A winter sports center in the hills above Oslo, along with some local women preparing food products from the area, will be launching the Norwegian capital’s new tourism promotion aimed at getting visitors beyond Holmenkollen. They want tourists to discover the hills and forests known as “marka,” go for a hike and eat local food.
Representatives of Tryvann Vinterpark and Markajentene were chosen to travel to Berlin this week to represent Oslo at International Grüne Woche (Green Week), the world’s largest food exhibition. Their goal is to get potential German visitors to experience much more of Oslo than the Opera House, the Munch Museum and other landmarks in town. Food and culture are being used to entice them into the city’s northern forest, Nordmarka, and buy local delicacies.
“We’ve been working on a route between Tryvann and Finnerud, to show tourists some of the pearls in the area,” Hanne Norstrøm-Ness of Oslo Vinterpark told newspaper Dagsavisen. “The route can be taken on skis in winter or a bicycle in the summer, and give visitors a good taste of the area.”
The women behind Markajentene (literally, The Marka Girls) produce local jams, baked good and other food products using wild berries and other foods harvested around Finnerud. Nina Grønvold of Markajentene hopes German tourists will be interested in local, Norwegian food culture. “We use what nature has to offer,” she said, adding that visitors can join in the baking and jam-making.
newsinenglish.no staff
