ONA is Norway’s southernmost thriving fishing village..
The Northwest coast boasts several picturesque lighthouses, fishing villages and traditional coastal culture. You will also find the opportunity to set your holiday ‘alight’. TEXT: FREDDY KONGSBERG
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A cosy fishing village by the Atlantic Road that is now a hotel complex. Visit the island for accommodation, a cup of coffee or lunch, or visit the Saga Siglar documentation centre, and its exhibition of Ragnar Thorseth’s explorations. A boat sails in summer season frequently.
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there is also a cafe.
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he Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell fell so completely in love with Ona island that he bought a summerhouse on the island. The Norwegian advertising guru Ingebrigt Steen Jensen turned Ona Lighthouse into a symbol of dreams and visions in his book Ona Fyr. Along the northwest coast, there are several lighthouses and fishing villages with an almost magnetic power of attraction.
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Ona, the island and lighthouse way out at sea, is Norway’s southernmost thriving fishing village with 34 permanent residents. The tiny island society in Sandøy municipality is comprised of the islands Ona and Husøya. During the summer, you will find an open café and ceramics shops here, and there are several opportunities to choose from if you wish to spend the night at Ona. Bud
Bud is another fishing village on the Romsdal coast. This village in Fræna municipality has approx. 1,000 inhabitants, and the feared and fascinating ocean stretch Hustadvika as its closest neighbour. Bud is a paradise for those who love nature and fishing with several apartments and boathouses for rent. Grip
The minuscule island Grip was Norway’s smallest municipality up until 1964 and is located 14 km out to sea, surrounded by 200 islets and skerries, 40 minutes from Kristiansund by boat. The island’s last permanent resident gave up in 1974, and left the island, his rubber boots and his sou’wester behind shortly before Christmas. With its 47 metres, Grip Lighthouse on the Bratthårskollen skerry is Norway’s tallest lighthouse. There are people here only in summer. The picturesque buildings are charming and colourful. In the midst of the buildings is a 500-year–old, venerable, stave church. Daily boat transport in the summer season and
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Veiholmen
Smøla municipality at Nordmøre concists of one large island and no less than 5,000 smaller islands, islets and skerries. One of the larger populated areas on the island is the charming Veiholmen, which is Norway’s largest fishing village south of Lofoten. You do not get closer to the forces of nature on a bad weather day than this. Bjørnsund
A fishing village well worth visiting is the depopulated and idyllic Bjørnsund, where passenger boat captain Størk Huse grew up. – A great place that oozes of coastal culture and where the houses now are used as holiday and summer houses, says Størk. The fishing village consists of three islands and is located just west of Bud at the very tip of the Romsdal peninsula. Around the year 1900, there were between five and six thousand people living in the fishing village, which was depopulated around 1970. There are regular boat departures from Harøysund/Bud during the summer season. Flatflesa fyr
A more extreme experience can be had by living at Flatflesa Lighthouse and spending the night there. The lighthouse is located between Gossa island in Aukra municipality and Ona, and has only ever been inhabited by the lighthouse keepers and their families, says Huse. The lighthouse keeper’s home has now been restored and is often used by smaller groups as accommodation during exciting adventures on a desolate, island. 25