In late August 2018 my brother Dan and I flew to Norway for a short holiday to see our Norwegian family. Getting to my auntie’s house was a little complicated. We flew in to Torp airport quite late and spent the night in an AirBnB in nearby Sandefjord before catching the afternoon ferry across to Moss on the other side of the Oslo fjord where we would be picked up. It meant we had a few hours to walk around the town and grab a bite to eat.
Map of Norway here. Map of Sandefjord here. Other posts about Norway here.
Sandefjord made its fortune through the whaling industry and was considered the whaling capital of the world in the last half of the nineteenth century.
As a result of this wealth, the town has the second biggest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Norway (after Alesund). Click on the gallery photos to expand them.
More correctly, the architecture is influenced by Jugendstil, the German form of Art Nouveau. I wish I’d had time to investigate more.
Down at the Brygga the architecture becomes more modern. It’s nice area to wander around and see all the different kinds of boats that are tied up.
There are plenty of places to eat around the waterfront but we headed back into town to lunch at the Bakgården Café at 37B Kongens gate. The cafe is in one of the oldest buildings in town and there’s a big yard where you can sit outside. We shared two typical open sandwiches, one with goats’ cheese and the other with some wonderful Norwegian prawns, the first of many occasions.
The crossing was fine. The only frustration being the ferry going straight past the small island where our summerhouse was. We could have jumped off and swum it if it wasn’t for our suitcases!
First stop however was my auntie Gro’s house in the rural district of Berg, just outside Halden, my mother’s town of birth. After that we’d head to the island…