Bergen in Norway

2 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Bergen Panorama from Mount Fløyen © Espt123

Bergen Panorama from Mount Fløyen © Espt123

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of 261,500. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of 386,600. Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. It is an important cultural hub in its region, recognized as the unofficial capital of Western Norway and sometimes also referred to as the Atlantic coast capital of Norway. The city was one of nine European cities honoured with the title of European Capital of Culture in the Millennium year.   read more…

Kirkenes in Northern Norway

21 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Bair175/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Bair175/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kirkenes is a town with a population of 3,500 in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøkfjorden, an arm of the large Varangerfjorden. The main church for Kirkenes is Kirkenes Church, located in the Haganes area of the town. Kirkenes is served by Kirkenes Airport in Høybuktmoen. There are non-stop flights to Oslo and Tromsø. Kirkenes is one end of the route of the Hurtigruten, which cruises daily up and down the Norway coast to and from Bergen. One can drive 100 kilometres (62 mi) south, and walk 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), into the Øvre Pasvik National Park, reaching the border point of the three countries (Muotkavaara), where the three time zones meet. The town is situated about 400 kilometres (250 mi) north of the Arctic Circle.   read more…

The gas production platform Sea Troll in the North Sea

1 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  10 minutes

Troll A Platform from South-East © Swinsto101/cc-by-sa-3.0

Troll A Platform from South-East © Swinsto101/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Troll A platform is a condeep offshore natural gas platform in the Troll gas field off the west coast of Norway. It is the tallest structure that has ever been moved to another position, relative to the surface of the Earth, and is among the largest and most complex engineering projects in history. The platform was a televised sensation when it was towed into the North Sea in 1996, where it is now operated by Statoil.   read more…

Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle

17 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  8 minutes

Landegode Lighthouse © Janter/cc-by-sa-3.0

Landegode Lighthouse © Janter/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bodø is a town and a municipality, the largest urban area and city in Nordland county, and the second-largest in North Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten and it is the capital of Nordland county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø. Other villages in Bodø include Misvær, Skjerstad, Saltstraumen, Løding, Løpsmarka, Kjerringøy, Sørvær, and Fenes. The town lies just north of the Arctic Circle where the midnight sun is visible from 2 June to 10 July. Due to atmospheric refraction, there is no true polar night in Bodø, but because of the mountains south of Bodø, the sun is not visible from the city from early December to early January. Average number of sunhours in Bodø is highest in June with 221 hours.   read more…

Harstad in Norway

7 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Strandgata © Event

Strandgata © Event

Harstad is the second-most populated municipality in Troms county. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the town of Harstad, the most populous town in Central Hålogaland, and the third-largest in all of Northern Norway. The town was incorporated in 1904. In recent years, a 3000-year-old bronze axe and a 2600-year-old bronze collar have been found at the Trondenes peninsula, just north of the city center. These, together with the burial cairns built close to the sea, are indications of a well-developed Bronze Age culture in the Harstad area.   read more…

The island of Karmøy in Norway

13 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Høyevarde lighthouse © flickr.com - Michael Spiller/cc-by-sa-2.0

Høyevarde lighthouse © flickr.com – Michael Spiller/cc-by-sa-2.0

Karmøy is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located southwest of the city of Haugesund in the traditional district of Haugaland. Karmøy was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1965 after the merger of Kopervik (city), Skudeneshavn (city), Skudenes, Stangaland, Torvastad, Åkra, and most of Avaldsnes. The Karmsund strait was also the source of the name of the kingdom, at the time when the first king of the unified Norway, Harald Fairhair, lived on Karmøy. (See History of Norway.)   read more…

The sail training ship Christian Radich

1 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  6 minutes

Christian Radich in Trondheim © flickr.com - beagle84/cc-by-sa-2.0

Christian Radich in Trondheim © flickr.com – beagle84/cc-by-sa-2.0

Christian Radich is a Norwegian full-rigged ship, named after a Norwegian shipowner. The vessel was built at Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, and was delivered on 17 June 1937. The owner was The Christian Radich Sail Training Foundation established by a grant from an officer of that name. The homeport is Oslo.   read more…

Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean

5 September 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Longyearbyen colourful homes - Svalbard Global Seed Vault © Peter Vermeij

Longyearbyen colourful homes – Svalbard Global Seed Vault © Peter Vermeij

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. Located north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Spitsbergen is the largest island, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The administrative center is Longyearbyen, and other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the research community of Ny-Ålesund and the mining outpost of Sveagruva. The archipelago is administrated by the Governor of Svalbard.   read more…

The Geiranger Fjord in Norway

4 March 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Geiranger and Geirangerfjord © Marczel

Geiranger and Geirangerfjord © Marczel

The Geiranger Fjord is a fjord in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county in Norway. It is in the municipality of Stranda. It is a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) long branch of the Storfjord (Great Fjord). The small village of Geiranger is located at the end of the fjord where the Geirangelva river empties into it.   read more…

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