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Last update March 2015, long winter weekend

A cold weekend in the cute little mining town of Røros

Walking the old town, enjoying some art, freezing in the mining museum, visiting an old copper mine, sliding off the road, shuffling a lot of snow and getting rescued, all in 2 days.

A little bit of ice

 

That was clearly ice on the road, and a lot of it, hidden under a thin layer of snow, which made the car suddenly move in funny ways and then kicking it off the street.

 

It had of course nothing to do with my driving - and for sure not with the speed on these snowy, bendy and unfamiliar backroads in the dark somewhere near Røros. My better half would probably not agree to that as she was mentioning exactly that to me right before we crashed... Aaanyway.

 

Until that little "accident" we had had a lovely weekend trip by car to Røros, an old copper mining town about 5 hours north of Oslo. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The mining museum 

 

The guide recommended a visit to the mining museum in the city centre which we did the other day. It is surprisingly big and contains many 1:20 models of various ancient mining methods - in an insanely detailed way, partly even animated.

 

Absolutely worth a visit, with and without kids.

 

He also recommended go to Olav Gruve (Olav's mine) 20 min drive outside the town, which we did the same day in the afternoon.​​​​​​​​​

 

Olavs gruve 

 

That mine is something special: you start walking down right from the surface through smaller and bigger aisles, straight and in zig-zags, climb down wooden stairs until you eventually reach the deepest point. 

 

In between you see really huge huge caves supported by massive, over 10m high, natural stone pillars. All illuminated in a nearly magical way, uncovering quite a surprising palette of colors of the various kinds of rocks. 

 

As it is a guided tour you get a lot of interesting background information - just the little song performance of our elderly guide at the end of the tour was a bit odd. Probably she liked to have an audience which couldn´t escape.

 

Nice acustics though.​​​​​​​​​

It's quite a cold spot in winter (-23 degrees when we were there), so we enjoyed various cafes, museums and shops between short, brisk walks up and down the two main streets alongside beautiful, traditional and well maintained or restored wooden houses. The two hours guided city tour we did despite the cold weather was the perfect mix between stories and facts which we like. No surprise that there was only one more Norwegian couple, and no surprise either that we agreed to meet over a bottle of wine afterwards to warm up again.

 

During the tour we also visited Per Sverre Dahl in his gallery / shop in the Dahlgården street: If you are looking for a really nice souvenir and not the usual magnet for the fridge, you should plan a stop here; he has lots of artful sculptures.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

A bit of digging

 

As already mentioned above, on the way back we landed in the ditch. Not where you like to be at -15 degree Celsius. "Luckily" we warmed up quickly when trying to dig out our car. It was stuck less than a meter from the road, so how hard could it be?

 

Very, as it turned out: removing lots of snow from below the car, just to see the car digging itself in again was really frustrating. All that in the middle of nowhere - as I apparently had taken a wrong turn at the last intersection, which meant we were in a dead end street, which meant again that there was no one passing by.

 

After digging an hour and not getting anywhere, we walked down the road, rang the bell at various houses, but nobody was at home of course. We finally found a nice lady who let us in, called the rescue service and served us some hot tea.

4 hours later than expected we were back at the hotel and definitely ready for some strong liquor.


The drive back to Oslo the next day went smoothly and uneventful. How boring.

 

Our tip of the day: If this ever happens to you, just call the rescue team right away and skip the digging part.

​

Local food

 

Today Røros is also known for its regional food of excellent quality like bread, milk products, herbs, meat & sausages, cheese etc. After testing a lot, we confirm: That is right!

 

So visitors should not miss a good dinner in one of the good restaurants (e.g. Vertshuset) and also take some things home (check out: Røros Delikatessen, Kjerkegata 8).

MAPS

Our personal extra advice

  • Per Sverre Dahl Keramikk shop

  • In the winter: Take with you warm clothes also for short drives; studded tyres or a 4WD car; mobiles do not work everywhere; listen to your better half regarding speed on ice & snow...

 

Points of interest close by:

  • Olav's mine (20 min by car)

 

More information

Click on the map for opening the right clipping in google maps in a new window

INFO

Distance from Oslo

  • 390 km / 5 hours by car

 

Highlights

  • World heritage: 2 main streets with historical houses and the mining museum

  • Church with graveyard around

  • Guided city tour

  • Dinner at Vertshuset :-)

  • Plenty of summer and winter related sports activities: Skiing, hiking, kayaking, horse riding...

 

Overnight stay we can recommend

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