Hot summer days in Oslo

During a couple of hot summer days we decided to visit Oslo. I've been thinking for many years that I should go there, especially since we live so close. Often though, it's hard to appreciate what's just around the corner. Henrik has been to Oslo before, but it was a long time ago, guess we were both impressed. Oslo is really a cool mix of old and new, exciting architecture and many interesting neighbourhoods that can be found just a short walk away from the main street Karl Johan. To get away from the traditional tourist trails, we took a food and culture walk in Grünerløkka, which you can read more about here. here.

In the central areas around Karl Johan you'll find more traditional architecture, including the Royal Palace and the Norwegian Parliament. Here, however, the castle-like colossus Oslo City Hall stands out. The building is of a later design than most of the buildings in its neighbourhood, and was completed in 1950 after a number of delays. Apparently Stockholm City Hall was the inspiration for the architects.

If you go further down towards the harbour and the National Museum, you come to Aker Brygge, which used to be the hip place in Oslo. Now it feels more like a place mainly for tourists, but it was great to sit on an outdoor terrace overlooking the water and sip a drink. I otherwise preferred the small alleys a bit in from the pier and to stroll away towards Tjuvholmen, which is a little further out from Aker Brygge. Something that is very sympathetic to Oslo is all its green areas and bathing places, there are not many cities where you can go directly from the shopping to the bathing dock, in most cities the water is far too polluted. Those of us who managed to catch the hottest days of the year so far were happy to be close to the water.

One of the days we took a fjord tour from the harbour. In the two hours that the tour lasted, we did not get so far out into the fjord but it was still a cosy tour and we got to see, in addition to beautiful nature, also old lighthouses and cute bathhouses in a row along the water's edge. We also saw a summer house that looked like a Greek temple. The story goes that it was a Norwegian with a little too much money who around the turn of the last century got the feeling and built his summer house after being down in more southern latitudes and being inspired by ancient temples. Quite different, but still quite fun.

Further along the fjord we passed Bygdøy where several museums are lined up. In particular Fram Museum if Amundsen's polar expedition with the ship Fram would be interesting to visit, but it will have to wait for a trip where the weather is a little worse. Now we wanted to take the opportunity to be outdoors as much as possible.

No visit to Oslo is now complete without a visit to the roof of the Opera House. Designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, the building has become an iconic landmark of the city and has been joined by a number of exciting buildings in the immediate vicinity, including the new library and the Centre for the Study of the Arts. Munch Museum.

After looking out over Oslo from the roof of the opera house, the coffee arm twitched noticeably and we PRO,ened a bit further behind the opera and the Munch Museum. Here it turned out to be a new neighbourhood right along the waterfront. In addition to apartments and the seemingly obligatory bathing piers along the water, there are some shops and a few cafés and restaurants. So our evening meal was a cup of hand-brewed coffee and a freshly baked donut. You can read more about our food experiences in Oslo here here.

After a few days in Oslo we can really say that it is an incredibly nice city, why don't we go here more often when it is so close? Now Oslo is very much a summer city as it is so close to the water but there were several museums that we did not visit precisely because we wanted to be out in the nice weather. I am therefore sure that it is possible to spend a couple of days here even if the weather is worse.

Read more about our visit to what we like to call the Barcelona of Scandinavia. Here we tell you more about our food walk and here you can read about the restaurants we visited and our lovely hotel.