K is for Kristiansand in ABC Wednesday

Why should I make a post about Kristiansand in this series when I am born and bred in Bergen? There are very good reasons for this:

• It is Norway's filth largest city with about 80.000 inhabitants.
• It was founded by the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV. ("Kristian Kvart") in 1641
  
• It is beautifully situated in the best part of Summer Norway.
• I once lived and worked there.
• I now have a daughter living and working there.

The panorama picture above shows only part of the city. The picture is dominated by a hill on a peninsula called Odderøya. It was once a Naval Fort and served as a training camp for coastal defence artillery until 1997. After that it has been most famous as the site for the Quart Musical Festival ("Quarten").

The map shows more or less the same, but now with the sea at the bottom. To the right in the map is the Eastern harbour and mainly residential areas, while to the left is the Western harbour with the older part of the city - Kvadraturen. This part of the city was more or less laid down by the king himself with all the streets in in a square pattern.

The main shopping street in Kvadraturen in Kristiansand is called "Markens gate", or locally "Markens". This is just a small part of it. The picture was taken in the beginning of May 2008.

There are also quiet residential areas in Kvadraturen. This is from one of the streets leading up to Kristiansand Domkirke (The Cathedral in Kristiansand).

The church dates from 1884 (the one before was destroyed by fire) and is one of the largest in Norway as it has a capacity of 1500 seated - initially 2000 seated and 1000 standing.

Kristiansand has also its own ship, the full-rigged ship "Sørlandet", one of the three large sailing ships left in Norway. She dates from 1927 - and beautiful she is (for a picture of her at sea, look here).

It you enter Kristiansand in your own vessel, chances are that you will moor in this area, beside Christiansholm Festning (The Fortress of Christiansholm) which dates back to 1672

But Kristiansand has more: It has Norway's largest and best known zoological and amusement park, Dyreparken i Kristiansand ( Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement Park). There you might meet someone like this. The picture is courtesy my youngest daughter.

Kristiansand is also a communication centre with airport and ferries to Denmark (formerly also to England). The main route is European Route E18, which according to Wikipedia:

European route E18 runs from Craigavon in the United Kingdom to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Norway, Sweden, and Finland. It is about 1,890 km (1,174 mi) in length.

Such mighty bridges can of course be seen from the sea level - we are in a boat-concious area after all.

And where there is a sea there is a bird...


Today's post is an entry in the fourth round of ABC Wednesday, the meme initiated by Denise Nesbitt.

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