Weekend in Arendal

"Norway's most beautiful outdoor café" reads the sign hanging in the corner of Pollen, Arendal's harbor basin. On a sunny day, it feels like a sober statement of fact.

Not only is the quay area beautiful. There are also people everywhere: With a glass and something to bite into in the many cafes and restaurants. On the benches between the linden trees. Or on the stone steps above the jetty, while they lick home-made gelato from Café Victor or SØD Konfekt og Gelato.

You could easily sit here for hours, enjoying the lapping of the waves and the sight of the small boats chugging in from the islands outside the city.

Sooner or later you should still break free. Because Arendal has far more to offer.

Two magnets for those interested in culture

The town itself is a gem, with pleasant streets, idyllic wooden house environments and views of the sea almost everywhere - and frequent ferry departures to beautiful Hisøy and Tromøy if you feel like an excursion.

The glass elevator, which takes you 60 meters into the air to the panoramic view of the islands, Galtesund and the sea, is also a must.

For many, however, the city's biggest attractions are just over a kilometer inland. Near Langsævannet you will find both Norway's most modern museum KUBEN and the contemporary art center Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall. There are two stops that really blow your mind.

At the Science Center /Vitensenteret beyond Langbryggen, you can also spin for real, in the human gyroscope at the heart of the highly interactive experience centre.

An institution for breakfast

To really experience Arendal as the insiders do, however, you should start the day a short stone's throw beyond the west side of Pollen. Here, Strand Café serves the city's most famous pastry: Munker.

- Most of the cabins in the area have monk iron. But most people use it as a tea light holder. It takes a long time to make donuts, and they have to be turned all the time to be evenly fried, says Jan Ole Dalene, who describes the sweet pastry as something in between waffles and donuts fried in salt.

He himself is married to the fourth generation in the cafe, which in the course of 115 years has become a genuine institution in Arendal.

- The first group of regulars has its own key. They unlock and pour coffee and flip money afterwards, he smiles.

Almost directly across from the cafe is also Fiskebrygga with its almost equally acclaimed fish cakes.

Charming Tyholmen

You are then standing at the start of Tyholmen, the oldest and best-preserved district in Arendal. It is full of small, charming wooden houses. So what's better than continuing the hike here?

You will quickly discover that the area is divided into two zones: In the beach zone, shipowners and merchants ruled in their stately houses, while the craftsmen and sailors built their smaller houses among the alleys higher up.

The Kløckers Hus museum provides a fascinating insight into how the city's citizens once lived - in addition to housing the world's largest bottle collection. And did you know that the old town hall is Norway's tallest wooden building from the Empire era? The architect who designed it actually thought it should be built in brick, and suggested sprinkling sand on top of the paint!

Tyholmen also has a number of good places to eat, such as the romantic vaulted cellar Nye Steenhuset by Teaterplassen and Restaurant Flyt by Arendal Gjestehavn, which offer a lounge atmosphere as well as floating saunas and a floating, heated swimming pool.

Niche stores of Arendal

Up in the center itself, the streets are straighter and newer, thanks to a series of city fires in the 19th century.

The soul is still strong here too. You just have to poke your nose into the many independent shops. Like the one that started as Norway's smallest chocolate factory, Heimdal Chokolade.

- Today we are probably the country's largest, small chocolate factory. But everything is still made by hand, says Finn Debess as he picks some of the marzipan temptations in a bag.

He states that the factory shop has become a mandatory stop for many of the city's tourists.

- I will not be surprised if we are Arendal's second biggest attraction, after the Glass Elevator, he smiles.

Further down Torvgaten, the niche shops continue in rows or rows: The town's oldest shop, Ingemann Ellingsen, where the old goods bicycle decorates the blankets. The Drum Brew beer sale, which among other things can tempt you with the year's best beer 2020, the carrot beer Imperial Carrot Gose, made with short-grown carrots from Tromøya.

Up in the center itself, the streets are straighter and newer, thanks to an Og time pocket Torvet Herrefrisør.

- We are Norway's oldest barbershop. The salon opened in 1887, but most of the interior is from the 1960s, says André Sandal Stenersen as he puts a warm towel over the newly trimmed beard of Mathias Hafredal Johansen.

He notes that the beard trend is here to stay. And if you're beardless yourself, you'll certainly find other highlights. There are many of them in Arendal. And they can be experienced all year round.