The Rough Guide to Norway (Travel Guide eBook) , livre ebook

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INSIDE THIS BOOK START YOUR JOURNEY WITH ROUGH GUIDES
INTRODUCTION What to see, what not to miss, author highlights and more –
everything you need to get started
BASICS Pre-departure tips and practical information
THE GUIDE Comprehensive, in-depth guide to Norway, with area highlights and
full-colour maps throughout
CONTEXTS History, legends and folklore, Viking customs, wildlife and cinema, plus
recommended books and a useful language section
TRUSTED TRAVEL GUIDES Since 1982, our books have helped over 35 million
We’ve fl agged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special travellers explore the world with accurate, honest and informed travel writing.
restaurant – throughout the Guide with the symbol
Norway chapters
Nordkapp
0 2500 50
kilometreskilometres
6
Tromsø Alta
POCKET ROUGH GUIDES “Best of” section, essential itineraries and a unique
Narvik pull-out map featuring every sight and listing in the guide. Hip, handy and
SVALBARD perfect for short trips and weekend breaks.Bodø
NORWEGIAN
5SEA
FINLAND
SWEDEN
Trondheim
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4
3 DIGITAL Choose from our
easyBergen to-use ebooks and great-value HELSINKI
Snapshots to read on your tablet,
Haugesund OSLO phone or e-reader.TALLINN
1
Stavanger ESTONIA
STOCKHOLM
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NORTH SEA 2
Kristiansand ROUGHGUIDESROUGHGUIDES..CCOMOM Buy all our
3 Central Norway 5 Trondheim to the Lofoten islands1 Oslo and the Oslo ord latlatesest ebooks and get inspirt ebooks and get inspireded
4 Bergen and the western ords 6 Northern Norway2 The South with trwith travavel fel featureatures, quizzeses, quizzes
and morand more.e.
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This seventh edition published March 2017
Norway_7_289952_inside_cover.indd 1 24/11/16 2:55 pm
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RUS
SIATHE ROUGH GUIDE TO
NORWAY
written and researched by
Phil Lee
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Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Where to go 5 Things not to miss 14
When to go 12 Itineraries 22
Author picks 13
BASICS 24
Getting there 25 Festivals and events 41
Getting around 28 Outdoors Norway 42
Accommodation 34 Shopping 45
Food and drink 38 Travel essentials 46
The media 40
THE GUIDE 54
1 Oslo and the Osloford 54 4 Bergen and the western fords 184
2 The South 112 5 Trondheim to the Lofoten islands 264
3 Central Norway 144 6 Northern Norway 336
CONTEXTS 382
History 383 Cinema 417
Legends and folklore 406 Books 419
Viking customs and rituals 410 Norwegian 426
Flora and fauna 414
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 432
OPPOSITE NORTHERN LIGHTS PREVIOUS PAGE MUSK OXEN
001_023_Norway_7_intro.indd 3 24/11/16 4:36 pm4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
Norway
With its rearing mountains and deep, blue-black fords, Norway remains a
wilderness outpost in a tamed and crowded continent. Everything here is on
the grand scale with the country boasting some of Europe’s harshest and
most beautiful land- and seascapes, whose vastness is merely pinpricked by
a clutch of likeable cities. From the Skagerrak – the choppy channel that
separates the country from Denmark – Norway stretches north in a long and
slender band, its wild coastline battered and bufeted by the Atlantic as it
rolls up into the Arctic. Behind this rough coast are spectacular mountain
ranges, harsh upland plateaux, rippling glaciers, thick forests and mighty
fords of surpassing beauty – an exhilarating landscape begging to be
explored by car, boat or bike, on skis or even husky-drawn sled. For many
visitors, the sheer size of Norway comes as a real surprise and fy more,
with the exception of Oslo, Bergen and the famous fords, the rest of the
country might as well be a blank on the map. Yet it’s out of the cities and of
the major roads that you’ll experience Norway at its most magical: great
stretches of serene, postcard-perfect vistas where it is at times possible to
travel for hours without spying a single soul.
Perhaps inevitably, the fords are the apple of the tourist industry’s eye – with the
infrastructure to prove it – though when well-heeled English and German gentlemen
travellers arrived here in the late nineteenth century on the hunt for the Scandinavian
exotic, Norwegians were so poor that you could hire a gillie or two for next to nothing. It
is this stark contrast – between a severely impoverished past and an astoundingly wealthy
present – that, for locals at least, remains a salient characteristic of life up here. Since the
country happened upon vast oil and gas reserves under the Norwegian Sea in the 1960s,
Norway has managed to assemble one of the most civilized, educated and tolerant
societies in the world – one that its population maintains a deep loyalty for and pride in.
ABOVE BERGEN RIGHT KAYAKING IN THE LOFOTEN ISLANDS
001_023_Norway_7_intro.indd 4 24/11/16 4:36 pmINTRODUCTION 5
Norway may have a scattering of attractive, cosmopolitan cities, appealing destinations in
their own right, but where the country really shines is not in its urban culture, but rather in
the low-key, amiable small-town feel that pervades throughout its settlements. Tis is not
to say that Norway sufers from provincialism – Munch, Ibsen, Grieg and Amundsen, to
name but four, were all Norwegians of international importance, to say nothing of the
many millions of Norwegian descent today successfully making their way somewhere of in
the greater world. But one thing is for certain: every Norwegian you ever meet will at some
point make their way back to this remarkable country, put on a pair of old hiking shoes
and head of on foot for yonder mountain, reminding themselves how lucky they are to
have one of the world’s most ravishing landscapes right at their back door.
Where to go
Tough for the most part its people live in small towns and villages, Norway’s fve largest
cities are the obvious – and the most popular – initial targets for a visit. Tey begin with
urbane, vivacious Oslo, one of the world’s most prettily sited capitals, with a fourishing
café scene and a clutch of outstanding museums. Beyond Oslo, in roughly descending
order of interest, are Trondheim, with its superb cathedral and charming, antique centre;
the beguiling port of Bergen, gateway to the western fords; gritty, bustling Stavanger in
the southwest; and northern Tromsø. All are likeable, walkable cities worthy of time in
themselves, as well as being within comfortable reach of some startlingly handsome
scenery. Indeed, each can serve as a starting point for further explorations or as a weekend
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