There is not a lot about Høllen online. In fact, I fully expect that in a world where websites that tell you things about places get rewarded by search engines instead of relegated behind promoted rubbish only tangentially connected to the subject you’re interested in, this post would soon become the top-rated match for anyone looking for Høllen information simply based on it containing more than a dozen words on the topic. Sadly, we don’t live in that world. Even sadder, we live in a world where nobody will ever want to look up what sorts of things there are to see and do in Høllen. Had you heard of the place? No, us neither. But that’s part of the reason why we wanted to see it.

Okay, then. Høllen is less than ten kilometres south west of Kristiansand, so it didn’t take us long to reach there. The title of this post and your elite comprehension skills tells you it’s a fishing village, and that is true, but it’s possibly less village-like than maybe you’d be expecting if you’d booked the same cruise excursion as us. Which isn’t to say that it wasn’t small and filled with traditional wooden houses and generally pretty; it was simply closer to what we’d call a town than a village, without really being sure we could define what differentiated the two. You just know, you know?

Høllen probably has three things going for it if you’re looking at it through the eyes of a tourist.

Firstly, there’s a marina, and that’s clearly related to the status of the location as a fishing village. If a bit of fishing off the coast of Norway is your bag, then here’s somewhere that might be worth a look at.

Secondly, there’s a sandy beach. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Norway I don’t picture sandy beaches, so this is quite an unusual attraction. According to our tour guide, it was for this reason that Høllen is very popular during the warm summer months and weekends when hardy Norwegian types are forced against their will to take some time off with the family and enjoy themselves.

Thirdly, Høllen is actually pretty picturesque even under the clouds. There are some places that look great in the sunshine but grim as all hell when it’s overcast, but the combination of white timber buildings, boats, rocky outcrops, sandy beaches, and plenty of grass and trees means that for photographers you’re not going to be disappointed with the views whatever the weather.

Please remember to return the tourist’s eyes after use.

We didn’t have very much time to explore; this was one of those “drive to the place, mention that the locals like to hit the water when it’s warm, tell people they’ve got twenty minutes to nose around on their own” sort of stops on a short tour of the area. That was just about enough time to see just about enough of Høllen to think yeah, it’s an okay place. So let’s take a look at some photos, starting around the marina and those moody clouds.

Sculptures of heads! Who doesn’t like sculptures of heads? These are the Høllen Heads, one from Larvikit stone and one from Fauske marble, sculpted by Dutch artist Michael Rieu. As fans of abstract art we liked these a lot. Knowing Scandinavian folk as well as we do, we assumed that these were warnings to the giant underwater stone people that decapitation would be their welcome should they venture ashore.

Carrying on from the marina and past the heads brought us to the beach. I’ve seen bigger ones, but there was sand and grass and some benches, and I could certainly imagine it would be a very pleasant place to come for some sunshine and a swim.

It’s not just stone sculptures that Høllen has out on display to distract you from the pleasing scenery. Fans of rusted bits of metal with plaques on them won’t be disappointed with the sand bucket or the limestone slab wreckage. Sadly, my Norwegian doesn’t extend far enough to know the complete significance of these artifacts but they certainly imply that there’s at least a small amount of history attached to the fishing village beyond the fact that it hosted a Thing in the sixteenth century.

And that concludes a little look at Høllen near Kristiansand. Not a massive amount to see or do, but pleasant enough in its own way, and nice to see something that isn’t just fjords or mountains or lakes if you’re visiting Norway.

In the next post in this series we’ll visit an open air museum, and that will be followed by a walk around Kristiansand itself.

You don’t have to take an organised tour here, but as part of our cruise excursion we got a short one anyway. Hopping off the bus, we met our guide and followed her past some buildings we’d get a chance to see on our own later.

The area of Kristiansand Museum we were taken to was called Setesdaltunet. Indisputably, the prettiest part of the grounds, some of the buildings here dated back to the 1600s. Traditional wooden buildings with grass roofs was the order of the day. The functions of the buildings varied, but the raised floors indicated that storage of grains was an important consideration. In addition to barns and granaries, some of the buildings were accommodation for the wealthier people of the villages from which the building came.

