Things to do near Drammen

Mum sent me an email. "Drammen doesn't look very exciting." She wasn't wrong. Some pretty bridges and a nice river, but I didn't get far from the train station while I was there.

What Drammen did do was let me spend a day exploring Horten (The sunny part of Norway! It rained the entire time I was there). Overlooking the fjord in a spot called Borre is the Midgard Historical Center.

Built in a barrows field, the center has a number of artifacts recovered from the field on display. Most of these were discovered when the barrows were being dug to lay train tracks.

A sword and a spearhead

The center also provided the most comprehensive information about life in the viking times that I've seen so far. The collection was small but very well curated.

This sword was intentionally bent out of shape before burial, the theory being that it had to 'die' to travel to the afterlife.

But even without the artifacts on display, my trip to Borre would have been worthwhile for one piece of information I gathered while there - details about Viking era Novgorod, the one city I am not able to visit on this trip. My research so far had given me everything I needed except one crucial detail - Holmgard, the fortified island on the Volga, was an earth fort, not a stone fort.

Long spearhead for stabbing, short spearhead for throwing

I'll happily recommend the center to anybody looking to fill a day in southern Norway. It only takes an hour or two to see the exhibits and has a good cafe, friendly staff, and is situated in an interesting and historic part of the country. They tell me it stops raining sometimes, as well.

A decorated thing that was buried. Really, that's what the card said!

The field the center is situated in is supposed to be the burial place of the Yngling kings, but given that the same claim was made of the barrows I visited in Uppsala, I'm not certain how much credit I'd give the theory. The Ynglings seem to be the subject of a Scandinavian pissing contest - I've got more buried than you do.

Barrows! Well, barrow.

The rest of the day was given over to getting to Oslo (bus to Skoppum, train to Drammen, pick my bags up, train to Skøyen, bus to Oslo). The next day; Viking ships.