end of the Ice Age.
Only two fjords in Norway have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Geirangerfjord and Naerøyfjord (which means “Narrow Fjord”). The latter can be visited on “a quiet, sleek, zero-emission electric catamaran”, after a trip on the steepest standard-gauge railway in Northern Europe, the 12-mile-long Flåmsbana Railway from Myrdal to Flåm built between 1924 and 1944, as part of the “Norway in a Nutshell” self-guided tour departing from either Oslo or Bergen as either one-way trips or roundtrips in a single, long day, or you can break it up with overnight stops: https://www.fjordtours.com/en/norway/tours/norway-in-a-nutshell
Naerøyfjord
If you have more time, you might consider a boat trip up the coast of Norway.
Hurtigruten
To connect its remote coastal cities and villages with the rest of the country, ever since 1893 the government of Norway has contracted to have daily departures from Bergen heading north to border city of Kirkenes with 34 stops along the way. Since the roundtrip journey takes 11 days, there are 11 ships that ply the coastal route (kystruten). The informal name for the coastal route is hurtigruten (express route). There are two companies that were awarded the 10-year concession to ply this route by the government of Norway in 2021: Hurtigruten Asa (with 7 boats) and Havila Kystruten AS (with 4 boats). We spent four nights on the Havila Castor and loved it.
While all the big cruise companies offer tours of the Norwegian coast, many are too big to get close to the shore or in certain fjords. Havila’s smaller ships are powered by liquified natural gas and batteries, which makes them exceptionally quiet. On board, the stress is on “eco-tourism” and Havila has re-thought the hospitality experience. For example, to avoid waste, meal portions are small. If you want more, you can ask for it. To expedite meal service, guests choose from a selection of a dozen first and second courses, which are already prepared and so can be delivered quickly, which frees up the tables for the next wave of guests. The ship interiors are functional and minimalist, like Norway in general. Everything is well done, but not overdone. There are no discos. There is a café and a bar, along with the restaurant, plus a small fitness room, steam bath and jacuzzi. And lots of places inside and out to view the scenery.
When you register before boarding, you give them your credit card and they give you a necklace with a card on it that you use to open your cabin door and to make purchases. When you leave the boat, the crew scans your card so they know where you are and hopefully will not leave port without you.
Stops along the route vary from 15 minutes to 4 hours. If a stop is for 30 minutes or more, passengers can get off and walk around, but they have to be back on board 10 minutes before departure time.
The coastal route
Here are the places that we explored – sometimes for as little as 20 minutes – on our way north:
Bergen (population 278,000): We spent two days in Norway’s second largest city (after Oslo) before boarding the boat. Bergen was Norway’s capital between 1217 and 1299, and was one of the four home offices of the Hanseatic League from the 14th to 18th century (see above). The Hanseatic League’s quarter of Bryggen alongside the harbor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the highlight of the city. Next to it is the colorful fish market (Torget) and nearby is the Fløibanen Funicular to the top of Mt. Fløyen (320m/1,050 feet) with spectacular views of the city. At the top, there are well-marked hiking trails on the mountain, and two 1.5-mile-long trails leading down the mountain through primeval forests back to the city. Bergen is a university town, which adds a youthful dimension to the city.
Bryggen
Ålesund (population 42,000): We had time to take a 45-minute walk through the city center, which was destroyed by fire in 1904 and rebuilt with Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) architecture.
Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Credit: DXR. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4. International License
Trondheim (population 190,000): Norway’s third largest city, Trondheim was the first capital of Norway between around 1000 and 1217, when it was named Nidaros. The Nidaros Cathedral was built there starting in 1153 (see above). Another university town. We took a bike tour around the city, which was a great way to see it during our three-hour stay.
The author being “baptized” with ice cubes by the ship captain and his troll assistant upon crossing the Arctic Circle
Bodø (population 50,000): North of the Arctic Circle and northernmost terminus of Norway’s rail system, Bodø is a jumping off point for the famous Lofoten Islands. We went on a coastal walk during our three-hour stop, so did not see the city. (The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at which, on the winter solstice [which is the shortest day of the year] in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun will not rise all day, and on the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice [which is the longest day of the year], the sun will not set.)
