The church in Talvik, a small village just outside of Alta, holds a little bit of our family history. A lot of Farfar’s family came from this area in Finnmark. His great, great, great granddad, Arne Jacobsen, donated a seven stick chandelier in celebration of his seven children.
On a trip back to Tromsø we had [...]
A Norwegian Christmas is filled with many celebrations and traditions, old and new. As the snow falls, the white landscape is the first sign of Christmas and Norway starts to prepare for their long season of juletid.
November
As the snow comes, Norway enters the Christmas season early with a series of Christmas parties. Work, clubs, schools [...]
Towards the water in a beautiful pocket of leafy oak trees is the Byneset Church.
During excavation work on the site of the new public library in Trondheim, archaeologists found the ruins of what is thought to be Olavskirken (Olav’s Church), a church dating back to the mid-12th century. Olav was a Viking who went to England and was converted to Christianity. He returned to Norway to convert the heathen, [...]
Luciadagen (Saint Lucia Day) is on the 13th of December. It is traditionally a feast day from the Calendar of Saints which comes from the early Christian custom of commemorating martyrs on the anniversary of their death (or birth into heaven). Even though Norway recognises the other feast days in the Catholic Church, only St [...]
Nidarosdomen – Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Norway. It boasts a textured Medieval history that began with the adventures of St Olav, the fierce Viking who was converted to Christianity and became King of Norway. The Cathedral has been under construction from the early ten hundreds and was [...]
Mefjordvær is a little fishing village on north-west Senja. It boasts a panoramic view of a mountain wall that plunges into the ocean. Mefjordvær has medieval church history and wooden artefacts that resemble St Olav which are kept at Oslo University.
Ten points if you can guess what the poles are for!
Updated 18/11/08
Good try! (I would [...]
From the west, a wall of stone Saints and Prophets will confront you. All sides of the Cathedral are very textured and deserve a long walk around. You’ll see gargoyles and gothic arches, thick wooden doors with rusty floral art and Anglo-Norman/Romanesque bits and pieces ’stuck on’ that intensifies your ground view. However, the outside of Nidaros Cathedral is even more intriguing when you know the history.
Nidarosdomen (Nidaros Cathedral) stands tall and proud near the mouth of the Nidelva river in Trondheim, Norway. It owes its name to Trondheim’s medieval town which was called after the river: ‘Nid’ and ‘os’ (meaning river mouth). Nidarosdomen has all the stats to impress (biggest this, oldest that, and most ‘northernest’) but that is not [...]
Norwegian houses are very charming with their wooden panels and slate roofing. It is typical for a house to be painted a strong colour such as red, blue or yellow, but white is the most popular.
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In Norway, there are still Lefse recipes around from the 1630s! This is supposedly the traditional and original Hardanger recipe used:
At full-moon the blue light almost looks electric. Our favourite jetty really knows how to surprise us for Christmas – especially with this ‘elfs-eye-view’.
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Many English words actually come from old Norse language – brought by Vikings to England in medieval times. Here are some words you have probably uttered without realising you are speaking Norwegian!
Pølse is THE fast food of Norway. When the grilled pølse was first introduced to Norway in the 50s it was eaten naked – without bread.
The bunad is a traditional Norwegian costume worn by both men and women. It can either come from established rural traditions or have a more modern design inspired by historical patterns and cuts.
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