Travel Tips: Oslo
7 insights for freelancing travellers
We wanted to visit Norway, firstly, to get away from southern Europe in heatwave and secondly, because of the ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ by Michelle Paver. Books I’d started to reread whilst we where planning our route onwards through Europe (Wolf Brother will make you want to yodel in the woods, get a bow and arrow and forage for berries like nothing else).
Anyway Norway is also home of the Vikings, fjords and wilderness and wolves and all the other cool shit that you think of when you hear the word Scandinavia.
So, we booked the cheap flights on Skyscanner and got ourselves onto a Flixbus bound for Milano Bergamo airport. Here are 7 of my revelations whilst visiting Oslo:
1. Kanelbolle
A twist of milky buttery bread filled with cardamon and cinnamon. My favourite was from Stockfleths where they’re more cardamon than cinnamon. I had one every single day. They’re sweet yet savoury soft and slightly doughy and delicious.
The coffee at Stockfleths was delicious too. Especially if you’ve been dreaming of a milky oat iced latte and have just arrived from espresso obsessed Italy.
2. How to get about
The Ruter app is the place to get tickets for trams and buses! They’re the best way to get around. The trams are sweet and elderly to look at and the buses are quick and regular.
[We realised pretty quickly that you don’t need to scan a ticket. We gradually stopped buying tickets for short inner city trips on the trams and buses. Just don’t get caught because the fines are big. Use this inflammatory information with extreme caution]
3. You want to eat, you got to pay
Duh, It’s really expensive! They have it good in Norway. It’s a beautiful place but expensive for tourists.
Get takeaway coffee and go to the park. Buy treats at the supermarket for a pick nick. Only go out for food if you have large amounts of money to say goodbye to. Expect to pay around £70+ for a nice meal out with a couple of drinks each and mains. No joke.
4. Panting
Not the doggy kind. It’s the act of returning single use bottles and cans to the shop for money.
If you see a bottle or can rolling around, grab it and give it to a homeless person. Or keep it yourself to exchange at a supermarket. Expect to see people with plastic bags full of bottles and cans they’ve collected checking through the bins. It means that Oslo has very clean streets.
5. Alcohol bad
It’s a conservative country. I get it. But it started to wear on us as pub lovers. No alcohol sales after 8pm in the supermarket. 6pm on a Saturday. No sales on a Sunday. Only ‘fun’ fruit ciders and krafty beers in the supermarket, no hard liquor like wine. Go to a special shop to buy your poisonous drink you disgusting heathen. If you do want to drink at a normal time, there’s a wide assortment of astronomically priced bars to choose from (£10 a pint is standard).
6. Vary your accommodation
It’s free to camp anywhere! Yes, you heard me. Head off with your knapsack and tent and the countryside is your oyster. Get on a bus for half an hour, leaving Oslo for somewhere like Bærum. Wander off into the trees to find a flat spot away from the path and plant your flag. August/September is berry season which is a serious bonus if you’re around then. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and cranberries in the woods, it’s like a wholesome heaven.
St Olav’s Path, the route Gudbrandsdalsleden (try saying that quickly, a fun game we’ve developed on the road) starts in Oslo and ends in Trondheim. A walking path littered with free camping spots.
We stayed in Cochs Pension (hehe) in Homensbyen. A really pretty central part of Oslo next to a royal park full of clean looking people with nice haircuts and dogs. It was the most reasonably priced double room available in the centre last minute.
Mixing it up by staying a night in the woods was a unique experience and saved us money!
7. Second hand clothing
I haven’t bought clothes whilst on the road. It’s been tough (not). But I couldn’t stop in Oslo. There are great charity/vintage shops. It seems to be the style of choice for the Oslo youth. Lots of funky denim. I liked UFF store near where we stayed. Compared to the food, the clothes were well priced too. Maybe that’s why there were so many well dressed, slim people wandering around.
Oslo is a well put together place. It’s like a mature business woman in a tailored suit. It felt very grownup. Any longer there, and it might start to become restrictive and too conservative and too colourless. But a beautiful wild place still.