A couple of the buildings were opened up so we could crowd around inside and get a feel for what it must have been like to live in a place like this. One of the interesting facts to come out from this visit was about the sleeping arrangements. In the photo below there are two beds tucked away at the back just about visible behind the people standing in the corners of the room. Someone in our group remarked – rightly – that the beds were ridiculously short. We learned that the Norwegians used to sleep in a seated position with knees drawn up, possibly because there was a superstition about dying while laying down, but possibly because Norwegians have just always been weird. Who knows for sure? I mean, yes, I’ve fallen asleep while sitting, but I’d rather risk death than do it every night.

We were taken around a second home from a relatively more modern era and there are a few interesting things to note in the photos below. Some time was given over to the process of men and women courting by our guide. You can see immediately below a photo of some of the traditional folk dresses that women wore, and there was a definite sense that some were made not just for a special occasion, but also to attract the eyes of men.

The last two photos from this house show a couple of other courting facts. In the first picture you can see a traditional mangle board, a precursor to the iron. The rolling pin was wrapped in damp cloth while the mangle board was held and rolled over the top to remove creases from laundry. Originally simply functional, from the 1600s onwards these started to become decidedly more ornate and the consensus opinion is that they had become a form of wedding present from the man to woman. Here, enjoy this piece of artistry I have made with my own two hands while you press my clothing, woman. So chivalrous. Hanging up in the second photo you can see socks and we were told that these often had padded calves in them in order to accentuate the curviness of a woman’s legs and imply she had strength to do chores. Men do like a nice curve, it’s true.

That concluded our guided portion of our visit to Kristiansand Museum, leaving us free time to explore the other areas. Before I hit those photos, though, a quick shout out to our guide whose name I didn’t catch, but who was fabulous. Funny, informative, great communicator.

Bygaden is the name of the area arranged like a street in an old Norwegian town. We had enough time to wander its length, popping inside those buildings that were open. There were stores, workshops, and houses, more-or-less from the nineteenth century.

As we headed back towards the entrance with our free time at Kristiansand Museum coming to a close we had a quick walk around a barn-like structure hosting a miniature version of Kvadraturen, the centre of Kristiansand, as it would have appeared in the late nineteenth century. I personally think it could have benefitted from more signs of life, coming across as a little deserted as it was, but it was still lovely to see and showcased some excellent craftsmanship.

If you’re a fan of this sort of open air museum then Kristiansand will be right up your street. We enjoyed the visit here a lot, even if, like most cruise excursions, we could have done with a little more time.

That brought our short excursion in Kristiansand to an end but we still had several hours in port before Sky Princess would leave so in the next post in this travelogue series we’ll go for a walk around the city and see some of the sights.

Hopping off the bus right by the cruise ship, we immediately headed away from it. The cruise port area wasn’t particularly well-protected from casual visitors. We’ve been to ports that needed buses from the ship just to get outside the industrialised area, and to ports where IDs were checked thoroughly before being let through gates, but this was far more casual, likely relying on little layers of security to keep everyone safe rather than one big, obvious thing that could be circumvented. Passing through a makeshift gap in some decorated cargo containers effectively took us from the port to the city.

If you cruise to Norway and you’re walking around the cruise port at Kristiansand then you’ll be taking your phone out of your pocket or the camera out of its bag and photographing the Kilden Performing Arts Centre as you leave or arrive. You won’t be able to help yourself The reflection of your ship in the building will compel you to think “Yes, this will be an interesting shot” just like it has for countless other tourists here. Just like it was for me.

Close to the port was Fiskebrygga, the fish market. The colourful wooden fronts to buildings housing restaurants and wholesalers of local fish looked fabulous in the sunshine but we weren’t hungry and we didn’t think we’d be able to keep any fish in a decent condition on the ship given the lack of personal freezer space and somewhat lacklustre performance from the cabin’s refrigerator. It was a pretty popular spot, though, and a good mix of visitors from the ship and local Norwegians too.

The next point of interest on our short walk around Kristiansand brought us to Kristiansand Beach. Well, we’ve seen bigger beaches, it would be fair to say. What it did have going for it, though, was golden sand, and a swan. The former is always nice to have on a beach, and the latter was a pleasant surprise. Kristiansand does have a larger (but not much larger) sandy beach a little further along the shoreline had we walked that far so if the swan’s an issue for you then you have an alternative option.

