Where and what to eat in Norway, Oslo

Opera House Restaurant  

We went there with our Norwegein friends. Nice place but we were the only table there all night.

                                          

I wanted to start with fish soup as being a fish soup lover, it was creamy with mixed veggies.
                                                             My pasta salad had sea foods and some many fresh ingredients. Pastas were too much I've just ate sea foods and veggies:))

                                          My husband order typical Norwegian tastes plate was interesting, covering various tasteful specialities in a same plate! 

                                         

Afterwords he had fish, it was looking so nice, indeed.

Our last day in Norway we had another heavy program, it covered our whole day. And we wanted to make a final at Lofoten Fiskerestaurant, Oslo, takes places Michelin Guide 2016. 

                                          

We hardly find place for six people. 

We ordered  "Greenland shrimps" as starter, they were so fresh and well prepared, most of them had caviars.  
                                          
Greenlandic shrimps are not farmed, caught wild in the waters off of Greenland’s coast.  Because of the cold water Greenlandic shrimp have a very long growing period and are therefore not caught until they are between 4 and 6 years old. In that period, of course they build up a lot of flavor accordingly. Greenlandic shrimp taste fresh of salt water with a sweet touch and have a firm and juicy texture that's make it special. By the way, let me remind that, Greenland is the largest island of the world,  which is part of North America continent but it is satellite territory of Denmark, a European country. 

                                         

 I had fish soup as a closure at our last day. I love fish soup, I couldn’t resist Lofoten’s creamy soup with fresh basil and garnished with daily fish&shellfish.  
                                                              

My fish, oven baked lange and grilled asparagus with artichoke cream was delicious. I must admit that I couldn't finish last piece of that amazing fish. 

I know this location from my past trip, it is one of the popular restaurant in Aker Brygge, always crowded, first choice of the most people. 
So, I came to end of our Norway travel notes, I got nice feedbacks from some fellows, thanks once again for your e-mails...I'll share our mountain advantures soon...

Where&what to eat in Norway, Kristiansand

Kristiansand has so many alternatives to have good food. Bonder i Byen , is one of them, which  was in our list, we decided to have our dinner there. 

By the way, I must indicate that some parts are under the construction in Kristiansand, we hardly noticed this place among all those separations in the construction area but we were decisive, we especially wanted to have dinner there. 

                                                  

It was a little bit late but friendly staff welcomed us and took our orders, we were two couples.

Each of us enjoyed our orders, everything was done with fresh ingredients and all of them were tasty. 

                                                  

Shrimp salad with bakes tomato, rhubarb and tasty mayonnaise was really good.  We all liked those home made breads, too. 

                                                  

My main course, fried hake garnished rhubard and fresh potatoes and cauliflower sauce were extraordinary taste. 

                                                  

Rein deer with mixed veggies were looking so good.  We were two couples, agreed that it was worth to spend time to find place, we had delicious food at a friendly, cozy atmosphere. Their menu exactly for my kind, I wish we could have more time to be able visit this place to try different tastes.

Where&what to eat in Norway, Stavanger

When you're pier area in Stavanger, there are many options to have good food including very good fish&sea foods and meat, many well known chain restaurants, too.

I would like  to indicate that when I'm traveling I always try local tastes but here in this Scandinavian country I mostly ate fish because it is so fresh, well prepared and not so expensive! 
When we're traveling local tastes takes top priority but here top priority was fish&sea foods!!! 

At lovely sunny day after a long Stavanger tour we decided to have dinner at N.B.Sorensens Dampskibsexpedition. 

 Its outdoor section was full with local people.  The weather was lovely and mostly local people were having drinks at the outdoor section. We welcomed to indoors. 
                                         

My fish with asparagus was tasty,  simple side dish fresh potatoes were also good.

My husband ordered steak but it was thinner than his expectations. Also our friends had steaks with disappointment.

After  our  heavy program at our second day in Stavanger,  we  decided to have dinner there which was so close to our hotel RadisonBlu-Atlantic. 
Kitchen & Table by Marcus Samuelsson is Clarion Hotel's new restaurant concept since 2013, he combines Manhattan flavors with Scandinavian ingredients.   

At the Kitchen&Table Restaurant, we welcomed by friendly staff. 
                                           
Our drinks service was so fast. Restaurant supervisor explained our questions related with interesting choices in their menu. 

                                          
Our friends wanted to have kimchi burger. Their french fries with parmesan  was looking super. 
                                     
My husband enjoyed his order. We all agreed that our selection was perfect for  that dinner.  Kitchen&Table Restaurant  was pretty good with its good menu, talkative and friendly supervisor.

                                 

My fish plate and side dish was delicious. 
                                
I made closure with a dessert. It was yuzu mousse, mandarin curd, coconut meringue, roasted coconut ice cream.Its serving style was so pretty.

We really had good food. We enjoyed our dinner&time in that nice and quiet atmosphere...

