Posted by We haven’t been in anything resembling a city since we left Stavanger. But Ålesund do have a decent size and with a population of a bit over 50,000 people this place has a bit of a real town feel to it.
The city used to consist of only old wooden houses – but in 1904 disaster struck and burned down most of the wooden houses of the town. The fire was one of the most destructive fires in the history of Norway destroying most of the old wooden houses. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise since the destruction created a need to rebuild the town. The rebuilding gave the opportunity to create a new town in a uniform design fully in line with the most modern architectural trends in Europe at the time.
The town was rebuilt by young architects who had been inspired by the Jugendstil (also known as Art Nouveau). The town was rebuilt and the modern town still stands till this day with a museum for the architectural style of the city.
We didn’t go to visit the museum but we did park the car in the center of the Jugendstil district and went for a bit of a wonder around the rebuild city. The buildings are located around a couple of city blocks so it is an easy place to go and wonder.
A bonus with the district is the amazing location down at the water edge which – so when walking around the town we go along the different canals of the town. The people having an apartment along these canals have a superb view of the town and we enjoy the view of the canal from the bridge across the canal.
FrejaTravels 