Kristiansand, Norway 01/02/18

Kristiansand -COA

Kvadraturen borough, Kristiansand

This time our stop was a little farther, almost 100 miles, so we made some stops. -Not for food though, because we can't afford anything here :), but to rest our feet a little.
After 2 weeks, we finally arrived in Kristiansand (historically "Christiansand"), a city and municipality in Norway with 88.598 inhabitants as of 2016, being the 5th largest in Norway.


- We are doing it in the wrong order! - Some habiticans are saying, as the order of the most populous cities we are visiting are wrong. First there was Bergen, Norway's second largest city, then Odda, way down there with 5.5thousand inhabitants, then Haugesund, 14th, and Stavanger, 4th place in Norway.


We learned that the road from Stavanger to Kristiansand is only 3 hours by car, and that there is a road connecting the city to Denmark, but our trip on foot took us 2 weeks.

The town was founded in 1641 as Christiansand, on a sandy headland, by King Christian IV(renowned for having founded many towns), who is depicted in a monument in the city.

Some notable people from the city include:

• Agness Kittelsen: Actress
• Andreas Thorkildsen: Olympic world champion in Javelin Throw.
• And many singers, athletes, writers and artists.

Interesting Facts:

• Kristiansand is the third most viatnamese populated city in Norway

• Kristiansand Dyreparken (which we visited) is the zoo that sells most girrafe in Europe.

Kvadraturen

Odderoya Island

The center of the city is called Kvadraturen, a very organized planned block, one of the five boroughs in the city. There we visited Fiskebrygga, a very popular small port and fish market with a nice scenery. Immediately to the south of the city center and Fiskelbrygga, connected by 4 bridges, is mostly undeveloped former naval base now made into a recreational area, Odderoya Island, with approximatelly 0.7 km²(170 acres), with a popular concert stage where names such as; David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Sting, Kanye West, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Aerosmith, Daft Punk, Björk, Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, Damian Marley, Backstreet Boys, Pink, Slash, Oasis, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, The Who, Muse and Coldplay have played

Our favorite trail for running, walking and other activites in the city was Baneheia, a recreational area with extensive paths, that is sadly infamous for the murder of 2 girls in 2000.

Dyreparken, or Kirstiansand Zoo and Amusement Park

6 miles(11km) east from the city center, we visited Norway's most visited attraction and probably the biggest and most complete Zoo in Scandinavia.
Dyreparken, or Kirstiansand Zoo and Amusement Park, encloses a complete zoo, an entertainment parks, as well as a waterworld, in 150 acres(61hectares) of mostly open and explorabe (via walking paths) Nordic terrain.
Among the animals we saw african savanna animals (Giraffes, Zebra and lions) as well as native Scandinavian animals sucha as Wolves and elk, a large breeding ground for Bastrian Camels, and exotic animals such as alligators, orangutangs, pandas, Siberian Tigers and a variety of apes and monkeys roaming freely or swinging on the ropes an trees in the park.

There is an atificial town inside the park which was made to look like Cardamom Town in the book by Thorbjorn Egner, as well as villages Captain Sabertooth and Abra Havn(Port of Abra), taken from a theatre act bt Norwegian author Terje Formoe also serving as a hotel, with 170 apartments, along with Dyreparken Hotel.

That was it for our stop, we are aiming big for the next ones!