cheap thrills
Oslo may be the world´s priciest destination but you don´t have to lose your shirt to enjoy a weekend there. Robert Hodgson reveals a stripped-down itinerary for the Norwegian city
Photography by Greg Buick
"Norway is a poor country, I would prefer to live in a big city," said painter Edvard Munch who grew up in Kristiania, the city that became Oslo, 100 years ago. How things have changed. "Norway´s like a country that won the lottery," says local art dealer Trond Schoning. He´s referring to the fact that the country is sitting on half of Western Europe´s oil and gas reserves. Which is why its 4.7 million people can afford the highest standard of living in the world, as confirmed by a UN survey.
In the capital Oslo, home to just over half a million people, there are now plenty of flashy bars and restaurants, and Jaguars and Aston Martins prowling the streets. But you´re just as likely to see middle-aged businessmen cycling to work in suit and tie. And many Oslo residents prefer to use the impeccable public transport system. The result is very light traffic, and much of the compact centre – including the main shopping street Karl Johans-gate – is pedestrianised.
One of the best things about Oslo is its proximity to nature. The official boundary of the capital encompasses an area of 454km2 – that´s twice the size of Amsterdam – and most of that is forest. And then there is the Oslo Fjord – though geologists say it´s technically a bay – which is 100km long, and the backdrop to spectacular sunsets best seen from a boat.
But Oslo´s charms come at a price. The city´s reputation for being fearsomely expensive has been confirmed by British newspaper The Economist. Oslo beat runners-up Paris, Copenhagen, London and Tokyo, in that order, to be the world´s priciest city.
But don´t let that put you off. You wouldn´t avoid Paris because a survey ranked it the second most expensive city in the world, would you? We´ve worked out how you can spend a few days in Oslo without spending too much. Unless you´ve come for the beer.
THE CULTURE ROUNDS
The National Gallery (13 Universitetsgata) is small enough to absorb in one visit, but packs in paintings by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and their Norwegian contemporaries. Next to impressionist paintings are plenty of brooding, snow covered mountains and fjords. The highlight is Edvard Munch´s Scream. Buy a post card of it for the cheapest souvenir in town, for a mere 10 kroner (€1.30). And if you want more Munch, the Munch Museum is at Toyengata 53. A short walk away is the Ibsen Museum (26 Henrik Ibsensgate), dedicated to Norway´s most famous playwright and set in his last home. It´s an atmospheric place, left exactly as it was when he died in 1906, with century-old film footage of Oslo and a soundtrack of actors playing Ibsen´s characters.
ON THE WATERFRONT
Oslo´s main harbour Radhusbrygge is dominated by the red brick City Hall. On the west side, on Aker Brygge is the new Nobel Peace Centre. You enter by a metal tunnel, studded with a map of the world made of green and red lights, where there is the faint sound of hundreds of voices. Put your ear to a point on the wall and you can listen to people from that part of the world talking about their country.
ON THE WATER
There are three large jetties on Radhusbrygge. From jetty number three, ferry 91 goes every half-hour to Bygdoy peninsula, a sort of Valhalla for old Viking boats.
There are three restored, 1000-year-old long-boats in The Viking Ship Museum (35 Huk Aveny) and a 20th-century version of even older ships in The Kon-Tiki Museum (36 Bygdoynesveien). It houses the eponymous balsa wood raft that sailed across the Pacific to prove that humans could have migrated from America to Polynesia by sea.
Best of the nautical bunch is next door at the Fram Museum, which tells the story of Norwegian polar exploration. You can walk on board the Fram, the wooden ship in which Amundsen sailed south on his mission to be the first man to reach the Antarctic pole. Below deck, with the help of creaking sound effects, you get an impression of claustrophobia and isolation and can only marvel at what drives people to make such journeys.
THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
Something Oslo offers in abundance, and at no extra charge, is nature. Frogner Park, Oslo´s largest, is a 10 minute subway ride from the city centre and conforms to Norwegian notions of cleanliness and tidiness – not a blade of grass is out of place – and contains the Vigeland Sculpture Park, where bizarre bronze and granite nude statues play second fiddle only to a phallic stone column of writhing, intertwined bodies.
From late December to mid-March, snow makes Oslo a ski paradise. There are over 2,600km of cross-country ski runs in the immediate vicinity of the city, of which 90km are lit up for evening skiing. The Tryvann Winter Park, 20 minutes from the centre of the city, has 14 ski runs and six lifts. Best of all, though, is the Holmenkollen Ski Museum and Tower (5 Kongeveien), with its 432m high ski jump, from which the jumping record is 136m. Get a taste of what the lunatics who fly off these things go through in the museum´s ski-simulator, where you too can experience the terror of jumping off Holmenkollen.
GRÜNERLOKKA
Oslo´s up and coming residential district was a working class area until young professionals and arty types moved in a few years ago. Take tram number 11, 12 or 13 to Olaf Ryess Plass – most of the cafés and bars are on or between Thorvald Meyersgate and Markveien, such as the velvet-couched restaurant-by-day/bar-by-night Fru Hagen (40 Thorvald Meyersgate). Gronland, a district behind the central railway station, is a tatty area where immigrants have settled, known locally as Little Pakistan. It´s hip, rapidly becoming hipper and looks set to be the "next Grünerlokka".
How expensive is Oslo?
Anything that is worked on in Norway – with Norwegian "added value", as economists call it – comes with a formidable price tag. A modest restaurant meal costs 400 kroner (€51) – and that doesn´t include drinks.
It´s on that gold standard of international cost comparisons though, the "price of beer", that Norway comes a cropper. A half-litre beer or a small glass of wine costs around 50 kroner (€6.33) in most pubs.
