We arrived in Oslo on July 7. During our first days, the city seemed to be full of people. As the month passed, however, we noticed that it seemed somewhat empty. Taking a walk in the morning we often encountered hardly a soul on the street. At the same time, we had a couple of people we wanted to see. We emailed, and when we heard back from them they all said the same thing: they were at the cabin.
A native explained to us that everyone in Oslo who can leaves in July and goes to a cabin, often one in the family for generations. Norwegians use their cabins on weekends too: on Fridays at 4:00, apparently, there is always traffic out of Oslo as everyone creeps toward paradise. But July is their big vacation month. It’s the warmest month and the ‘end’ of the summer, as school starts in the middle of August.
We found ourselves wondering about these cabins, wistfully. The Norwegian cabin tends to be fairly basic, with well water and outhouses; some have electricity, some don’t. Not exactly our jam, but still, it sounded pretty nice. We thought back to the border official who suggested that we get out of the city. And Norway really is a country of outdoorsy folks and pursuits. We weren’t feeling sorry for ourselves or anything, because think about all the great food we’ve been eating! But we did wonder… Then, as luck would have it, we were recently invited to spend the day at one! Their cabin is at the southern end of the Hurumlandet peninsula, and it takes about an hour to drive there. Since we don’t have a car, it took us three buses/about two hours. But the bus rides were ridiculously scenic and so the time passed quickly.
We arrived in village of Holmsbu, where they met us, and drove for about half an hour to their cabin. Theirs was nearly at the end of a dirt road, and it was pretty and rustic, with water from a well and an outhouse. And what a spectacular location! Because they are almost at the tip of the peninsula there was water with beautiful views in three directions. Low-lying hills in the nearby and middle distance only added to the feeling of being surrounded and isolated. Oslo felt a long way off.
Our hosts proved to be utterly delightful! We’d like to describe the cabin but we spent all of our time outside, as you would too if you’d seen the view. We chatted for a while. Then we had lunch, which consisted of a gigantic bowl of cooked shrimp. We set to work peeling them, and they showed us how to construct a proper open-faced sandwich (we call this smørrebrod), with a dollop of mayonnaise on the bottom (the glue that holds it all together, they explained), the shrimp piled high on top, and then lemon and dill to finish it off.
They told us that this was a typical Norwegian summer lunch, and that they ate it several times a week. It was amazing! (Note: you know how we feel about mayonnaise. But one of us followed directions, and it was better than expected. Maybe European mayo is better? Maybe the view helped? We remain haters, but shaken.)
After lunch we walked into the hills behind the cabin where we admired the views and picked some blueberries and raspberries (which we later took home and used for yummy pancakes). Then we sat outside and talked and had some delicious white wine from a vineyard of which our host was part-owner. The sun wasn’t exactly setting (it was only about 5 o’clock by this point, so the sun wouldn’t be setting for about five hours), but it was lower in the sky. The light over the water and the hills was hypnotic.
It was a struggle to leave, but we did finally tear ourselves away, and arrived back in the city around 8.30. The evening weather was cool and dry, and the city looked lovely as we made our way home from the bus stop, sun-burned and logy, but very happy. And now – despite being committed minimalists – we understand why Norwegians like to spend July at their cabins!
