Norway Local Customs

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  • having fun in Norway.
      having fun in Norway.
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  •   Local Customs
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  •   Local Customs
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  •   Local Customs
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Norway

51.

Culture   Bergen

Culture, Bergen

 11 Reviews  When you're in Bergen you have to know what this song's about. it's a Must for all visitors.Brann means fire in Norwegian. Yahoo Heia Brann, Heia Brann Blod e tjukkere enn vann. Heia Brann Helt fra... 

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52.

Fresh Fish, Shellfish, Crabs and Shrimp   Stavanger

Fresh Fish, Shellfish, Crabs and Shrimp, Stavanger

 1 Review  Available at the dock between the oil museum and the huge parking garage. Get there early if you want to buy crabs because they never last! One of the best benefits of living by the sea is the easy... 

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53.

Fotball (Soccer) Rosenborg   Trondheim

Fotball (Soccer) Rosenborg, Trondheim

 3 Reviews  Rosenborg Ballklub is the pride of the city, and the entire nation since they made such an impact on the European Championship League. The best football club in Norway, and champions year after year.... 

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54.

People   Bergen

People, Bergen

 5 Reviews  It is said of the Bergensers that they are born with Wellies on their feet. It might be true actually. I have never before been to a place where rubber boots were actually an item of fashion and... 

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55.

Lutefisk - Lyed fish   Stavanger

Lutefisk - Lyed fish, Stavanger

 1 Review  Around Christmastime in Norway, my Norwegian family took me out to eat lutefisk in a restaurant. They said it was a fish-speciality that you usually only have about once a year. Whereas my host mother... 

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56.

St Olav   Trondheim

St Olav, Trondheim

 2 Reviews  Not only is local hero St Olav big in York too, where a central church has his name. Trondheim's symbol is a rose, uncanningly similar to the white rose of Yorkshire! Wonder if the typical English... 

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57.

Festivals   Bergen

Festivals, Bergen

 5 Reviews  I was so luck that I have experienced Matfest i Bryggen in 2005. You can taste lots of traditional food( brown cheese, smoked salmon ..etc) and take the opportunity of reasonable prices. Colourful... 

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58.

Broken Umbrella & Broken Bicycle   Stavanger

Broken Umbrella & Broken Bicycle, Stavanger

 1 Review  This is a brilliant Norwegian concept based on, and in answer to Broken Column, a set of sculptures that an Englishman placed about town. Broken Umbrella is a popular interactive work in which many... 

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59.

Bike lift   Trondheim

Bike lift, Trondheim

 4 Reviews  A funny installation in Trondheim for getting up the steep hill (Brubakken) with your bike. It takes you almost all the way up to the fortress. You need a key card to use it (Tourist office at Torvet... 

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60.

17th of May   Bergen

17th of May, Bergen

 3 Reviews  The parade taking place on the 17th of May is a must-see for sure! It begins with boys playing drums (the sound spreads all over the city), you can watch interesting national costumes (I liked... 

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61.

17. mai/May 17th   Trondheim

17. mai/May 17th, Trondheim

 2 Reviews  If you thought this habit of Saturday marches are silly, wait untill you see how they calculate the number of participants. Every time we have certain protests in Croatia organisers and opposition... 

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62.

Mailboxes   Trondheim

Mailboxes, Trondheim

 1 Review  As everywhere in Norway also in Trondheim you’ll find those funny groups of mailboxes along the major streets. It seems that Norwegian postmen are somewhat lazy so the Post office requires neighbours... 

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63.

Antique books   Trondheim

Antique books, Trondheim

 1 Review  One of the best antique bookstores in Norway, and always a temptation for a booklover like me when I visit Trondheim. They have a first-class selection of used and antique books. Wangsmo Antikvariat... 

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64.

Students   Trondheim

Students, Trondheim

 2 Reviews  One you see half-naked guys ruunning in their underwear around town in August you can be sure that the new academic year has started. That's just one of the rituals they have for their freshmen.... 

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65.

Saturday protests   Trondheim

Saturday protests, Trondheim

 1 Review  Every Saturday there are protests and marches around town and by simply looking you would think that people in this country and city are really fed up with their poor lives and living conditions.... 

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Strange letters

by jonkb

In Scandinavia we have three letters more than the english alfabet. They are ??? (in swedish) and ??? (in Danish and Norwegian)The sound is like this:?/? like "a" in the american "fancy"?/? like "ea" in "learn"? like "a" in "law"The letters are not always shown in VT-pages. It's a recuring phenomenon that I cannot control. If you cannot see them the letters look like: The first one is an a and an e jammed together in Norwegian or Danish (swedes use an a with umlaut (two dots)), an o with a line through it from the upper left corner to the lower right for Norwegian and Danes (Swedes use an o with umlaut), and an a with a circkle above it.

St. Lucia

by jonkb

If you're anywhere in Scandinavia on December 13th, you might run into a little prosession. We celebrate St. Lucia (even if were almost all protestant).The story goes like this: When the first christians where in a cold, dark and wet caves. They were starving. Enemy soldiers where everywere outside the caves, killing every christian they could find. A girl from the priveledged class had pitty on them, and brought them food. She put candles in her hair so that she could see where she was going. She did this several times. Lucias mother wanted her to marry and live a life in bliss, but Lucia didn't want that because it ment not helping those in need. The mother was sick, but got well by a miracle. She agreed to cancel the wedding. The ex future husband became extremely angry, and proclaimed that Lucia had become a christian. The soldiers were sent to her house, and arrested her. They could...

