Oslo, Norway: A Travel Feature

Norway is a huge country, with so much to see. It stretches more than 1,000 miles from the Arctic circle, making it one of the largest countries in Europe. Bordered by the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and even the Arctic Sea; it's also home to breathtaking fjords, long and narrow ocean inlets that can be just as deep as the mountains surrounding them. They were created in the last Ice Age by glaciers that gouged out steep crevices in the landscape. When the ice finally receded, water burst in and filled the space left behind.

Of the four and a half million Norwegians, around 500,000 live in the capital city of Oslo towards the south end of the country, and that's where we decided to head. Apart from the height of winter, Oslo shares fairly similar temperatures with Britain, hitting highs in the summer that are into the 70's and getting up into the 50's in spring and autumn. Tempting though it was to go in mid-winter and see the Norway at its coldest, we opted for the height of summer and managed to hit a heat wave, which regularly saw temperatures up in the 90's. Wandering around Oslo in shorts was not an experience I ever thought we'd enjoy, but it was a very pleasant surprise!

One of the beauties of visiting Oslo in the summer is the daylight. Because it's so far north, it doesn't start to get dark until around 9pm at night and even in the early hours of the morning, it's never pitch black, which gives you lots of time to be out and about, getting all the photos you could ever want of the city.

There is certainly plenty to see, although much of it is outside the city itself. The two biggest attractions in Oslo are in Bygdoy, which means the inhabited island. It's across the harbour from Oslo and ferries take you there during the summer months, while a bus service runs year round. The place is home to the Vikingskipshuset (Viking Ship Museum), which is where you will be able to see some of the original Viking ships, dating from the ninth century, which have been excavated from farmland. These ships were used to transport the bodies of high-ranking Vikings on their last journey to the kingdom of the dead and it's amazing how much of these boats have been preserved. Considering that they're over 1,000 years old, about 90% of the Oseberg ship is still original wood!

Nearby is the Norsk Folkesmuseum, Europe's largest open-air museum, which celebrates Norwegian life. As you walk around this massive site, you'll see more than 150 buildings that have been reconstructed from all over Norway, showing you how life used to be in towns, farming and fishing communities. The most striking exhibit here is the Gol Stave Church, originally built in 1200 and is immediately familiar to Disney visitors, as this was the model for the Stave Church in Epcot's World Showcase.