This week I will take you with me on a walk along the harbour front in Kristiansand. This year our city is one of the hosts during the Tall Ship Race 2025. More than 40 ships have visited Kristiansand from July 30 to August 2. What an amazing sight to see these majestic ships fill up our harbor. Our city has been bustling with life. Young sailors from around the world have explored the city and the local population has explored the ships. Not only are the ships open, but there have been concerts, activities and maritime events. Everything for free.
These races bring people together, regardless of nationality, culture and religion. This must be a great way to promote international understanding and friendship. It is first of all about including youth. Young people from around the world, get the opportunity to forge friendship with youth from othere countries, when they meet like this.
«Sørlandet»
Singing sailor's songs
I start where «Sørlandet» is docking. This beautiful full rigger is our ship from Kristiansand. It functions as a training ship that takes young people around the world. Because the ships are open to visitors, I also boarded several of them. It is the container harbor where most of them have docked. Normally it is strictly prohibited for the public, but not these days. It is bustling with life and there was a queue at several of the boats. You will neither go hungry nor thirsty here either. Stalls with food and drink, as well as souvenirs, make it possible to spend the day here.
The Tall Ship Race 2025 started on Friday 4th of July and will end on Saturday 9th of August. The race started in Le Havre, France. In 2017 it was the final port of the Tall Ships Regatta. This year it was the starting point. The race continued through the Enlish Channel and the North Sea to Dunkirk, which for the first time has hosted the Tall Ship Race. Aberdeen was the third city to be visited. Kristiansand, the southernmost city in Norway was the fourth city to host the ships. Esbjerg, Denmark will be the final port. It will be the sixth time during the last 30 years, that Esbjerg will host this race. All of the cities hosting the ships have a history of maritime events and importance as naval cities throughout history.
Kristiansand is Norway’s southernmost city, founded in 1641 by the Danish King Christian 4. It is a great example of a Renaissance cities. Well-preserved too. Kristiansand was also the host of the Tall Ships Races in 2010 and 2015. Both times I was at the harbour to look at the ships. In 2015. So it is ten years since last time. I still think it is worth taking the walk along the harbour.
This year I ended my walk at the Christiansholm Fortress. The fortress was built by the Danish King ( Christian 4) as part of the defense system to protect the city. I was built during the years 1667 -72. At the most, there were 65 canons here. A few of them are still standing here. From the programe for these days, I read that there would be lectures inside the fortress. I made sure to arrive in time to learn something more about kings and pirates.
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The speakers were Linda and Håkon Reinertsen, who have studied both local and northern European sources. They took us back to the 1520s Southern Norway. This was a time when kings fought side by side with pirates. When King Christian 2 lost power that year, he fled to the Netherlands. While living in exile, he started an attempt to regain the throne. To finance this fight, he supported pirate activities that were based along the southern coast of Norway. Linda and Håkon could tell a lot about how many locals were involved in the European power struggle. Interesting part of our history that I have not heard before.
Many volunteers have made a great effort during the race. Look at these "locals" dressed to match the history and the fort. In the tent I saw it was possible to buy both food and drinks. It was a nice end to the trip today. It is not often that you get both a history lesson and the fort's soldiers and staff in period clothing.
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