The Norwegian rituals

Oslo is a pretty city that is trying to squeeze all the tourists attractions in one spot and it’s working ! From the icebergish looking opera house to the national library and theatre are all in a periphery of 15min walk from each other.

I really appreciated the opera house which is built in Italian marble from top to bottom and has a lovely modern architecture finish to it. From the top of the building you have a wonderful view on the city.

Second thing I love about Oslo is the sauna culture. I am an absolute sucker for saunas , so this was like heaven on earth to me! You can take your pick from floating saunas to sauna cabins. I went for the floating sauna the first day and it was such a thrilling experience to jump straight in the fjord right after the sauna. That shock from extreme hot to cold climate, improves blood circulation and releases dopamine (the happy hormones). And happy I was ! I also made friends with a Colombien that stays in London. After the sauna we had a quite one and a dinner at a curry house.

Then I did sauna rituel on a sunny Sunday at Salt. Salt btw is a very cultural place for Norwegians here in Oslo. They have art and music performances as well as bars, restaurants and saunas. I attended their sauna ritual which consisted of a guy coming in and cranking up the sauna to what felt like 150 degrees 🔥🥵 Then he placed some essential oils covered snow balls on the hot stones and was going around fanning a leaf to equally distribute the insanely relaxing fragrance. At the end of the rituel, he took a bouquet of dried lavender and bayleafs, dipped them in ice cold water and sprinkled us with bone chilling water 💦 After the rituel I went directly in the ice bucket and was there for what like an eternity.

People say that Norwegians are stoic and not very friendly, well they haven’t met them is saunas ! After this wonderful sensory experience, everyone is happy and is willing to chat. I actually ended up making a Norwegian friend with whom I spent the rest of my time at Salt. This is by far one of the best sauna rituals I’ve ever experienced ! I am definitely coming back to Oslo for some more of this in the future.

Saunas are super relaxing but can be a bit tiring too. So I was on my way to get a hot chocolate to warm myself up after the sauna rituel. On my way to the café, I heard Latin music and saw some people dancing in front of the opera house. I rang to the other side to join them. It was a lovely experience, I got a few compliments. We danced away to bachata and salsa music all evening long.

All in all, Oslo is not what I expected it to be. It is so much more. The people are so much more friendly than what I had in mind. A great person once said, don’t let others make your opinions for you, visit the place and decide for yourself !

I’m sad to leave Norway but my bank account is relieved 🤣Read more