Cities Norway
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Country information |
country code: NO
continent: Europe
capital: Oslo
languages: Norwegian
EU membership: no
NATO membership: yes
GSM: 900/1800
GPS: 62 00 N, 10 00 E
electricity: 230V/50Hz
currency:
Norwegian Krone: NOK
1NOK = 0.153 USD
1NOK = 0.121 EUR
phone code:
+47-22
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Travel advices and warnings Norway
Tourism |
Cross-country ski trails in Norway and resorts with downhill ski runs are the most popular destinations for travelers. Mountain climbing, bird watching, glacier hiking and fishing can also be enjoyed in the vast wilderness of Norway. Oslo is a city that caters to outdoor enthusiasts but when looking for a change of pace many notable museums and monuments are available. |
Culture |
Situated far from centres of culture such as Florence, Rome and Paris, Norway has often been isolated from major European cultural trends and developments. Yet a strong culture was flourishing here from at least the ninth century.
Findings from burial sites indicate that the Vikings were great shipbuilders with a strongly-developed artistic tradition represented in crafts, wood carving and jewellery. Significantly, these skills were also passed on to those parts of Europe which they occupied. The beautifully-decorated stave churches built after Christianity was introduced into Norway also underscore the artistic abilities of the Norwegian people. The Gothic cathedral of Trondheim, known as Nidarosdomen, represents a golden age of Norwegian cultural development. It was the last monument to be erected before the dark era in which nearly half the population was wiped out by bubonic plague and Norway ceased to be an independent state. |
Language |
Over 99% of the 4. 3m population of Norway speak the official language, Norwegian. Norwegian has 2 written forms, "Bokmal" (Book Norwegian) and "Nynorsk" (New Norwegian) and they enjoy the same legal recognition, although "Bokmal" is increasingly more common. Minority languages include Finnish, spoken by 0. 2% of the population, mainly in the northern region of Finnmark, as well as "Sami", a language closely related to Finnish, spoken by 0. 9% of the Norwegian population. |
Eating |
For breakfast most Norwegians eat open sandwiches with butter and jam, cheese or some kind of meat in slices on top. We most often drink milk for breakfast. Our milk comes from cows, and it is very healthy. But we do not only eat bread, we eat cereals, too. It is not usual to eat a hot meal for breakfast in Norway.
Students eat lunch at school around noon. We bring open sandwiches from home and buy cold, fresh milk to drink. We do not receive any hot meals at school as you might do. We are responsible for our own food. If we forget to bring our lunch, we buy some food at the nearest grocery store in town.
We usually eat dinner around five o'clock. What we eat is different from season to season, from family to family. Most families eat fish twice a week or more. We do not eat it raw as you do, we either boil it or fry it. |
Shopping |
Most towns have shops selling Norwegian handicrafts. Silversmiths and potteries are numerous and worth visiting. Traditional items include printed textiles, woven articles, knitwear, woodcarving, silver, enamel, pewter, glass and porcelain.
VAT, known as MOMS, is levied at 25% on most goods. You can obtain tax-free cheques from any of the 3, 000 shops carrying the sticker ‘Tax free for tourists'. These shops save visitors 11 to 18% of the price paid by residents. VAT refunds are paid in cash at airports, ferries, cruise ships and border crossings. |
Costs |
Norway is expensive. You’ll pay for everything from coffee refills to crossing bridges and using tunnels, from visiting churches to answering nature’s call in public toilets.
If you stay in camping grounds (or, even better, camp in the open air – see p000) and prepare your own meals, you could squeeze by on around Nkr200 to Nkr220 per person per day. Staying in hostels that include breakfast (or eating breakfast at a bakery), having lunch at an inexpensive restaurant and picking up supermarket items for dinner, you can probably manage on Nkr350 per day.
Staying at a hotel that includes a buffet breakfast, eating a light lunch and an evening meal at a moderately priced restaurant, you can expect to spend at least Nkr600 per person per day if you’re doubling up and Nkr750 if you’re travelling alone. Once you factor in transport (a rail pass significantly reduces costs but rail lines don’t extend north beyond Bodø), entertainment (concert and cinema tickets usually start from Nkr50, but can be Nkr150) and alcohol (nightclub cover charges start from Nkr70), you’ll find yourself struggling to keep within a Nkr1000 daily limit. |
Valuta |
The currency (valuta in Norwegian) of Norway is
Krone - NOK. The plural form is kroner.
One krone (1. 00 NOK/1. 00 kr. ) is 100 øre (singular and plural are the same).
In the past, Norway had smaller denominations of banknotes (paper money), such as - 1 kr. (en krone),
5 kr. fem kroner), 10 kr. (ti kroner) and 20 kr. (tjue kroner. These bills are now out of circulation - and have been replaced with coins. |
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From wikipedia about Norway
Norway of
Norway but is not considered part of the Kingdom.
Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land.
Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4. 9 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by
Finland to the south and
Russia to the east; in its south
Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait, across which
Denmark is situated. The capital city of
Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
Two centuries of Viking raids tapered off following the adoption of Christianity by King Olav Tryggvason in 994. A period of civil war ended in the 13th century when
Norway expanded its control overseas to parts of the British Isles,
Iceland, and
Greenland. Norwegian territorial power peaked in 1265, but competition from the Hanseatic League and the spread of the Black Death weakened the country. In 1380,
Norway was absorbed into a union with
Denmark that lasted more than four centuries. In 1814, Norwegians resisted the cession of their country to
Sweden and adopted a new constitution.
Sweden then invaded
Norway but agreed to let
Norway keep its constitution in return for accepting the union under a Swedish king. Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting
Norway independence. Although
Norway remained neutral in World War I, it suffered heavy losses to its shipping.
Norway proclaimed its neutrality at the outset of World War II, but was nonetheless occupied for five years by the Third Reich. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and
Norway became a founding member of NATO. Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. In referenda held in 1972 and 1994,
Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include immigration and integration of ethnic minorities, maintaining the country's extensive social safety net with an ageing population, and preserving economic competitiveness.
Norway is a unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with King Harald V as its head of state and Jens Stoltenberg as its prime minister. It is a unitary state with administrative subdivisions on two levels known as counties (fylker) and municipalities (kommuner). The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Although having rejected European Union membership in two referenda,
Norway maintains close ties with the union and its member countries, as well as with the United States.
Norway remains one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, and participates with UN forces in international missions, notably in
Afghanistan, Kosovo,
Sudan and
Libya.
Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council, a member also of the European Economic Area, the WTO, the OECD and is a part of Schengen Area.
Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, fresh water, and hydropower. On a per-capita basis, it is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East, and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. The country maintains a Nordic welfare model with universal health care, subsidized higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. From 2001 to 2007, and then again in 2009 and 2010,
Norway had the highest human development index ranking in the world.