On a recent cruise on board Queen Mary 2 the ship called at the Norwegian Capital, Oslo. This review  will hopefully illustrate how much of that unique city can be seen in a day.

Oslo is not an overlarge city and only has a population of around 590,000. The main berth and terminal for visiting cruise ships is very close to the centre of Oslo, as illustrated by this photograph…

The photograph was taken from the ship with the City Hall red brick towers clearly visible top left and  part of the Akershus Fortress occupying the foreground. We toured the fortress later in the day.

For those who may be interested, the Cruise Terminal is also  on the route of Oslo’s HoHo bus circuit…

Leaving the ship shortly after berthing my wife and I walked in the direction of the City Hall…

…which would eventually take us in the direction of Aker Brygge, a waterfront area…

…highly popular with Norwegians and visitors alike with shopping, entertainment and dining…

*****

…and numerous historical artefacts…

 

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One item of memorabilia on display is one of the anchors recovered from the German battleship Blucher which was sunk in Oslo Fjord by shore launched torpedoes…

 

*****

 

 

Behind the anchor can be seen current repairs to the Aker Brygge boardwalk. This is also the site of the ‘Peace Flame’ dedicated to the city of Oslo by Sri Chinmoy in 2001.

Unfortunately the ‘Peace Flame’ and Statue of Sri Chinmoy have been temporarily removed to facilitate the repairs. I did recall seeing it on a previous cruise ship,  P&O’s Arcadia, visit in 2009…

 

 

The Aker Brygge waterfront is also home to the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art…

*****

The biggest attraction at Aker Brygge however has to be the Nobel Peace Center…

 

….not to be confused with the Nobel Peace Institute which I found later.

From Aker Brygge we rounded the City Hall and passed the National Theatre…

 

 

…heading for Karl Johans Gate, the heart of Oslo…

 

 

…turning left half way along to take a closer look at the Norwegian Royal Palace…

 

…with the Statue of King Karl Johans surveying the palace  entrance.

At this point we pondered on the method we would use to get to the next destination on our ‘hit’ list. That destination was Oslo’s Vigeland Statue Park, Norway’s most visited tourist attraction. We consulted our pre-purchased guide…

 

…and calculated that from The Royal Palace we were a mere 25 – 35 minutes walk away from Vigeland Park. So we duly abandoned the option of taking the HoHo bus – which has the Vigeland statue park on its route – and duly set off in the direction of Vigeland Park.

We were rewarded well. The first building of note that we encountered was the Nobel Institute…

 

 

Hotly followed a few corners away by the Norwegian National Library…

 

This walk really was a treat and gave us a glimpse of some of Oslo’s residential areas, local cafes and smaller boutique shops as we walked the length of Frognerveien.

We eventually arrived at the Vigeland Park…

 

*****

 

*****

 

Or, viewed from the opposite direction…

 

The 212 sculptures made of either Bronze, granite or wrought iron attract more than a million visitors a year and this was certainly a ‘hot to do’ on the Queen Mary 2’s Excursion list – we spotted many groups following the QM2 paddles.

A few of the sculptures we enjoyed…

The Dancing Woman in Bronze…

Man Chasing Four Geniuses…

 

The Fountain…

The Fountain,which was originally designed to stand in front of the Norwegian Parliament. This location, however, proved controversial. The sculpture consists of 60 individual bronze reliefs representing the circle of life, with sculptures of children, teenagers, old men, and skeletons.

And many many more…

 

 

 

We spent just over an hour in Vigeland Park before heading back towards the Oslo city centre, taking in a quick Koldtbord  (the Norwegian version of the Smörgåsbord ) at one of the restaurants we had spotted along Frognerveien earlier in the day.

In the centre we again picked up Karl Johans Gate and taking a look at The Norwegian Parliament Building…

…which is adjacent Karl Johans Gate.

Close by we found the  Oslo Domkirke (Cathedral)…

The area around the Cathedral is a popular shopping area with an excellent variety of stores. Needless to say colourful Norwegian sweaters were on sale everywhere…

 

 

At the end of Karl Johans Gate is Oslo’s Central Railway Station. A short walk across Christian Frederiks Square and a magnificent view of the Oslo Opera House looms…

Home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet the building is situated on a small promontory at the head of the Oslofjord  in the Bjørvika  neighbourhood..

There remained just one place of interest for us to explore – Akershus Fortress. We simply needed to keep the Oslofjord on our left and follow it to where the Queen Mary 2 was berthed…

 

There is a much to see within the fortress. It is a massive complex that houses, apart from the historic castle, the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum…

*****

 

 

 

…and Norway’s Resistance Museum…

 

 

By now it had begun to rain and we took shelter under a tree along with a group on a guided tour. I was fascinated to hear the story regarding the final days of the famous Norwegian wartime traitor, and to have indicated the small building within Asherkus Fortress,  the wall of which he met his end by firing squad…

 

 

And the name of that infamous traitor? ...Vidkun Quisling

With less than an hour to spare before sailing we dropped down from Akershus Fortress onto the waterfront for the few minutes walk back to the ship, not missing the opportunity to snap one last photograph to illustrate Solent Richard’s continuing mastery of internet Trolls…

 

 

I trust this article on just what can be achieved on a day out in Oslo has been of interest. We covered a lot of ground but felt it all worth while. Oslo is an interesting city to visit and well geared to tourism.

Please feel free to comment or ask a question via the comment button.

 

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Disclosure to potential conflict of interest:

It is common throughout the travel industry for travel journalists and many cruise bloggers to be provided with complimentary cruises for the purpose of their reviews.

Solent Richard has no ‘conflict of interest’ as he is not an accredited journalist, he pays for his cruises, and is happy to confirm that all his reviews are his own given without fear or favour.