Where and what to eat in Norway, Balestrand

As I've already shared our very nice dinner experience in  Travel Notes, Chapter#5, Balestrand as well,  when  we were starving at the  pier area and fantastic smells indicated us one point, Pilgrim Restaurant. 

We really had a good food there and paid a reasonable bill.

 My fish soup was delicious, it was creamy with various fish pieces and veggies.

 I had grilled salmon with mixed salads as main course. My fish was well grilled,  all of  veggies were so simple but tasty. You may be able to see the lovely doily in the center of our table.

 I like  all kind of quiches, I couldn't resist one with spinach, we ordered one portion to share.

 My husband  had rein deer stew with fresh veggies, he enjoyed it. We were there two couples, our friends also had grilled salmon like me.

 

 I think this photo shows all plates better. We had so simple but so tasty foods there.

 I would like to repeat once again, I loved Balestrand and surroundings. Plus, having a good food serving by friendly people at a cozy atmosphere,  is there anything else after a long day?

Where and what to eat in Norway, Bergen

In our Norway in a nutshell, we started tour from  Oslo- Bergen-Myrdal-Flam- Balestrand-Bergen afterwords,  Bergen-Stavanger-Kristiansand-Oslo. In all these different places we tried mostly local tastes. Especially, I’m a fish and sea-food lover, I never had any disappointment during entire trip.

Let me start to tell from one famous place in Bergen, Fish market, it is a must place to visit. Especially, if you’re starving in the harbor area and it is raining crazily, 

be better go there taste delicious seafood and have a drink.  

Familiar  Mediterranean smells and talkative&friendly Italian and Spanish staff looked us so friendly and immediately ordered various things.

My plate with was big enough to make me happy!

You may think this is a steak pieces. It is wales! A totally different thing for us but  my husband enjoyed it. In that cozy atmosphere, we didn’t care about the  simple service with plastic plates and plastic cutlery.

After touring old Bergen area we decided to have dinner at Bruggeloftet&Stuene, it was around 8:30 p.m., glad there was a table for four of us. Our first  impression was so nice for being there with their nicely decorated cozy atmosphere and friendly staff.  

I started with fish soup, Bergen style soup was delicious, creamy and had various fish and shrimps in it. 

My main course was a local fish with mixed veggies. 

My husband’s selection was rein deer, he was so happy with his order. Its sauce and side dishes were looking so good. I've already shared my reviews at Trip Advisor, too. We had good food, enjoyed our time in this cozy restaurant at our last evening in Bergen. 

I would like to share another place that we had a light lunch after another rain shower in Bergen was Harbour Cafe.  We noticed that especially local people were eating there!  We had a lunch there. Our orders came almost after 45 minutes but my fish soup and  mixed sea food salad were worth to wait it.

 The soup was creamy with lots of various fish pieces in it. Only soup could be enough for me, with home made breads&butter.

 Also sea food salad was a big portion with  crabs and jumbo shrimps and mussels. I couldn’t finish it shared with my husband.  The prices were reasonable for that quality and portions.  When I compare prices with this quality and big size portions with some other European countries, including my homeland Istanbul, our total bill was so normal.

Trip Notes, Chapter#15, Fram Museum and Nobel Peace Center

The Fram museum (Frammuseet)  is located at Bygdoy, a short distance from the centre of Oslo and is easily reached by bus or, in the summer season, by ferry from the City Hall quayside, other  closest neighbours are the Kon-Tiki Museum and the Norwegian Maritime Museum. The Viking Ship Museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum are within 15 minutes walk. The Bygdoy peninsula is therefore popularly known as the museum peninsula as I have indicated in my previous Chapter#13&14, which is one of Oslo´s main places to go.

The Fram museum  houses the world’s most famous polar ship, the Fram.  A polar museum dedicated to the story of Norwegian polar expeditions with the Fram ship used by Fridtjof Nansen as the main exhibit. Both, Fram and Gjoa are the world's most famous polar exploration ships! 

The Fram was the first ship specially built in Norway for polar research. She was used on three important expeditions: with Fridtjof Nansen on a drift over the Arctic Ocean 1893-96, with Otto Sverdrup to the arctic archipelago west of Greenland – now the Nunavut region of Canada – 1898-1902, and with Roald Amundsen to Antarctica for his South Pole expedition 1910-12. The Fram is now housed and exhibited in the Fram Museum at Bygdoynes, Oslo.

Is was an  amazing feeling to visit Fram, get on board and visualize yourself, journey to the world's coldest and most dangerous places. 

The Fram Museum contains exhibitions of the most famous voyages of global historical significance. The centerpiece of the museum is of course the world´s strongest wooden ship, the polar ship Fram. 

The public can go on board and take a look around in her cabins, lounges, cargo hold and engine room.

Roald Amudsen, the greatest polar explorar, Amundsen was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage, the first to reach the South Pole, a navigator of the Northeast Passage, the first to fly to latitude 88⁰ N, and the first to fly across the Arctic Ocean.

