Tønsberg City
Tønsberg is a city where nature seamlessly intertwines with urban living. Nestled alongside a serene river and surrounded by lush greenery, Tønsberg offers a unique blend of natural beauty and modern convenience.
If I want to mention one thing I love about Norway other than beautiful nature and high quality of life, I would say: Waffle! In Norway there is a day called Waffle Day and I found out that on this day in some shops they serve waffles for customers, which makes waffle even more special. Talking about food, once I got a cooking book from university library by accident and it was called Norwegian Cooking for Everyone, this was a good book and helped me with the ingredients I could find in shops, ingredients different from my own country. As its recipes concluded delicious food I got a copy for myself and still use it time to time.
When I started residing in Tønsberg for my Master’s didn’t know I was going to love it so much, as I was used to living in a big city with loads of people. However, I found it wonderful to live in a calm place enjoying the comfort that modern life brings with the good water and air quality of nature. There was a river in the middle of the city, a green hill to climb in the neighbourhood and a few minutes walk to beautiful nature sceneries.
These are three photos from the same views from the harbour taken on the bridge at different times, winter, spring and winter night.
Although Tønsberg is really cold in winter, you really want to stop by time to time and watch the sky or the frozen river and the huge amounts of snow and ice.
I took the photo of the purple sky in an early morning on my way to university. I loved the reflection of the orange sky in the water combined with clean air and clouds disappearing into the sun. I find it amazing how you can find different colours of blue, purple, orange and yellow in the sky at the same time, I took this photo in an early morning on my way to university as well.
Tønsberg, the oldest city in Norway, has a peaceful starry night, and beautiful sunset and sunrise, when they happen. Unfortunately, I can’t show the stars here as the images have low quality.
I was told that in northern European countries 6 months of the year is night and then it becomes day for 6 months. Well, it is not that much binary but you can see how dark it could be during the day in these photos. It was funny when a girl at the airport said good evening and I was shocked as it was really dark, unconsciously looked at my watch and it was 4 p.m., the sentence strangely made sense then! I really liked how easily I could find huge amounts of uniform, white and pristine snow on the ground, these photos are from the river where snow is settled on ice.
Beautiful icy surface of Tønsberg river in winter.
The warm side of Norway; I couldn’t believe I could see such scenery after seeing those cold dark days.
Ilene nature reserve
Right next to Tønsberg is a place birds travel to in June. Birds were too far for my camera lens to be captured in the Ilene nature reserve but I didn’t mind, as being away from human makes the animals feel safe and happy. However, in June you can see different kinds of birds walking in pedestrian pathways not reacting much to people and not scared of them. It was funny to me as it felt like I am not an important creature and they are totally ignoring me.
Castle Rock Tower
Castle Rock Tower in Tønsberg belongs to 1000 years ago as stated online. Being built on top of a hill, similar to other castles, it has a fantastic view over the town.
Medieval Festival
Middelalderfestival or medieval festival was a simulation of Norway in old times: black death, games, entertainment and at night lighting sticks and walking to the castle and wishing blessings for Norway.
Sailing Festival
During the sailing festival, many boats travel from the south of Norway to Oslo. It was amazing how in a short time Tønsberg harbour became full of spiky boats! Our professor Knut Aasmundtveit had told us about the date boats might reach Tønsberg, so I anticipated the boats from the windows of my dormitory in the evening but only a few appeared till I slept. The next day though, after waking up I looked out the window and the harbour was filled with boats, totally different from how it was the night before.
Norway’s National Day
These photos were taken from Castle Rock Tower on Norway’s National Day, this day is at the same time as exams so not many photos were taken 🙂 .
Boat Exhibition
This was an exhibition I never had seen before, where you have a good chance to find your favourite boat and buy it, similar to car exhibitions. The person on the river was surfing and it was part of the exhibition plans I believe.
Horten
It was completely worth it to climb all the way to see the scene. It was funny how I made a mistake in estimating the temperature and had to borrow a jacket from our leader!
It was very quiet and I was waiting for my friend to travel back home by ferry. The gloomy sky was a perfect match for my mood.
Karljohansvern
Close to Horten city, there is a calm park with roads appropriate for taking a walk. It is interesting to me that you can find locks on particular fences in Europe, and similarly, you can see pieces of cloth knotted on particular trees in Iran for similar purposes.
Sandefjord
Well, you might be used to seeing these scenes but for me they were different from the places I had seen before and I loved taking photos, especially from the white furry chunky dog lying on the balcony watching me.
Verdens Ende
Verdens Ende or End of the World is actually end of Norway, well the most bottom part of it. In winter it is dark and cold and you can barely see anybody, but when the weather is warm and sunny this place shows itself as the attraction it is and you can see many people around.
The egg-like creatures in the right photo are jellyfish. The other two photos are taken on my way to Tønsberg, the place I needed to change the bus.
Åsgårdstrand
In Norway, they celebrate the longest day of the year, interestingly in Iran they celebrate the longest night of the year called Yalda (photos are posted in the Persian Cuisine and Culture category). In Iran, they light similar fires on the last Wednesday of the year, but it is called Charshanbeh Suri, somehow meaning Wednesday celebration. I find it interesting how traditions are similar among different nations and it makes me think the deepest part of human is similar everywhere and the more we get close to the appearance the more differences show up. You can imagine each person as a cone connected to others by its base but the apexes are separated and make each person a unique individual and recognizable, in other words, the bottom part of our souls which are vast are similar and connected but the top parts which are relatively small and can be seen by eyes are different.
On Ferry
On a ferry moving between Sandefjord in Norway and Strömstad in Sweden you can buy tax-free stuff and enjoy the scenery, such as the houses built on small islands on the corner of vast waters. I liked it how houses and cars looked much smaller than they are. Norway was like experiencing the world from water angle for me, going to a boat exhibition like a car exhibition, travelling by ferry like travelling by aeroplane, riding Knut’s boat like riding a car … , it was amazing!