A world apart from the tropics, Norway offers nature’s best as well as unique summer experience in a place where the sun rarely sets
LOOKING out of the window at 10.30 in the night, it was difficult to believe my eyes. The verdant, lush lawns of the Blindern Studenterjhem glimmered under a relentless, fully active and awake Sun that seemed to be in no hurry to go down. That was my first taste of the Land of the Midnight Sun. For summers in Norway are mild and fleeting, yet the days unremitting, as the Sun rules the skies for up to twenty hours in a day, while north of the arctic circle it doesn’t set at all.
In the capital city Oslo, one gets captivated by the serenity that seemed to embrace Blindern eternally, a small town in eastern Oslo that houses Scandinavia’s biggest institution of higher education. The sparsely populated university town had a unflustered atmosphere of its own which made it distinct from other parts of the city that were characterized by a more metropolitan milieu.
The slow-to-unravel residents of Blindern spoke close-to-perfect English, leaving one to wonder whether their linguistic skills were owed to the academic influences that lurked in the hillock town. However, as one would soon discover, that the rest of Osloites were no exception, and even in the lesser contributions of Trondheim, Tromso, Bergen, and Stavanger, all of which had strong traditions of local patriotism and cultural conservatism, English was spoken and understood.
Oslo evolves as a city of continuous growth, the only really large city in Norway with around 700, 000 inhabitants, if we also include the suburbs. The city’s nightlife attractions rival most other major European cities, as do the prices, for Oslo is rated as the second most expensive city in Europe boasting a very high standard of living. A regular fish and cheese sandwich costs about 150 krones (Rs1200/-) not to mention the prices of elaborate meals and consumer items. The city’s unique location between a fjord and the hills though makes it an experience worth engaging into.
The hubbub of the beautiful towns around Majorstuen and National Theatre, the Karl Johans spread across the Royal Palace and the Sortinget, (the Norwegian parliament), and the desi town of Gronland, home to more Punjabis, particularly from the Gujrat region, from Pakistan than to any other immigrant group from anywhere else, are all embraced by breathtaking mountains and lakes, adventure-filled hiking tracks and fairyland forests.
Summer is the time when one can enjoy a concert at Holmenkollen, the world-famous ski town, or order something cold to drink at Aker Brygge along with being entertained by musicians, dancers and jugglers, or take a bike ride through Nordmarka, a beautiful hiking trail adjacent to a lake, to follow in the tracks of the locals who love to bicycle. On the Karl Johans street adults and children are entertained by human statues alike.
Norwegians take a lot of pride in their Viking history, though after the 15th century Kalmar Union of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, Norway emerged as the weakest of the three kingdoms, till its independence in 1905. Hence, the historical city of Oslo and the rest of Norway not only house many 18th century buildings, but are also home to a number of museums. The Viking Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum, the Fram Museum, the Ski Museum, the Munch Museum and the Folk Museum are among Oslo’s major landmarks.
From the 8th to the 11th century Vikings from Norway raided and settled in many parts of Europe including England, France, Ireland and Iceland. After 1814, in the wake of the Napoleonic wars, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, and in the process Norway adopted a modern constitution while retaining its parliament. In 1905 Norway and Sweden were also separated peacefully, and it was not until 1947 when oil fields were discovered under the North Sea that the country really surfaced as one of the world’s richest economies.
The Town Hall in Oslo revitalizes the eyes with the lavishness of its adornment. I stole a chance to see the monumental hall where the International Peace Prize is awarded. The extravagant hall has its roofs and walls adorned with stunning murals. The work is contributed to some of Norway’s best artists who have been masters of bas-relief and fresco, two very popular painting techniques. The walls of the main hall are also ornamented with frieze decorated with sculptures and scrolls that speak volumes about Norwegian history and philosophy.
During summers Oslo can aptly be termed as a city of flowers, as one comes across dozens of beautiful roses in all colours, not only in parks and on roadsides, but also adorned beautifully in flower pots set in windows and balconies of houses, as you see residents indulged laboriously in tending plants.
