Today is Sunday ... but the Sunday in the post title is a week ago. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that wifi was pretty problematic while on the cruise, which actually left on 21 April and ended on 28 April. The three earlier posts cover through last Saturday, and now I'm a whole week behind. Not the best situation. I will do my best to remember (and find some notes) to make the rest of the posts seem like they just happened. I was going to say interesting, but I have no actual evidence to confirm any of them have been so far!
Kristiansand's Viking history traces back over 1,100 years, evidenced by rune stones at the Oddernes Church, built in 1040 and dedicated to St. Olaf, patron saint of Norway. The town was actually constructed in the mid-1600s, and defended by the Christiansholm Fortress. Today it's a seaside resort city, with an area population of over 100,000.
The area - at least nearer the coast - feels like a small town, and is filled with many wooden houses, although very close the wood has been replaced by less flammable alternatives. The city has been through multiple big fires that have destroyed a large number of homes and buildings, so standards were changed to minimize future similar risk. Due to the relative costs of different paint colors in the past (with white the most expensive), today a majority of the homes in this port area are white. Or in some cases, white on the side facing the road.
We only did one excursion while in Kristiansand - it combined a bus trip to a small park ...
(It was quite cool and very breezy this day - but the sun was shining. And I love being out in nature!)
... with some time to walk through the central area of the town, and to hear some of the history of the area, and the buildings - showing some of the white houses including the oldest house in town (#113). Which is actually only half a house! And then ...
... we ended up over by the river. At one time a lot of seafaring people lived here, and those with more means lived more in town. However, things have changed. Homes have been renovated or even replaced, and the best of them in this area can go for millions of krone (exchange rate approximately 9 krone to 1 dollar).
Tomorrow is Oslo - looking forward to that! (Or at least I was a week ago.)
I am loving Norway. It's beautiful, with a relatively small population, plenty of opportunity to be outside in beautiful nature, and some of the happiest people in the world according to annual ratings.
One last view as we left port and started out into the sea. I actually am not sure what this is, but now that I'm back I will try to do a little research. A nice sight to see, though - don't you agree?
Deb, Very Interesting!
Maybe that last sight is your future home? In any case, here’s your evidence that your posts are interesting!