The Arctic Circle
Svolvaer (population 5,000): “Capital of Lofoten Islands”, of which there are four main islands with strikingly craggy peaks connected by bridges and tunnels. Svolvaer was disappointingly commercial, with modern hotels lining the waterfront, but we wish we had gotten off the ship and spent two days exploring the islands before continuing our journey north. A two-hour tour tourists take from Svolvaer that we were able to take on our boat was to Trollfjord, a fjord that is 1.25 miles long and only 100 yards wide at its narrowest point. It was impressive to see our 400-foot-long ship literally pivot 180 degrees in place to turn around at the end of the fjord, thanks to a propeller that can swivel and horizontal thrusters.
Trollfjord
Tromsø (population 73,000): “Gateway to the Arctic”, Tromsø is on an island linked to the mainland by a bridge. It was the jumping off point for arctic expeditions led by Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen in the schooner Fram (see above), as recounted at the local Polar Museum. Another university town, with a university museum about the Sàmi people (formerly known as Laplanders). We disembarked here and stayed overnight, when we had reindeer steak for dinner.
The best thing about taking the coastal route boats is that it is an authentic Norwegian experience, with a Norwegian crew on a Norwegian boat (designed in Norway but built in Turkey), serving tasty Norwegian food. There were even some Norwegian passengers, mostly using the ship as a ferry to get to their seaport destinations.
Oslo (population 666,000): We flew two hours from Tromsø to Oslo, where we spent two delightful days. Take the 30-minute ride on the Express Train from the airport to Oslo Central Station.
What a change from the remote seaports we visited on our coastal trip! Back to the big city! Crowds of people of all backgrounds. Broad, straight avenues. Big, high buildings. Trams and busses crisscrossing the city. Ferries crisscrossing the harbor.
Founded in 1049 and capital of Norway since 1299, Oslo had a population of 10,000 in 1814. It surged to 230,000 by 1900. The trappings of statehood were built in the 19th century: the Royal Palace (1825-1849), the Parliament Building (1866), the Royal Theatre (1899).
The Oslo Opera on the left and the Munch Museum on the right
Oslo is also the cultural capital of Norway with a dramatic new Opera House (opened 2008) and museums galore, including a giant new museum dedicated to Edvard Munch (2021). There is also a wonderful park to the west of the city center with 212 granite and bronze sculptures by Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943) that were installed between 1940 and 1949.
Final Impressions
Norway has a cashless economy. During our entire nine-day trip we did not need any cash whatsoever. Literally everything could be paid by credit card (Visa, not American Express).
Keep your mobile phone charged since you will need it for many things, including ordering in some restaurants (scan the QR code on your table to read the menu and place your order using your phone) and taking public transportation (the app for the trams and busses in Oslo is https://ruter.no/en/).
As in the other Scandinavian countries, everyone in Norway earns a living wage. As a result, Norway is expensive. Everything costs about twice as much as it would in Paris, which is not exactly a low-cost city. For example, a beer costs $15.
Shops and museums open late and close early, reflecting Norwegians’ desire to maintain a work-life balance. According to Eurostat, the average weekly work hours per employee in Norway is 33 hours, compared to 36 hours in the EU. Most museums are closed on Monday.
Foreign brands and outdoor advertising are largely (and mercifully) absent. That said, 7-Eleven stores are the local “go-to” store throughout Norway, especially in remote towns, but also in Oslo and Bergen. Burger King, McDonalds and Starbucks are also present, but few and far between.
Starbucks Norge logo (just kidding). Credit: The Economist.
The local fare features lots of salmon (laks) and other seafood, and some reindeer steak (reindyrstek). The Norwegians drink plenty of coffee and beer.
The Norwegian language is related to Swedish and Danish. While it is hard to make out anything when Norwegian is spoken, it is fun to guess the meanings of some of the written words: reindyrstek (see above), eple (apple), kaffe (café in French, coffee), melk (milk), marked (market), kniv (knife), hus (house), butikk (boutique), akvarell (aquarelle in French, watercolor), rute (route), båt (boat), buss (bus) – and my favorite, nasjonal (national).
Some words are the same in Norwegian and English – egg, glass – but beware of what the French call faux amis (false friends) that don’t mean what you think they mean: thing (assembly), thrall (slave).
Fortunately for us anglophones, virtually all Norwegians speak English fluently.
Norway is a country of the great outdoors with fickle weather. Anoraks and trainers are the fashion. Always carry raingear or an umbrella.
In short, Norway is a low intensity/high value destination.
