khiemtran | Tønsberg

Tønsberg is believed to be the oldest town in Norway, and I got to visit in three days during my trip. It is named after the fortifications which once stood on the hill, forming a formidable natural castle.

This is a model of the original castle, at the site where the castle stood, looking over the modern town which obviously wasn't there at the time.

As it happens, there's not much left of the actual castle, although this commemorative tower, built in the 1800s, now stands at the site and can be seen for miles around (and, of course, if you can see the castle, those in the castle can see you...)

The stone structure in front may actually be part of the original buildings, but there's very little left and it's heavily filled in with modern concrete.

Another shot with added cannons. Because every shot is better with cannons in it.

More cannons...

A touching WWII memorial by Gustav Vigeland. At the time, I couldn't find anything to say what it was or what it signified, but I goggled on "Mother and child Tønsberg", and there it was. And it really is called "Mother and Child"...

You don't see many restaurants with whaling harpoons out the front back home... This was actually facing the water, so I suppose if a whale was foolish enough to swim by, its' visit to Tønsberg might prove to be ill-advised.

These photos were all taken on my second day in Norway, which happened to be a Sunday. Now, some important advice for anyone looking to do some shopping in Tønsberg on a Sunday...

Okay, that didn't work out... Actually, not only were the shops closed, but so was the tourist information office. Our taxi driver, from Afghanistan, and thus the first person we met who actually asked if we could speak Norwegian, felt so sorry for us, he drove us to the castle for free...

Down to the waterfront now...

A schooner sitting by the harbour. We had a bit of time to kill while waiting for the restaurants to open for lunch.

Okay, a lot of time to kill...

This old-style boat was moored near what appeared to be a construction site for a larger wooden ship. At the time we were there, the new ship was still a pile of numbered logs, but there were signs explaining what was going to happen. I think the smaller boat in the picture might have been a prototype or model.

If you ever happen to pass through Tønsberg, I'd love to hear how the new ship turned out.

By this stage, we'd well and truly done the waterfront, and were back to walking through town in case any shops were open. It turned out there was a 7-eleven and that was it. There were quite a few other shops marked "7-23", but apparently it was so obvious that nothing would be open on a Sunday that they didn't feel the need to spell it out.

Lunchtime! The food in Tønsberg was excellent. It turned out lots of others had been counting down to midday too...

These yachts were all waiting for the bridge blocking access to the marina to open up. When it did, they all lined up and charged in...

That's the last of the photos with my little Canon. Shortly afterwards, I accidentally opened the battery cover and mistakenly thought the battery was flat. Thus, no pictures of the Viking mounds, the Art Museum, the picturesque houses around the old monastery...

Although the sight of the Vestfold museum was enough to bring out my camera phone...

Inside were the remains of an ancient Viking burial ship, plus a different sort of remains altogether...

I've seen whale skeletons before, but being able to walk inside them was something else. This photo doesn't really do it justice. These things are almost the size of 737s. As one of my friends said, shaking his head, "It must have died of natural causes. You cannot hunt something this big."

I don't think it was quite the intended point, but it came across as a pretty strong argument against whaling to me. Imagine killing some this amazing just for lamp oil...