The famous Vigeland Park, besides featuring imaginative sculptures in stone and bronze by the famous Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland that depict man’s progress from cradle to grave, is home to elaborate rose beds stretched as far as the eye can see. Though Oslo has much more to offer in terms of sightseeing, it is not exactly a shopper’s paradise, not only because of the high price-scale, but also because it is not the hub of multi-storied shopping malls with an endless array of choices like a typical European capital.
The four-story Oslo City Centre is only as far as you get to the best of a high-rise shopping mall. In most of the shopping centres, big or small, one sees pretty young women behind sales counters, as the percentage of working women in Norway is very high, and work benefits and exemptions for women, innumerable.
Skiing originated in Norway and words like ski and slalom are Norwegian. Ski jumping and slalom competitions started in the county of Telemark and today there are dozens of winter resorts with thousands of miles of marked trails for cross-country skiing as well as lift centres for downhill and slalom. Ski enthusiasts can also go skiing on the Olympic facilities in Lillehammer, where Alberto Tomba and Vegard Ulvang were cheered on by tens of thousands of spectators during the 1994 Winter Olympics. The annual ski festival at Holmenkollen in Oslo attracts many participants and spectators from all over the world.
Among the major Norwegian cities Stavanger has grown and changed rapidly in recent years, but has managed to preserve some of the beautiful, original, old wooden architecture, and it can be fun walking in the amiable old town area of the city. In Bergen you may visit Edvard Grieg’s home, the greatest Norwegian composer of all time, while in Troldhaugen try some of the seafood delicacies found in the famous Fisketorget (Fish Market). In Trondheim visiting the awesome Nidaros cathedral is obligatory.
Norway’s biggest tourist attraction is without doubt nature. The country has most fjords in the world. Complimenting the splendour are the mighty mountains and waterfalls, especially in western Norway. The mountains are the place to go for a feeling of freedom and for unique experiences, and Jotunheimen and Bergen are among the biggest tourist attractions, as sightseers from all over Europe get a feel of these places in summers. The distances among various stations are great, but cozy tourist cabins at manageable distances usually come to one’s rescue.
Fjords can be found along the entire length of the Norwegian coastline, from Oslo Fjord to Varanger Fjord and each one has good reason to be called the most beautiful. Cruising or taking a small ferry to scale the Oslo fjord can be an unforgettable encounter, especially if it is cool and sunny. But the best-known fjords of all are those found in the west of Norway, and when you glide along the perfectly calm waters in the Hardanger Fjord when the fruit is in full blossom in summer, you understand why.
One of the Nordic countries occupying the western part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway is bordered by the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea in the west, Russia, Finland and Sweden in the east, and the Skagerrak (an arm of the North Sea) in the south. Most of the country consists of mountains, plateaus, and forests that are found almost as far north as Nordkapp (the North Cape). A welfare state claiming the best welfare system in the world and a pioneer in women’s rights, Norway is a country of socio-economic equality and a homogeneous population, though factors such as one of the highest suicide rates in the world and a high number of drug addicts seen around subway stations, present a paradoxical picture. At almost every T-bane station in Oslo you see young addicts crouched against the walls, sitting oblivious of their surroundings.
Norwegian per capita income ranks among the world’s highest and North Sea oil and gas fields are one of the cornerstones of the economy. Other major industries upon which Norway relies are fishery, pulp and paper, forestry, mining, manufacturing and shipping. Traditionally, however, the country is a fishing nation, with 90 per cent of its catch exported. A typical Norwegian meal therefore, consists of fish and potatoes or meat cakes and lutefisk (dried cod steeped in lye), not to forget the strawberries, and crisp loaves of Norwegian bread.
Summers also offer a wide variety of fresh vegetables that are delectably stewed with meats or alone, unfortunately though, summers are only an illusion in Norway, as goes the common joke; “I remember summer last year. It was on a Tuesday.”
A world apart from the tropics, Norway offers nature’s best as well as unique summer experience in a place where the sun rarely sets 
