Travel to Norway

Norway introduced salmon sushi to Japan
While sushi is absolutely a Japanese invention, they did not use salmon in the dish until it was suggested by a Norwegian delegation in 1980's.

Norway has a land border with Russia
This one had me scratching my head and checking a map when I first moved to Norway. Although there is just one road crossing, the Norway-Russia land border is actually 120 miles long.

The Storskog crossing on the E105 highway is the northernmost road border crossing in Europe. In September 2017, a new tunnel and bridge opened on the Norway side of the border, decreasing travel time for those crossing the border.

By the way, that's something many people do. Norwegians cross over to buy cheaper fuel for their cars, while Russians cross over to buy better quality goods in Kirkenes.

The world's most remote island is a Norwegian territory
But it may surprise you to learn that it's not in the north! It's actually on the other side of the world. Administered by Norway since 1929, Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is Planet Earth's most remote island.

It is located approximately 1,700km north of the coastline of Antarctica and 2,600km away from the South African coast. The closest inhabited land is the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha, more than 2,000km away. Tristan is also an extremely remote place, with no airport.

Norway designated the 49km² island and its territorial waters a nature reserve in the 1970s. While no-one lives on the island, Norwegian authorities do maintain an (unmanned) weather station. This means it's easy to check the weather there from Norway, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo
The Norwegian capital has been the proud venue of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony every year (with just a few exceptions) since 1901. The other Nobel prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Physics and Physiology or Medicine are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.

That's due to the wishes of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who bequeathed his wealth to create the awards upon his death. No-one's quite sure why he chose Norway for the Peace Prize.

The world's longest road tunnel is in Norway
At an astonishing 15 miles (24.5 km) long, the Lærdal Tunnel is the world’s longest. Costing 1 billion Norwegian kroner to build (that's about USD $110 million) the tunnel connects the small communities of Lærdal and Aurland.