Side Trips from Oslo - Norway - page 172

A SIDE TRIP FROM HORTEN: ÅSGÅRDSTRAND
In one lazy afternoon you can explore the little coastal town of Åsgårdstrand on
the doorway of Horten. The town achieved fame in the 17th century when
shipping and sailing companies were based here. In time it was discovered by
artists, including Edvard Munch, Scandinavia's most famous painter. He found
inspiration along the coast for some of his best-known works.
Today you can still visit Lykkehuset (Munch's Little House), at Edvard
Munch Gate 25 ( & 33-08-53-72 ), a summer house and studio where Munch
spent seven summers. Today it's been turned into a museum of Munch memo-
rabilia. When Munch died in 1944, the house remained as it was—basically a
primitive fisherman's cabin that the artist had purchased in 1897. It was here
that he painted his masterful Girls on the Bridge, Dance of Life, and Melancholy.
Called “the handsomest man in Norway” at the time, the artist is said to have
taken advantage of his good looks to romance the local girls during his summer
sojourns here. The house is open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm from June to
August, and Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 7pm from September to May.
Admission is 50NOK ($7.10).
WHERE TO STAY
Åsgårdstrand Hotell We like this hotel because it lies near the harbor and
its rooms open onto scenic seascapes. This six-story stone-and-wood hotel was
constructed in 1931, on the site of an earlier hotel. This well-run businessper-
son's hotel has bedrooms in different sizes. All of them are comfortably furnished
in a modern style and well maintained. Each has an immaculately kept private
bathroom, a third of them with tubs, the rest with showers. The standard on-
site restaurant is mainly for the convenience of guests. Nonguests are better off
dining at one of the above-recommended hotels or restaurants in Horten, which
is nearby.
Havnegata 6, N-3167 Åsgårdstrand. & 33-08-10-40. Fax [phone]. www.asgardstrand-hotell.no. 70
units. Mid-June to late Aug 750NOK ($107) double, 1,500NOK ($213) suite; rest of year 900NOK-1,200NOK
($128-$170) double, 1,800NOK ($256) suite. Rates include breakfast. AE, DC, MC, V. Closed Dec 20-Jan 3.
Amenities: Restaurant; bar; sauna; limited room service; laundry service/dry cleaning. In room: TV, minibar,
hair dryer.
7 Tønsberg: The First Settlement ¡
102km (64 miles) S of Oslo
Bordering the western bank of the Oslofjord, Tønsberg is Norway's oldest town.
And just how old is it? No one is certain. But documentation—including the
Saga of Harald Hårfagre, by Snorre Sturluson—puts the date around 871, when
King Harald Fairhair united parts of the country, and the Viking town became
a royal coronation site.
The Viking ships Gokstad and Oseberg, on display in Oslo's Bygdøy peninsula,
were discovered at a site near Tønsberg. King Olav of Vestfold and King Sigrød
of Trøndelag, both killed in battle, have their tombs at Haugar.
In the Middle Ages, Tønsberg became a major Hanseatic trading post for
eastern Norway, with links to Rostock along the Baltic. In the 1600s it was
known as a major port in eastern Norway, worthy of Bergen in the west.
By the mid-1800s, Tønsberg was a port for whalers in the Arctic and Antarc-
tic Seas, rivaling Sandefjord (see below). It was also the headquarters of Svend
Foyn, known as the “father of Norwegian sealing and whaling.”