Akershus festning & ferry-cruising in the Oslofjord

Although it was quite cold today, again something like -10°, we pretty much spent all day outside today (or at least the part of the day where there was daylight, as sunset is still just past 4:30 p.m. these days...).

We started with the Free Walking Tour Oslo that takes place at 10 a.m. everyday. I don't really have the time to do the tour justice, so there's going to be separate article about the tour at some later point - I promise!

In the afternoon (we obviously had to go back to my place in between to warm up again), we first went to Akershus festning, which had been a "and over here, you can see..."-part of the tour. If you dare going up to the medieval fortress/castle - it is icy and slippery, like everywhere in Oslo these days -, you are rewarded with a very nice view of the Oslofjord.

Just a bit icy...

Hi seagull!

However, we didn't have a lot of time, because we had to catch the last ferry from Aker Brygge, or rather its pier. The ferry to where, you might be wondering? To a bunch of islands in the Oslofjord and back to Aker Brygge. There are different ferry lines which are part of Oslo's public transport system. So if you have a 24 hour, 7 day, or 30 day ticket, you can just hop on board.

We took the ferry line B1, as this seems to be the only one that's running all year. The other lines often only run in summer, which makes sense, since the islands seem to be popular local recreation destinations - and you can't really swim and barbecue at this time of the year (the perks of only visiting Oslo for a week in February :D).

So we got on the last ferry at 4 p.m. and started our round trip looking like this: Aker Brygge > Hovedøya > Bleikøya > Gressholmen > Lindøya øst > Lindøya vest > Nakholmen > Hovedøya > Aker Brygge (don't ask me to tell which island is which on the photos)

That's Akershus festning, by the way.

Just a bit of ice...

If you're wondering what was dirty, my camera lens or the window of the ferry, then the answer is quite simple: both. But hey, we got a tiny bit of sunset glow while we spent "sunset" on the ferry!