Østfold (original) (raw)

Typical polished cliffs coastline at Hvaler

Østfold is a county in the southeastern corner of East Norway. It borders Akershus to the north and west and Sweden (Dalsland and Värmland) to the east. The name means east of the Oslofjord.

Map

Map of Østfold

Østfold has six cities, here listed from biggest to smallest:

Østfold county within Norway

Østfold has several small villages, here listed following the border to Sweden and then up the Oslofjord:

Østfold is a largely a gentle rolling lowland; nowhere in this county is above 300 m (980 ft) in altitude. Highway E6 runs on a natural earth wall that contains a range of lakes dividing the inner and outer part of the county. The northern-most inner part of the county is oriented in direction Oslo and with a very car-oriented culture, while the typical inhabitant of the outer part is more into boats and visits Sweden at least as often as Oslo. The inner part of the county also have a higher-altitude forest that separates the Halden Canal from the rest of the county. This forest is above 200 m (660 ft) in altitude and thus have a very different kind of forest and lack of cropland, while the rest of the county is situated on former seabed that quite recently dried up as the land raised when the ice shelf disappeared. Near the coast this process continues and have created an enormous archipelago with thousands of islands and skerries. River Glomma runs through the county from north to south passing by Askim, Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad with all its water from the mountains, while Moss and Halden have their own smaller rivers connecting to the forests of the Oslo region.

The county of Østfold was merged into a bigger county in 2020, but separatist movements emerged. The parts of the county which is nearest to Oslo, Moss and inner Østfold with all its train commuters, did not want to reinstall Østfold, while the southern parts of the county was more eager to create the county once more. As of 2022 no decision about the future county borders have been made, but Østfold is still a separate area for public transportation pricing as well as election district to the parliament. The parts of the county that want to reinstall it is also the same parts of the county that speak a certain dialect quite different from the Oslo dialect, considering the short distance of only 1 hour drive from the capital.

Typical landscape of interior Østfold

Ytre Hvaler is the national park of Østfold, with coral reefs and water with much more salinity than most of Scandinavia.

Mackerell is very popular to fish from the fjords and eat on open-top sandwiches in tomato sauce

As home of the Mills factory, most of the consumed margarine, mayonnaise and caviar in Norway is made in Østfold.

The 52-seat fixed menu restaurant Curtisen inside Fredriksten fortress, is widely considered as the best restaurant between Oslo and Gothenburg.

Skjærhalden is the capital of the archipelago between the four cities of Fredrikstad, Sarpsborg, Halden and Strömstad and have direct buses to Oslo every hour.

Østfold are famous in Norway for some of its dishes:

In a national poll the people of Østfold voted for "flesk & duppe" as its favourite course, bacon with yellow turnip mash in a white sauce. The northern part of the county voted heavily on this, while the southern part shared its votes on deep water shrimp and fish soup with fresh ingredients from the Skagerrak. Østfold's interior is also a source of food. Elk are all over the woods, while two of the longest rivers boasts salmon. The floor of the woods is often filled with lingonberry, which is used in troll cream, a red dessert with sugar and egg whites. When King Harald visited the interior of the county in 2013 he was served a local menu consisting of beaver paste with spruce tip jelly, elk with quail egg, venison with chanterelle, pike cakes and zander with crayfish. When the Norwegian and Danish queens visited the coast of the county in 1999 they vere served zander filet with chanterelle and mussels, goose breast with root vegetables and turnips glazed in heather honey and for dessert blueberry mousse with apple snow on a bed of nuts.

Listed below is restaurants which combine a Top 3 TripAdvisor ranking in the city, a 4.5+ rating in Google, at least 100 reviews in those places and 1 000 Facebook page likes:

Pollys is the lunch alternative, La Moss cater the village feeling while Slippen is cosmopolitan, Sarpen and Art more budget friendly and Curtisen and Munch straight out luxurious.

Fredrikstad has the most varied food scene of the Østfold cities, which become clear when lowering the bar of mentioning to Top 30 county ranking in TripAdvisor. Combined with above-mentioned criterion the following five restaurants then deserve a mention:

Something extraordinary about the restaurant market in Østfold is all the marina and pier restaurants in the archipelago outside the cities. Especially popular among boat owners, but also accessible by public transportation. Some places are seasonal, others year-round open due to proximity to small villages. These are the Top 10 TripAdvisor ranked marina restaurants in Østfold:

Listed in this category is places with live DJ in the weekends or at least 10 beers on tap or a specialization in either cocktails or wine.

Cross the border into Sweden for cheap meat, liquor or cigarettes. Østfold is midway from Germany to the fjords of Western Norway. The bordering regions of Østfold is:

Surrounding the strait of Skagerrak together with Østfold is also: