I’m participating in the Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan Antion, Jo’s Monday walk and Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, with another post on Norway.

After five days in Sandefjord (due to hubby’s work), we decided to explore towns close by before taking the flight to Bergen on Monday morning. Tønsberg is 24 minutes away from Sandefjord, by train. It is considered to be the oldest town in Norway founded in 871 AD. Despite this fact it’s not listed as one of the must-visit places in Norway. It’s probably because other than the fact that it is the oldest town or that there is a fort, museum and a replica of a viking ship there, it’s pretty much like any other small town in Norway – a self-sufficient community with restaurants, cafes, art galleries, supermarkets, electronic, furniture, sports, jewelry and clothing stores

We took the 11 a.m. train to Tønsberg. To our surprise Tønsberg station was crowded with parents and grandparents who had come to receive their children and grandchildren.

Norway is the safest country I’ve had the privilege of visiting. It’s a country where girls can take the public transport at any time of the day or night without fear and where parents can put their children alone on a train to visit their grandparents living in another town.

Our first destination was the Tønsberg Fortress . Armed with a map we had taken from the hotel, we walked towards the fort. Google maps said 800m from the station. It was a good thing as it felt the sun was going to grill us alive.

On the way to the fort, we spotted one of my husband’s colleagues who also happened to be on his way to the fort. So, we did the fort visit together. It was good to have company as Norway can be unusually quiet on a weekend unless you’re eating out.

The path to the hill leading to the fortress is through the Slottsfjells museum. You need to buy tickets to visit the museum but there’s no need to pay if you just want to see the fortress. The kind lady at the museum informed us that the museum was a good place if we were interested in Medieval history (life of Kings, nobles and clergy in the middle ages) but if were were looking to find out more about the Vikings, then we should visit the museum in Oslo. She also told us that the museum had whale skeletons and history related to Norway’s whaling industry. However, as we had already been to the largest whale museum in Europe, which is in Sandefjord, we decided to skip the museum and made our way to the fort.

A comfortable walk uphill leads to stone steps that in turn lead to the top of the hill. At the base, on the left, we found a log cabin, and on the right, was a sheep pen which had little to do with history and more to do with entertaining young visitors.

We climbed approximately 60 steps to reach the top. There, stood a 60m high grey stone fortress that overlooked the city and shimmering waters of the fjord below. It looked like the sky and the sea had joined- a continuation of blue. While the blue took our breath away, the unassuming fort felt like a let down.

Recently, I watched a stand-up comedy video on Insta about the reaction of Indians versus that of foreigners when they hike to the top of a hill to see a tourist spot. An Indian returning from a hike will tell a person climbing up, ‘There’s nothing to see on the top,’ because nothing less than Meherangarh fort in Rajasthan or the castle Of Neuschwanstein in Germany will do the trick for us, while someone from the West on his way down will say, ‘It’s totally worth the hike. The view is outstanding! I laughed on seeing the video, because it’s sadly true. This is exactly what happened to us on the way up. I reached the top and said, ‘Is this it?’ Not proud of it, but this is how I felt until I learned about its significance.

At the foot of the fort, are the 13th century ruins of the castle which at one point in time used to be the largest fortress in Norway and was destroyed in 1503 by the Swedes. The Slottsfjellstårnet tower was erected in 1888 as a lookout tower and memorial after the 1000th anniversary of Tønsberg as Norway’s oldest city.

We later learned that the ticket to the museum allow you to climb to the top of the fort to get a better view of the city. However, the door was closed during the time of our visit.

After the visit to the tower, we proceeded to the wharf. Most of the stores on the way were closed as it was a Saturday. The walk to the wharf was around one and a half km. The sun made it uncomfortable to walk and I was thankful for the cap I had carried. Despite being bright and sunny, it was also chill because of the wind. The jacket and scarf that I had donned helped although I did want to shed it everytime there was a lull in the breeze.

Some more doors on the way.

The restaurants on the wharf were packed with people enjoying the first day of the weekend. As we wanted to grab a bite and not sit for lunch, we decided to move quickly.

A replica of the Viking ship in the Oslo museum was parked in the wharf. The smaller boats offer trips across the wharf should you fancy traveling on a viking ship.

The plaque in front of the ship reads, ‘ Oseberg burial mound represents the richest find from the Viking age ever. It was used as a burial ship for two women in 834 AD, in the Slagen Valley, just outside Tonsberg. Much evidence points the two women being attached to a fertility cult. The ship was built to impress and is the most beautiful viking ship discovered. It is the oldest one equipped with sail. The replica is built using the tools and methods available during the Viking age.’

This bronze sculture represents a clown and a small dog. I looked for the significance of this sculture on Google in Norwegian and used Google translator. It said, ‘the emphasis is on the interaction between volumes, shapes and surfaces, while the presentation has a humorous touch. As with Thiis Schjetne’s three sculptures to Greenland, this one also has motifs from a circus environment, and circuses in particular offer experiences that appeal to people across cultural differences and language barriers.’ To me, the clown looks angry. Do you feel the same?

We stopped at a store selling Viking collectibles, on the wharf, and bought some fridge magnets to take home. Elegantly dressed in summery dresses with rings on their fingers and beads around their necks, the two ladies, in their seventies or eighties, managing the store, struggled to cancel a transaction on the computer that one of them had billed incorrectly. We waited patiently, (impressed to see them working and that, too, on a weekend), until they managed to fix the issue, which they did with a smile without getting hassled. They handed us the packet apologizing for the delay and wished us a good trip when they were done.

We walked back to the station, pleased with a well-spent day and reached just in time to catch the 5.00 p.m. train back to Sandefjord, after grabbing a hot dog and juice from Joker, the store at the station. We could have easily avoided it as in less than two hours, we went for a lovely 3-course meal to Huset, Sandefjord which serves American, European and African cuisine . It was the first of my birthday celebration. We had a delicious meal of lettuce wraps with shrimp, lamb, grilled salmon, rice and salad. The meal ended with a coconut cream dessert which was divine.

Not the least bit guilty about all the sugar I had consumed, I walked back to the hotel with hubby, satisfied with how the day had gone and all ready to hit the sack.

The prompt for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 332, 8/8/23 is ‘Animal Coleective Nouns Syllabic Poetry’. I dedicate this tanka to the sheep I saw on the way to the fort.

I hope you enjoyed this post. To read the previous posts on Norway, click here.

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