Norway

Norway Population: 4.6 million people live in Norway. Capital: Oslo, which is the third biggest city in Scandinavia after Stockholm and Copenhagen, with 790,000 inhabitants.

Norway’s national animal is the Elk Norway’s national animal is the Elk. It is the largest mammal in Norway and can be found in considerable numbers through out most of the country. Elks live mainly on grass, leaves, bark and other plants.

Norway’s national flower is the purple heather, which grows in almost all parts of the country from the coast and high up into the mountains. It blossoms in the summer with small, pink petals, which provide nectar for bees and other insects.

Norway’s national bird is the dipper, a rather small bird which lives on the larvae and plants it finds in rivers and waterfalls. It dives for its food and can stay under water for up to a minute.

Skiing Norway is truly the “cradle of skiing”. What we today know a sport, skiing developed in Norway as a means of getting around.

Furthermore, Norwegians invented ski waxing, the modern binding, and the laminated ski. Norway has long been famous for cross country skiing, but more recently, skiers eager for new challenges and adventures have turned their attention to our many fine alpine resorts.

As the 1994 Winter Olympic Games so clearly showed, Norway offers great facilities for all winter sports; good snow conditions, clean fresh air, healthy lifestyle, inexpensive accommodation and lots of after-ski activities.

Food and Drink Some popular Norwegian food and drink are: Fish Lamb’s Meat and Mutton Fruits and Berries Coffee

Fish A large number of fish dishes are popular today, based on such species as salmon, cod, herring, sardine and mackerel. Seafood is used fresh, smoked, salted or pickled. One famous traditional Norwegian dish is smoked salmon. This exists traditionally in many varieties, and is often served with scrambled eggs, dill, sandwiches or mustard sauce. A more peculiar Norwegian fish dish is Rakfisk, which consists of fermented trout.

Lamb’s Meat and Mutton Lamb’s meat and mutton is very popular in autumn, mainly used in fårikål, a mutton stew with cabbage. Pinnekjøtt, cured and sometimes smoked mutton ribs that is steamed for several hours, is traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway .

Fruits and Berries Norwegian fruits and berries are much used for desserts. Strawberries and cloudberries are among Norwegians favourites. Lingonberries are preserved and used as an accompaniment to meat dishes.