Oslo, Norway
At the weekend I was lucky enough to cross another city of my huge list of places I am desperate to go to! I visited the beautiful (but expensive!) city of Oslo, Norway. This isn’t a place that is perhaps on the top of everybody’s list, but if you find the time – and the money – then check it out – it won’t disappoint.
The purpose of this trip was to see the Christmas Markets. Now, I know Norway is probably the last place you’d think to go and see these; in fact it probably wouldn’t even make it onto your radar after you searched through Germany’s numerous cities with their world-famous markets. But we decided this might be fun, different and probably not as crowded. We weren’t wrong!
I have been to Germany and experienced their markets, however, I’ve never been at Christmas so I can’t really compare the two places. What I can tell you is that the markets in Oslo were so quaint and inviting and you weren’t fighting your way through crowds to get your hands on some food – or at least not crowds the size I’d imagine would be in Germany…
There are plenty of clothing and ornamental stores but, more importantly, lots of places to get your hands on some great food! They have all of the typical Christmas Market selections from bratwurst to churros, but they made sure they put their own spin on things – that being reindeer burgers. Yes, Rudolf, I mean reindeer burgers…in fact reindeer featured a lot in and around Oslo! I can’t tell you what these were like, because to tell you the truth, I’m not the most adventurous eater…and I couldn’t help but think of Christmas reindeers when I saw the sign! BUT they were very popular and did smell pretty good! There are two markets – one is a bit more children orientated with an ice-rink and a Ferris wheel. While the other one was a bit smaller, a lot more spaced out and was dotted with real fires where you could add logs yourselves to keep warm when munching on some tasty grub! Both had little bars, but don’t expect to come back with much change – a bottled beer cost ten pounds and a mulled wine was over eight pounds! A bit painful to the old wallet but it is Christmas so you may as well fork out the cash – even if it means you can only have one drink!
Once you’ve finished eating your weight in Churros, there is plenty more to go and see! Oslo has a wide selection of museums and art galleries to explore, so if your one for the arts then this place is up your street! However, don’t let that put you off – I myself am not a lover of a museum…but I do enjoy nature and Oslo ticked that box with all of the beautiful parks that were dotted around. We only managed to see Vigeland Sculpture Park, but there are more! Vigeland is filled with rather odd, but interesting, sculptures – a lot featuring men, women and children all naked – sometimes hugging, sometimes attacking each other…a bit weird, but definitely worth a look! After you’ve made immature jokes and taken photos of each individual statue, you can then just go out and enjoy the park itself. It’s so orange. Even now in the middle of December, there was so much colour! I was hoping for a bit of snow, but, I am glad I got to see the pretty colours of the park..!
Somewhere a bit different to the typical ‘Europe trips’, and definitely worth while!