Kristiansand,Norway- 1 of 5 WALKING Tour

Kristiansand
We took the tender from the ship and at the landing we were treated to beautiful Norwigen Opera singing. This very interesting city which is the 5th largest in Norway and is a mix of some very old houses (Posebyen area) that were saved from a fire and some old buildings with a very modern city. We walked around before our first tour began and immediately said we could have an extended vacation in this town. It is on the South Coast of Norway and surrounded on 3 sides with water and takes up only .5 square mile so very walkable. 83,000 residents are in this city and it has its share of businesses and wealth (see PwC) due to its strong role in International shipping. It is a very clean and very green city in every way.

The first site we saw which was very obvious was the 1120 seat the Performing Arts Center (Kilden) where there is opera, music and ballet and was the most expensive building in this town built in 2009. It has many shapes to the building and its covered with wooden walls made from local oak strips that also help with the perfect acoustics, which it has won awards for (oak was a major export from here in the 1700). It looks like waves (although we were told some say it’s a nod to ballerina’s skirt). Next door to it is the Modern Museum (Kunstsilo) which was recreated from grain silos and has won many awards for its design and contains the Tangen Collection, regarded as the world’s most important collection of Nordic modern art with more than 5,000 works.

We then met our private guide (3 of us) took us through the park to the Christiansholm fortress which was finished in 1672 by King Christian IV to defend the city. Close by was the lighthouse, Odderoya, at the point of the Island that was used to protect the town from the Germans before they were eventually occupied. We walked through the Ravendalen park with beautiful fountains, public fruit and vegetable gardens and sand art.

We visited Kristiansand Cathedral (from 1884) and right in the middle of the city. The cathedral is in the same location as three previous buildings. The first, Trinity Church, a small wooden church, was built in 1645. When Kristiansand was appointed the seat of the diocese in 1682, construction began on the town's first cathedral, called Vor Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviour's Church), consecrated in 1696, but burned down in 1734. The second cathedral, Vor Frues Kirke (Our Lady's Church), consecrated in 1738, was destroyed by a fire that affected the whole city and then finally the current church was built in its place.

See two videosLäs mer