Viking log home
It has been my summer holiday and my wife and I decided to spend it around Scandinavia. My goal was to check old log homes while rest of the family enjoyed beautiful nature.
Borg, Norway has a live sized replica of Viking chieftain dwelling. As you can see, it is huge…
The remains of the original were just close by, did I mention that the whole thing is HUGE? Notice how they built it by using old fashioned methods like wooden plugs to fix posts and beams together. Even every single roof rafter that I checked had been extended with plug-joints.
We spent quite a while to find the place and took a turn according our GPS. Parking lot was surprisingly small, only for 4 or 5 cars, but there were some cool scenes to photograph so we thought nothing of it. We circled around the site and couldn’t find any ticket booth so we just walked in. Wonderful place - HUGE - you really need to visit Borg if you ever travel to Norway.
Anyway we spent over an hour inside the building and finally it was time to leave. To our surprise, we noticed that there was a gate that was closed and we couldn’t get out, ouch! Right that moment tiny parking place made perfect sense - employee parking.
August 11th, 2008 16:17
These are absolutely gorgeous structures. What fine craftsmanship. I’m sure they’re even more impressive in person. Any photos of the exteriors?
August 12th, 2008 00:11
I sure have some outside photos. I’ll put them online and post some here. I will let you know when they are ready.
It is really impressive, Vikings used open area fire places to cook inside and heat the building so smoke brought some mystery to the place.
On the ridge there were some shutters, which could be closed if necessary that’s how they got rid of the smoke.
During our time of visiting, there was plenty of smoke as they were demonstrating how Vikings used to make food and what kind of tools and ingredients were used.
August 13th, 2008 17:06
Smoked food in a setting like that must have been amazing for the Vikings…jealous.
August 14th, 2008 00:07
They did offer some soup, but it was far from authentic Viking kitchen. Actually I was hoping to get some mead (hey, I’m from Finland), but I didn’t see any, not even in pictures, some Viking villa, huh?
I’ve done my share of camping in wilderness during winter so I take modern amenities anytime over Viking dwellings, but I have to admit building was very rustic and had unique atmosphere.
PS. Tomorrow there are some outside photos on the menu.