Refuelling
* Sult (26 Thorvald Meyersgate, tel: +47 22 87 0467, www.sult.no), meaning "hunger", is a tidy, modern restaurant serving great food at friendly prices. A starter of steamed mussels with tomato and garlic costs 69 kroner (€9). The bar next door is called Tirst, meaning "thirst".
* Kaffistova (8 Rosenkrantzgate, tel: +47 23 21 4210, www.bondeheimen.no) in the Hotell Bondeheimen dishes up real Norwegian country food such as meatballs and cabbage from 100 kroner (€13).
* Oslo´s McDonalds restaurants serve Big Mac menus at 67 kroner (€8.50).
Drink
* Barfly (12 Stortingsgata, tel: +47 22 41 4011, www.barfly.no) serves cocktails from 74 kroner (€9.40).
* Forest & Brown (31 Niels Juelsgate, tel: +47 22 55 2680) is an Irish-ish bar popular with expats in the wealthier, leafier west end of Oslo. Beer, 51 kroner (€6.50).
* Südost (5 Trondheimsveien, tel: +47 23 35 3070) is a refurbished old corner house in Grünerlokka with a high-ceilinged designer interior of columns, bare brick walls and even a tree. Half-litre of beer, 70 kroner (€9).
* Café Sara (corner of Torggata and Hausmannsgate, tel: +47 22 03 4000) is a dimly lit brick and wood place, popular with students and backpackers, that feels like it should be full of smoke. It is open until 3am every night and serves cheap food, with a lot of dishes for 99 kroner (€13), from Turkey to Mexico via Italy.
Where to stay
Anker Hostel (55 Storgata, tel: +47 22 99 7200, www.ankerhostel.no): dorm beds 195 kroner (€25), single rooms 510 kroner (€65) per person in a double or single room. The Anker Hotel round the corner has with twin rooms from 756.50 kroner (€96) .
Thon Hotel Linne (12 Statsrad Mathiesens vei, tel: +47 23 17 0000, www.thonhotels.no). One of several hotels in Oslo from the reliable Thon chain. Rooms from 1,290 kroner (€164).
Essential tip
Get an Oslo Pass, a credit card-sized lifesaver that includes city-wide free travel on punctual, user-friendly trams, trains, buses, underground and ferries – which go all round the compact centre and out to the ski runs, woods and onto the fjord. Plus, it gives free entry to museums. Buy one for 210, 300 or 390 kroner (€27, €38 or €50) for 24, 48 or 72 hours respectively, from any tourist information centre. The main one is next to Central Station in the Trafikanten Service Center, 1 Jernbanetorget, tel:+47 81 53 0555).
„Norwegia to biedny kraj", powiedzia? sto lat temu Edward Munch, który wychowywa? si? w Kristianie (przemianowanej potem na Oslo). Od tamtego czasu naprawd? wiele si? zmieni?o!
„Norwegia wygra?a los na loterii," uwa?a lokalny handlarz dzie?ami sztuki, Trond Schoning. Rzeczywiscie, kraj ten siedzi na po?owie europejskich z?ó? gazu i ropy, co zapewnia 4.7 milionom ludzi najwy?szy na swiecie standard ?ycia. W stolicy kraju mnóstwo jest wspania?ych barów i restauracji, po ulicach je?d?š Jaguary i Aston Martiny. Uroki Oslo majš jednak swojš cen? – to najdro?sze miasto swiata. Nie oznacza to jednak, ?e na kilkudniowy pobyt tutaj trzeba wyda? fortun?.
Po przyjechaniu do miasta najlepiej kupi? od razu kart? Oslo Pass, która upowa?nia do przejazdów wszystkimi publicznymi srodkami transportu (tramwajem, pocišgiem, autobusem, metrem i promem). W cen? wliczone sš wejscia do muzeów. Najwi?ksze zbiory dzie? sztuki posiada Galeria Narodowa, sš tu obrazy Picassa, Moneta, Van Gogha, s?ynny „Krzyk" Muncha, a tak?e prace skandynawskich artystów. Niedaleko galerii znajduje si? dom Ibsena, w którym teraz miesci si? poswi?-cone mu muzeum.
Z g?ównego portu Oslo, Radhusbrygge, odp?ywajš promy w kierunku pó?wyspu Bygdoy, gdzie mo?na zwiedzi? Muzeum ?odzi Wikingów oraz Muzeum statku polarnego Fram. Na zachód, przy Aker Brygge, znajduje si? Centrum Pokojowe Nobla.
Jednak najwi?kszym skarbem stolicy Norwegii jest natura. Po?o?one nad 100-kilometrowym fiordem miasto otoczone jest lasami o powierzchni 454 km. Najwi?kszy w Oslo komples parkowy Frogner obejmuje tak?e Park Rze?b Vigelanda.
Oslo to równie? raj dla narciarzy. Wokó? miasta biegnie ponad 2,600 km narciarskich tras biegowych (oswietlonych na odcinku 90 km). 14 tras znajduje si? na terenie Parku Zimowego Tryvann. W budynku skoczni narciarskiej Holmekollen urzšdzono Muzeum Narciarstwa. Przy pomoc symulatora mo?esz doswiadczy? emocji, jakie towarzyszš skoczkowi narciarskiemu.
Miasto cišgle si? zmienia. Dawna dzielnica robotnicza Grünerlokka podnios?a swój status, od kiedy zacz?li si? tu wprowadza? ludzie biznesu i artysci. Na podobnš transformacj? ma szans? zamieszka?a przez imigrantów dzielnica Gronland, nazywana „Ma?ym Pakistanem".
