Sogndalstrand, the first Norwegian Cittaslow

Last modified 20.03.2022 | Published 24.06.20122010's, Norway, Norway Places

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Sogndalstrand is a picturesque little town on the southwestern coast of Norway. It became an important trading port from the 1600’s onward but fell into decline from the last part of the 19th century.

 

Today the town is preserved as a national heritage and has been thoroughly restored. It is now a popular tourist destination on this coastline. Since 2003 it has been a member of the international Cittaslow “Slow Cities” movement.

The goal is to improve the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city’s use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them. Sogndalstrand and the rest of the municipality of Sokndal seems to be very able to cope with that.

 

 

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I started out making a mini-series of short videos from the western coast of Norway – the fjord country – on my YouTube channel. The videos are a combination of textual narrative, video clips, animated photos and music from Norway. Here is the YouTube playlist. I then decided to include the videos and selected photos as entries on my blog, along with short descriptions. Some of the articles have been developing over time and now include much more.

Get an overview in the introduction article to Norway and the article about Towns and places of Norway.