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Oslo Holidays, Hotels & Travel Guide
Travel guide to hotels & holidays in Oslo
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Oslo Holidays Overview
A guide to holidays in Oslo - Legends of heroes, trolls and princesses roaming
the countryside outside this charming city attracting many
travellers looking for a Scandinavian holiday. Oslo, situated at
the end of a 70-mile (110km) long fjord, is Norway's capital and
its largest city, rich in culture and folklore with a fascinating
Viking history.
Oslo is an eclectic mix of old
medieval buildings, churches and modern architecture, sitting among
the green trees and extending forests that form the natural balance
of nature and civilization. Around the city numerous museums, art
galleries and places of interest, including the Edvard Munch Museum
and the Norwegian Folk Museum on the sought after Bygdøy
Peninsula. Other attractions include Vigeland Park with its
interesting collection of sculptures, and the medieval Akershus
Fortress dominating the seafront. Although Oslo
has small population compared to other European capital cities, it
retains a true vibrancy about it. The city centre is filled with
restaurants, bars, cafes, clubs and theatres and has a very
cosmopolitan feel to it with street artists hanging around the main
street, Karl Johans Gate. Oslo is renowned as a city of culture and
the City Hall hosts the annual awarding of the Nobel Peace
Prize.
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Oslo
holidays - Top Places To Go
1. Vigeland Park
Kirkeveien
www.museumsnett.no/vigelandmuseet |
What is it? Vigeland Park is the city's most visited
attraction, a vast green area of duck ponds, trees and lawns that
is a monument to the celebrated Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland,
who spent 40 years creating the life-size statues that decorate the
walkways and open spaces. There are more than 200 works presenting
the human form in a variety of poses and conveying a range of
emotions. At the centre of the park is the most impressive piece,
the Monolith, a gigantic mass of writhing bodies carved from a
single column of stone, and believed to be the largest granite
sculpture in the world at a height of 46ft (14m). Surrounding the
column are groups of human sculptures in various forms of
interaction with each other. The most famous and most photographed
piece is the Angry Boy, a fat child stamping his foot. There are
many more sculptures to be seen in the park and in the nearby
Vigeland Museum, featuring a display on the development of the
artist's work and his sketches and plaster
originals.
Hours of Operation: The park is always open. The museum is open from
Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 4pm (September to May), and from Tuesday
to Sunday from 11am to 5pm (June to August)
Phone:2349 3700 |
2. The Kon-Tiki Museum
Bygdøynesveien 36, Bygdøy
Peninsula
www.kon-tiki.no |
What is it? Situated on the Bygdøy Peninsula,
the Kon-Tiki Museum contains the renowned balsawood raft, the
Kon-Tiki, on which Thor Heyerdahl made his
famous journey across the Pacific in 1947 to prove the theory that
the first Polynesian settlers could have sailed the 4,300 miles
(6,923km) between Peru and Polynesia. The museum also contains the
original reed raft, Ra II, on which Heyerdahl
sailed across the Atlantic in 1970. Besides the rafts there is a
huge stuffed whale shark, artefacts from his expeditions and
exhibits from his visits to Easter Island, and an intriguing
collection of archaeological finds from Easter Island, Galapagos,
East Polynesia and Peru.
Hours of Operation: Daily except public holidays 9am to 5.30pm (June to
August), 10.30am to 4pm (January to March), 10am to 5pm (April to
May and September to October)
Phone:2308 6767 |
3. The Viking Ships Museum
Huk Aveny 35, Bygdøy Peninsula
www.khm.uio.no/english/viking_ship_museum |
What is it? Situated on the Bygdøy Peninsula, the Viking
Ship Museum houses three 9th-century Viking ships that were
excavated from ritual burial mounds in the south of Norway. Their
excellent condition is due to the clay in which they were embalmed.
Viking ships were used as tombs for royalty who were buried with
everything they might have need of in their life after death. The
biggest and best preserved of the ships is the Gokstad, and the
finest is the Oseberg, a richly ornamented dragon ship with an
intricately carved animal head post, that was the burial chamber of
a Viking queen. The elegantly carved sleigh used by the Viking
royalty, and a hoard of treasure was found on the buried ship and
is displayed at the back of the museum. Raised platforms allow
visitors to view the inside of the ship's
hulls.
Hours of Operation: Daily 9am to 6pm (May to September), 11am to 4pm
(October to April)
Phone:2213 5280 |
Oslo
holidays - Top Events
1. Norwegian Wood Festival
From 2007-06-14
To 2007-06-17
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What is it? The festival is one of the highlights on the
country's musical calendar attracting many of the world's top
artists as well as plenty of local Scandinavian
bands.
Where is it? Frognerbadet |
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