Trip Notes, Chapter#11, Kristiansand& surroundings

On our way to Kristiansand, we had a short coffee break at Grimstad it was a typical summer holiday village. 

All cafes, pubs were full, people were dealing with their vessels, the others were sitting on the stairs in the pier area to get sun tan. Unfortunately they have so limited time to have sun shine, whenever they find it, they try to enjoy.

We walked all the way down to pier, all those white painted wooden houses, nicely decorated balconies were so pretty. 

Boat tours or boat-hiring to organize your own tours are so nice options here. 

According to my another observation, I think there traditionally  Norwegians likes balcony and terrace living. Most of the balconies have lovely seating groups and most of the chairs are in transverse positions. As I indicated before, most probably they have maximum one month to enjoy summer at their balconies, they decorate them for this special time.

Grimstad is where Knut Hamsun lived the final years of his life. He was a major Norwegian writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to the subject, perspective and environment.

Also, Grimstad is the town of Henrik Ibsen, and there are many traces of these famous writers to be found. Henrik Ibsen's story is told in the building where he worked as an apothecary's assistant in his youth – the pharmacy in which he wrote what was to become Catilina, his first play. The Ibsen Museum in Grimstad is the oldest of its kind in the country. 
I'm so glad that we got a chance to tour this nice place, it is really worth to pay a visit.
After visiting many different places and with quickly change able weather conditions we arrived Kristiansand, which is a lovely city in Southern Norway, tourism is important  and the summer season is the most popular for tourists like us from all over the world and their local people.

What do you expect after a long day and heavily loaded program? A comfortable, quiet and depending the weather conditions a warm or cool hotel room. We mostly chose Radison Blue hotels at our trips. It was proved once again that our selection was perfect here, too. Radison Blue Caledonian had picturesque scenery in the Norwegian fjord landscape. Our room at the 11th floor had a fantastic panoramic view of the Skagerrak Sea. 

Same view at midnight...After heavy raining the weather cloudy. I wish we could have clear sky to see mid night sun here in that panoramic view.
  

I tried to take photos when it was raining but, after heavy shower in the early morning hours the light was incredible.  

Another photo shows serenity of the same area after rain shower!

Kristiansand Havn, Port Administration Building! I always find something with nautical theme, here is a anchor!

Kristiansand port's commercial part looks so busy! It is also a great base ferry alternatives for their domestic ports or several ports of Denmark. 

Kristiansand is strategically located on the Skagerrak, and until the opening of the Kiel Canal between the North Sea and the Baltic was very important militarily and geopolitically. This meant that for centuries it served as a military stronghold, first as Harald Fairhair's royal residence, then as a Danish-Norwegian fortress, and later as a garrison town. It looks so familiar for me, because I come from a naval family, as mentioned before as well. 

I always like to know general weather condition wherever I go, the Skagerrak coast, which includes Kristiansand, have a temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters. Snow generally occurs in late December and in January and February; it may be heavy but rarely stays long on the coast. The gulf stream local warming through surface currents along the Norwegian trench.

We started our tour from Fiskebrygga, fish market is one of the well organized and clean one I've ever seen. But, if we compare to population, daily visiting ratio it is so normal to keep it so clean.

There are so many options to have delicious fish and sea-food options here, many nice restaurants and cafe offers super menus. I got so many mails and comments related with my Trip Advisor reviews. I'll share some selective places and  what I've tasted there soon.

 

I didn't use it but public WC were looking so decorative:))

After heavy raining, toured the area and went to Markens Street which  is the main pedestrian street in downtown Kristiansand. 

Frankly, I must admit that I've thrilled when I saw this an old  building  with a known logo. Isn't it strange that it gets positioned in this fish and seafood paradise town at a strategic place? I remembered the book "The McDonaldization of Society" and left there with a grin on my face.

All those old buildings are well protected, town is so clean and quiet.

 Both of these photos show how Norwegians value their history. This is a perfect evidence how they protect an old building! Here is the architectural and engineering skills to protect its front side in presses, they complete new building inside of the existing building.

 I've seen same application at Glasgow, Scotland long time ago. It is so impressive how they protect their city structures....