NORWAY SKI & SNOWBOARD RESORTS
Lillehammer Region | Geilo | Hemsedahl | Neustift

Oslo
Even the capital city has more than two-thirds of its area dedicated to nature — building is forbidden here, the glades are manicured, and all laced with trails for cross-country skiing in the winter and walking in the summers. Outdoors is an everyday part of life for Norwegians, even the city folk embrace it.

On a Sunday morning more locals were walking toward the train station, cross-country skis over their shoulders, wearing cross-country garb, than those with a paper under their arm planning on a slow morning over a cup of coffee.

From downtown Oslo, the cross-country trails are only minutes away and some good downhill skiing is also available at Holmenkollen, site of the Olympic Games, less than half an hour from the Viking ships in the harbor. At Holmenkollen the Ski Museum presents the history of skiing and a climb (or elevator ride) to the top of the ski jump provides a unique bird’s-eye view of Oslo and its surroundings.

Downtown Oslo has enough sites to keep any intrepid tourist busy. The Munch Museum is filled with art by the man who painted The Scream (though the most famous version of that painting is in the National Gallery). The polar exploration ship, Fram, is open for viewing. The Norwegian Folk Museum provides a glimpse of life in the olden days. Viking ships are preserved from the 9th century and the Kon Tiki raft is surrounded with its own museum.

Bergen
On the North Sea coast is Norway’s other major city, Bergen, clinging to a spit of land jutting from the crenulated shoreline and surrounded by yet more islands and headlands. To describe the setting as fantastically picturesque is to do it injustice. However, with some 300 days of rain annually, some visitors will have to take our word for the panoramas.

Bergen was one of the major trading stations of the Hanseatic League from the 1300s to the 1600s. This organization of traders controlled commerce in the North Sea for centuries. Young German executives would come alone to Bergen for a year or two to handle accounting, warehousing and barter for timber, fish and pelts with the Norwegian natives.

The medieval warehouse district where they lived and worked, the Bryggen, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is an excellent museum that relates the story of trade in the region. There are also plenty of shops and restaurants along the harbor. A trip up the nearby funicular provides great views over the harbor. And along the quay, past the Bryggen, is Halikon Hall, the remains of the old Viking castle that once dominated this city.

Still a trading town, Bergen now focuses on oil, which the Nowegians pump from beneath the North Sea. The center of Bergen is filled with shops, many hidden inside massive, modern shoppping malls constructed within the walls of turn-of-the-century buildings. On the outside, one might imagine dour bank offices within the walls. But from the inside, brass and glass on multilevels with soaring escalators conjures shopping fantasies.

Both Oslo and Bergen have tourist cards that will allow free or discounted entrance to all museums, use of the public transportation and (if you can find it) free on-street parking. Cards can be purchased for 24, 48 or 72 hours.

Wining and Dining
Get ready for sticker shock when you order your first beer or take a close look at a wine list. Meals and drinks in Norway are far more expensive than what most American, British and European visitors are used to.

A beer is normally about US$6 at a minimum. A bottle of mediocre wine is $50–$60. A bargain meal might be pizza or pasta that will end up costing about US$ 25. Moderate meals in restaurants will run about $35. The expensive places start at around $50 per person. An impeccable gourmet meal with wine will cost about $100-$120.

That said, the level of cuisine in Norway is extraordinary. Even the simplest restaurant served excellent meals. When the prices for some of the near-gourmet creations are measured against the cost of sandwiches, pizza and pasta, the difference one would have to pay for fine dining seems slim. A fine meal in Norway without wine ends up costing about the same as a fine meal back home with a moderate wine.

The reindeer (reinsdyr) and elk (elg) dishes are wonderful as are the fish that arrives fresh everywhere. Try the monkfish or turbot (piggvar), the fish soup (fiskesuppe) and their version of catfish (steinbit). Make sure to enjoy these meals at least once during a stay in Norway.

Finish your meal with a unique experience, cloudberries (multer) picked north of the Arctic Circle. They normally will be served with vanilla ice cream or cream.