Midsummer celebrations

by jonkb

Although not as huge as the midsummer celebration in Sweden, Norway (and Denmark) celebrate the logest day of the year and the shortest night. A big fire is lit, upon which a whitch is thrown (not a live one: a doll). It's being celebrated less and less, but you should be able to find out where to go. The date is always on June 23rd.

On time

by jonkb

Being on time is regarded as polite in all Scandinavia. On time means that if you're invited to a party you should not come more than a few minutes before the agreed time, and not 10 minutes after. Busses, trains etc. leave on the exact spot on time, and do not wait for anyone.

Knots of the "Russ"

by jonkb

There is a tradition in Norway that the senior students in videreg?ende (Norwegian equivalent of high school) get a bit crazy around May. They are celebrating the end of the School. During this celebration they have something called knuteregler (Knot rules), and some of them are worth knowing about. The rules vary a bit from year to year but some stay the same year after year. For example staying awake for 24 hours (86400 seconds) gets you one simple knot. Another example: Driving around a roundabout will get him/her a toy car (matchbox-size) or bathe outside before May 1st: The pin from an ice-cream. Here?s a few others from 2005?s Oslo rules: Piece of map: Guide a public transportation for at least three stops. Condom: Borrow a condom from an innocent stranger. LEGO-stop sign: Run around the car three times while the car is waiting for green light. Buss ticket: Pick up a stranger from...

Dress code in Scandinavia

by jonkb

Were pretty informal when it comes to dress code here in Scandinavia. Some would say were a bit slubish. On an ordinary workday people wear jeans and a sweater or a shirt. Office workers to unless they are higher up the corporate ladder. On occation people wear suits to work, but that's mostly when they have official visitors.When going to a private party however you'll need some sort of formal wear. I invited to say a birthday, you're expected to show up decently dressed with a suit for men or a dress for females. Don't come in a smoking or tucsedo however, unless it is specified in the invitation.When going to a classical concert or opera, some proper clothing will be good enough (not jeans). Other concerts: Come as you please.

17th of May: Constitution day

by jonkb

In 1814 Napoleon lost his wars, and Denmark was on the wrong side. Sweden was on Brittains side, and wanted Norway as a prize for going to war with Napoleon. The treaty of 1814 written in Kiel stated that Norway no longer should be under Danish controll, but Swedish. However: The feeling in Norway wasn't on the Swedish side. Elections were held all over Norway to elect men (no women, too early) in order to write our own constitution. They gathered on Eidsvoll, and produced our constitution on May 17th 1814. In it we proclaimed our independence, with our own king. he swedes (naturally) didn't buy this. They had lost Finland in 1809, and had their eyes set on Norway as a compensation. They went to war... and won in August 1814. The constitution was cept as a part of the peace treaty, but it had to be modified in November. Later in the 1800s there was a growing unease about the union with...

local food

by SORHUS

as a kid i remeber we often went out to eat.... but not in a restaurant or cafe but to the a local place the had vouluntaires for instance the local forball club offerd homemade food by local mums for a little amount of money ....and it helped the fotball club out with some very well needed money for the kids sports activityu get dinner , dessert and coffe for not much money how to find it.....they have adds in the local newspaper or ask at the local tourist information

High on the rocky mountainside

by evaanna

Large parts of Norway are mountainous, with hardly any or no access at all. But Norwegians are a hardy and daring folk. Their tunnels drilled right through the mountains and roads on the edge of fjords are real feats of engineering. Electric pylons stand right on the sheer rocky mountainsides (see the picture to my Lysebotn general tip). Houses high on rocky mountains are not a rare sight either. How on earth do they get there - you may ask. But there are roads leading to most houses, not just villages, sometimes extremely steep. You yourself must decide whether you will risk taking them. We became very cautious about taking gravelled roads when a stone sent by a passing lorry broke one of our headlights. And on our last trip our car nearly rolled down a slope when the wheels lost adhesion on the gravel and started rotating in place.

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Drinking and alcohol in Norway

by Saagar

The cost of alcohol in Norway is very high. If coming here, bring your own, but remember the maximum duty free quota.Government tax causes the high prices on alcohol, so wether it's locally made or imported the tax is equally high. There is no cheap local booze.Restaurants out to make a fat profit mark up their wine two and a half to three-fold from the prices in the liquor stores. Beer up to 5,5% alcohol can be bought in regular grocery stores. Some odd places have beer shops, though.The liquor stores is a state monopoly, and the prices thus state controlled. If this seems ugly, look at the other side of the coin: they buy their wines bulk, and is in fact one of the biggest purchasers in the world. Thus, they are able to negotiate extremely good prices on very good wine. In this way, by scouring the brochures of Vinmonopolet you can find 10-15 Euro wines that may cost the double in...

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Questions and Answers

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Q:  I am wondering which is the best period for a 1-week ski mountaineering holiday in the Lofoten Area and I would like to know if... 

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A: The Lofoten (and Vesterålen) islands never have that huge amount of snow, they are out in the Gulf stream. Mind you, they weren't even covered by the ice cap that covered... 

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