Otterdalsparken was the name of the place we’d identified on a map as being somewhere we wanted to reach. Also known as Nupenparken, this small area called to us because of its water features. If you know anything about us at all, or if you are capable of supposition from the supporting evidence of this website, then you’ll understand that we like water. We like being on it. We like using it to travel to places around the globe. And we like water features. They look good, they sound good, they make us feel good.

Our walk along the water’s edge in Kristiansand took us as far as Christiansholm Fortress, but we didn’t look around it. Our time was limited and we weren’t sure if there was much to see there as it was small. One thing we did see on the approach to this landmark was a statue to Kristiansand-born Camilla Collett, a nineteenth century writer and widely regarded as the first Norwegian feminist.

We made our way up to the main square of the city, passing a few sculptures and statues as we did so. One of these was of King Haakon VII, king from 1905 until his death in 1957, and the first king of an independent Norway since the fourteenth century following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. He’s notable for his role in World War II where he opposed the German invasion and first stalled, then refused to appoint Quisling, who was a Nazi sympathiser, as prime minister. He spent the war in exile in Britain, recording speeches that were broadcast to the resistance movement back home.

The late nineteenth century, neo-Gothic cathedral – one of the largest in Norway – looked lovely in the sunshine but it wasn’t clearly open so we didn’t attempt to see if we could look inside. Besides, we had more important matters to attend to: the lure of beer was calling us. We are fond of having a drink, something locally-made, or nationally-made, and preferably craft over mass-produced if possible, but we’re ultimately not massively fussed with what we can get.

That concluded our short time in Kristiansand, so all that remained was to continue on the roughly circular route we’d chosen back to the ship. This took us past some street art of questionable quality, then through the fish market once more, and finally the entrance in the shipping containers that marked the entrance to the cruise ship port.

With a bit more time there would have been a few other things we might have wanted to visit in Kristiansand, but probably not a whole lot more. The weather in the afternoon helped present the city in a good light even if I’m not sure there’s enough there to spend long in it, but for a day – and certainly when combined with the things we saw nearby during the excursion in the morning – it was very pleasant indeed, and a nice port to stop in if you’re on a cruise that hits this part of Norway.

In the next post in this cruise travelogue series I’ll cover the time aboard the ship in the evening and the sail out after this visit to Kristiansand.

Our balcony was on the starboard side of the ship and was facing seaward so our view wasn’t of Kristiansand itself, but rather the channel that would head out to open water and to the island of Odderøya that lies just to the city’s south.

We spent a little time enjoying the relative peace and quiet out on our balcony, reading, and watching the ferries coming and going that run regularly between Norway and Denmark. We would be doing the same thing when Sky Princess left the port.

The rugged landscapes of the Scandinavian countries’ coasts have a fabulous beauty and a similarity that almost tells you where in the world you are even if you didn’t know for sure. We were reminded a little of the Stockholm Archipelago as we finally cruised away from Norway this evening.

We had plans for the evening that included a late dinner so we decided to take advantage of our Elite level loyalty and hit the lounge set aside early evening for nibbles and quiet drinks away from those who hadn’t yet reached Platinum or Elite levels themselves. To be fair, this is something that is less of a perk than it used to be. Back before the excellent drinks packages that Princess Cruises brought in, this did at least give you the ability to get a few exclusive drinks at reduced price. I suppose it still does for the small number of (weird) people who don’t pick a drinks package, but I suspect that really is a small number indeed as they never seem to have the exclusive drinks menu out by default now and you have to ask for it. Not only that, but we’ve seen the drinks available in other bars now too, so yeah. The nibbles as well are a nice idea in theory, and we do see people take advantage of them, particularly on formal nights, but we’ve never felt the need to eat just before we eat. Still, it can be nice to get away from the crowd aboard after a day ashore, and there’s usually some pleasant live music accompaniment.

We followed up our Elite lounge time with some in Take Five. As it was still early there was only recorded music playing quietly and we had the space mostly to ourselves. A few pre-dinner cocktails almost had to be ordered, and the cocktails in Take Five are absolutely fabulous!

Finishing off the evening nicely was speciality dining in Crown Grill. No surprises here with us ordering mostly what we always order and enjoying every last bite. It was good to see that they had the very excellent Belle Glos Pinot Noir that we’ve discovered over the space of a few years is our preferred bottle of wine on a Princess ship.

In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll be visiting Copenhagen, Denmark for our second time, and for the first of two occasions on cruises in 2022.