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Category: Artic Living | Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:32 am

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This is a blog that will take a few writings to cover. With that being said, Velkommen til Lofotr Viking Museet. Welcome to the Lofoten Viking Museum. The word Lofoten or Lofotr in old norse, is a word no one knows what it means. I live in Lofoten. Our motto here on this island is Wild an Wonderful Lofoten. And let me tell you it is. Up the road from where I live is a museum that is extremely intresting. I'll give a brief history, but will add a link that goes into it further.

In Borge, there is a farmer who was plowing his field when he come across some timbers that were petrified, not just laying there but stuck in the ground at varying lengths. Seeing this he called the local university an they sent out an archeologist. What they found was the largest an most elaborate Viking long house in all of Norway. The chieftain that lived here was one wealthy man. He left tho, why, some suspect because of christianity, others because he wanted to go to Iceland. No one knows except he packed his bags an left for Iceland, with his whole household and a fleet of ships. Upon further digging they found down by the sea, a blacksmith forge, dock, and a veriaty of other buildings. The house is estimated to have been built in the years around 500 a.d. and was added to for the next 400 years.



Upon reconstruction of this long house they were in awe of the vastness of it.




But what I want to show you is down by the sea. The famous Viking boats of the years from between 500ad to 900ad.

"Oh Lord, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen!" That famous prayer was not to be answered for another 250 years after the famous Lindinfarne raid in England. But you see the problem lies with what were the Vikings. They were not always mersenaries, or out to rape, kill and pillage what ever was in their path. Vikings were farmers, first and foremost. They were traders or merchants. They mastered the sea long before most countries even tried to get off their land. What made the Vikings famous is when the Romans tried to invade this part of the world. Lets just say they never came back. The Norse people have always had a wonderlust in their bloods. Adventure. Exploring. The openess of the land and sea. The variety of boats is amazing and what they made them out of. The procedures they went to, to weather a boat. One type of boat is from a single log, hollowed out then treated and sunk to the bottom of sea floor bed. It stays there for a few months or sometimes a year. The theory is that the ocean waters mould the boat. the rocks that are loaded into it starts to rub and add further moulding so the craft becomes sea worthy and never deteriorates. Amazing.

Here is a natural hide boat, that is upside down to drain. Its a single man boat, but made also the same way as the boat i described earlier. This boat is said to be made as early as the turn of the first century. Ofcourse this is a replica, but its made the same way.


Next is the Lofotr, the boat of the seas here, where people can row with other guest, and get to feel what it was like to be a Viking on the high seas.


And here is the Ofotr or Ofoten.


The dock area built exactly as it was then.


And while your out in the ship, maybe you will catch one of these.



For your sake I hope not,,,lol. But if your intrested in further learning about Borg Viking Museum here is the link to a wonderful place an time in Norwegian history.

http://www.lofotr.no/engelsk/

http://www.lofoten-info.no/default2.htm




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Palm Tree wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:35 pm:

That is amazing how they made boats. I would love to have lived in a place that huge. because with a huge dwelling one would expect a huge garden or farm rather.
And it does look like that fish will catch you instead of the other way around. I cannot wait for the next installment!!

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Biita wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:33 pm:

Thank you Palm, it is a beautiful place. And the building is just overwhelming, its so huge.

That is one ugly fish,,lol. but ohh my goodness does it taste good. In Norwegian its called the Steinbit, English its the Wolf fish.

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Droopy wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:58 pm:

A good fillet of wolf fish for dinner! Yummy. I don't like catching them, because they are so hard to kill and the teeth are murderous.

Lovely photos from the museum, thank you. I've visited the web site before, it's a good one. I feel the urge to visit that museum and see for myself.

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toni wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:30 pm:

I love all the information and photos Biita, thanks for sharing them.

The museum site is very interesting, wish I could come see it all in person.

The Lofoten website is great, what a beautiful island you live on.

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glendann wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:58 pm:

Thank you Bitta for all the information .Your island is truly amazing.Thanks for sharing with us.

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weeds n seeds wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:52 pm:

Beautiful pictures and GREAT information, Biita, really enjoyed this blog! Thank you so much!

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sharon mc wrote on Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:40 pm:

Really enjoyable and informative piece of writing! The place looks lovely, too.

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Biita wrote on Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:18 am:

Thank you all for reading. There is so much ancient history here its just amazing, and it all open not fenced off.

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Sjoerd wrote on Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:57 am:

That is great Biita! What good pictures and text. I got a good feeling while reading your descriptions. I am quite happy that you posted this. I will have a look at the websites now.
I am looking forwqrd to more info and piccies from you.

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kaseylib wrote on Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:27 am:

Thanks again for taking us along on your ventures...I really enjoy reading your tales. It's so interesting to learn about the history of other places, and you make me feel like I'm there. Norway seems like a fascinating place.

How much sunlight do you have there now each day? It's great with the days getting longer now, but it's still dark at 6:00 AM when I wake up.

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Biita wrote on Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:22 am:

Thanks everyone for reading.

Our sunrise is about 8:30am and sunset is about 4:30pm,, but we have a half hour before an after the sunrise an sunset that makes it 9 hours now of light.. officially we are at 8 hours. but if i can see out there and its light,, i count it...lol.

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gardengater wrote on Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:08 pm:

Biita, You live in an austerely beautiful country. It's awe-inspiring that you can grow gardens there. I love your farm and the way you use native plants so efficiently. I am interested in wine making and would dearly love to know the technique you use. Hope you have the time to PM me during your busy time! Those ancient ruins - wow, I wish I could visit.

Gardengater

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