Viking History in Norway: Visit the Most Important Sites
Explore Viking History in Norway: A Guide to Important Sites
Does your Viking blood tingle? Now it’s possible to embark on Viking raids, visit Viking museums, and live like a Viking! It has never been easier to delve deep into Viking history, whether you’re looking to unleash your inner Viking or simply want to learn more about the culture that connected Norway to the rest of Europe.
High-Tech Constructions
Most associate Vikings with plundering and colonization, but few realize how technologically advanced Vikings were for their time. The Viking ships they built were highly advanced, capable of speeds up to 15-17 knots on a good day. Longships allowed for rapid movement over long distances, facilitating trade, cultural exchanges, explorations, and of course, raiding.
Viking ships enabled travel beyond the continent, being the first to land in Greenland and North America. It is believed that the Viking Leif Eriksson reached America around the year 1000, approximately 500 years before Christopher Columbus. If you want to embark on a Viking raid with a Viking ship, you can try sailing the Saga Oseberg in Tønsberg. Saga Oseberg is a full-scale replica of the famous Oseberg Ship. Just south of Tønsberg, in Larvik, you can also participate in various Viking activities in Kaupang Viking Town, considered to be Norway’s first urban community.
Travel Back in Time
The global interest in Vikings and the Viking Age has increased thanks to popular TV series and films. While old books have taught us that the Viking Age lasted from around 800 to 1050 AD, recent discoveries suggest that Vikings might have sailed around as long as 3,000 years ago. For those who want to live like a Viking just as they did over a thousand years ago, there are several opportunities to immerse oneself in Viking ways and customs. They did much more than just plunder. Many lived peaceful lives as farmers and merchants, and their culture was one where women were the heads of households, unlike many other places in Europe during the same period.
To truly get close to how Vikings lived, you can visit the Viking village Njardarheimr in Gudvangen. There, 400 (modern) Vikings live full-time under simple conditions with a creative twist, eager to share their extensive knowledge about how our ancestors lived. This international community of Viking enthusiasts resides in the village year-round.
Mead: The Sacred Drink
If taste counts, you should head to one of several mead breweries in Norway. Mead is an ancient cultural beverage that has recently made a comeback among Norwegians. Among the Vikings, mead was a popular drink brewed from water, yeast, and honey. For them, mead was a festive drink, especially around Christmas when the sweet drink was a staple.
Now, you can try mead made from Norwegian heather honey at Ægir Brewery in Flåm, truly bringing out the Viking in you. If you prefer a combination of new and old, Mjøderiet in Bergen has an array of exciting mead varieties in stock, including mead with passion fruit, raspberry juice from Nordfjord, and Christmas mead. The latter is spiced with plenty of Christmas spices to get in the proper holiday spirit.
Viking Festivals
There are many Viking enthusiasts from the Nordics and other corners of the world. These people travel far to participate in one of Norway’s Viking festivals. If you visit the Lofotr Viking Museum in Lofoten in August, you can enjoy an entertaining Viking festival. Usually, Lofotr Viking Museum is a museum with a large collection of artifacts, an 83-meter-long Chieftain’s House, and a Viking ship. During the festival, you can also participate in a medieval market, activities like axe throwing and archery, row a Viking ship, theater, concerts, and much more.
One of Norway’s most important cultural-historical areas from the Viking Age is Avaldsnes, near Haugesund. There you’ll find a Viking Farm built according to models of archaeological finds. Every year in June, they also host a large Viking festival in historical surroundings. The Avaldsnes Viking Festival offers experiences for both young and old, providing all visitors an authentic insight into how Vikings lived. At the market, you can buy handicrafts, food, and drink, and everywhere you turn, there is Viking music and other musical performances. Join in archery, juggling, theater, horse riding, or storytelling sessions – and make sure not to miss the battle show!
Interactive Experiences
If you can’t make it to Avaldsnes during the festival, it is still exciting to visit the Viking Farm any other time of the year. You can join a digital historical walk through the new “Time Travel” project. And it’s not just in Avaldsnes where you can get a digital glimpse back to the Viking Age. Further south, in Stavanger, you can visit the Viking House. Described as a groundbreaking experience center, they use VR technology to revive the golden age of Vikings. In Stavanger, you are also not far from the historical monument Swords in Rock, where Harald Fairhair united Norway into one kingdom in 872. By the way – Harald Fairhair had his seat and home in Avaldsnes, which is why both Stavanger and Avaldsnes are important hubs into Viking history.