Such a long time had elapsed since the Fram expedition started, that many had begun to believe that the whole expedi­tion had perished in the ice. There had, of course, been no pos­sibilities for any form of communication with the outside world since they became locked in the ice.

Kitchen section of the vessel!

Their living room, imagine who were playing the piano?

"Victory awaits him, who has everything in order - luck we call it.  Defeat is definitely due for him, who has neglected to take the necessary precautions -bad luck we call it"  by Roald Amundsen

There are so many interesting section in the museum, northern lights were one of them. 

The Nobel Peace Center (Nobels Fredssenter) present Alfred Nobel, 

the piece prize laureates and their work, as well as current issues such as war, peace and conflict resolution.  

The exhibitions are varied, includes photos, films

We said good bye to Bygdoy peninsula from its pier. 
Boats  between Aker Brygge to the Bygdoy, museum area is available during summer time.

Againt to Aker Brygge and Tjuvholmen. Tjuvholmen is a new establishment, some parts are still under the construction.

Trip Notes, Chapter#14, The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History

Norsk Folkemuseum at Bygdoy,Oslo, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country, especially the Sami culture was so interesting for me. 

The museum section has detailed information, the Sami culture exhibitions  were so interesting. 

Rein deers have a special importance in their life, every part of the reindeers was used, as said so.

If you are a craft, embroidery, vintage items lover like me this museum's exhibitions will be great for you. 

All these hand-made trims, accessories looks amazing, their bright colors shows the quality of material they have used.

What I've read in the museum displays about the changing parameters, during the course of the 1800’s, radical changes in social structure reduced the possibility of maintaining a living folk art tradition. By the end of the century there was no longer a basis for producing specifically rural crafts. The growth of industry made the products of rural craftsmen superfluous. Old lines of tradition in crafts died out as most of the other countries. 

But while folk art was in the process of going out of fashion in its original environment, it became the object of increasing attention from city dwellers. The many and varied forms of expression in folk art, using different materials  and decorative techniques, changed and declined throughout an extended period of time. In a few places, the folk art tradition remained alive until the 1900’s. 

In the spirit of national romanticism, folk art was held up as an example to home crafts and applied arts producers as a counterweight to industrially produced goods. Soon copies of folk art products were being made to suit the taste of middle class city dwellers. At the same time some artists began using folk art as an inspiration of their new works. But in rural areas popular creativity developed in other directions.

There is a special section in the museum for those fantastic Norway sweaters that I loved.  To learn how  Marius sweaters and Sandnes designs were created by Unn Soiland was so interesting. 

All those details of  the most popular knit style must be the Marius series among the others. Norwegian Ladies must be so patient to create all those wonderful sweaters, accessories using all those complex patterns.

I wonder who was the owner of this paper baby-doll.

As I've told several times before, Norwegians pay a special attention to create museums. They give a special attention for the visual education of kids....According to my observations, local people come to museums with their children, museums have a special place in their education system.

Toys made for children often mirror the adult world in the form of miniatures and down scaled tools and utensils, thus creating clear categories of toys for boys and girls. 

Views on children and childhood have changed over the ages. During the 1700’s there was an increasing awareness of the educational importance of play for the development and socialization of children. Toys became more varied and focused on learning through play. During the 1800’s toy production laid the foundation for an ever developing industry. Today it is a substantial international business, unfortunately totally technological market, their educational importance is discuss able, am I right?

 Also, it has world’s oldest and biggest open-air museum, when you complete tour in the formal exhibition you may start to walk back to the past...

During summer, there are different activities at the museum every day. These may be followed by their wedsites. In the open-air museum, many buildings are open, and a host(s) in traditional folk dress welcomes you, they are so friendly and talkative.  They help you understand how they lived in that eras.

It is so impressive that young generation takes a role to bring their all known traditions today.

  

 An old home from 1800's. . Hosts walk around in old Norwegian clothes and make the place come to life!

I loved all those accessories, this young lady told that all of them original pieces and that red trim is totally handmade piece.

At various spots there are young people dressed in original costumes that help you understand how they lived

You feel like you're in a real Viking age village, with even roaming animals, some ladies were cooking in their routine life in those days, etc..

 

The Stave Church  from 1200 is especially worth seeing.

It's a nice walk  in the open park museum,  you see a lot of old Norwegian houses and farms showing life in the starting from 16th centuries till present time in Norway.

It's a nice walk through the woods while you see a lot of old Norwegian houses, barns and farms. 

The reproductions are precisely selective and you feel like you're in a real Viking age village, with even roaming animals!!! 

This is a real large area with many buildings showing life in the 18th and 19th century in Norway. 

That is really an interesting  place in Oslo, worth to spend at least a half day  where you can rest and learn with nice and talkative hosts. This may be a great choice to visit with children.