The best destinations for Viking era enthusiasts (part 1)
Those who are at least interested in who and what the Vikings truly were are aware that the cliches about them being vicious and not very fond of bathing are just that, cliches, and they are also aware that their reputation for brutality is extremely exaggerated, all of it being based on one sacking of an abbey in the 8th century. The Vikings were much more than that and today we’ll start exploring who and what they really were by looking at the best destinations for Viking era enthusiasts.
The overall knowledge about the Viking era isn’t very well-spread in the most of Europe because at that time the continent was in deep turmoil. Roughly between the late 8th century to the mid- 11th century the Vikings sent out explorers, colonists, traders, warriors as well as pirates, reaching all corners of Europe, up to present-day Russia, parts of North Africa – as far east as Baghdad – and even bits of North America long before Columbus.
L’Anse aux Meadows
This may not be the easiest place to reach but it is a solid and real proof that Vikings reached the continental North America – a solid five centuries before Columbus. It’s thought that they landed at L’Anse aux Meadows sometime around the year 1000 and used it as a base to ship timber to Greenland and as a gateway for possible colonization. This obviously did not happen as the site was abandoned after a few years. It is yet unknown how far south the Vikings got into North America.
The Viking Ship Museum – Oslo
This is a great place to further clarify how the Vikings actually managed to reach as far as they have a millenia ago. The highlight of th emuseum is the enormous Oseberg ship, dating from sometime around the year 800, discovered in a massive burial mount near Tonsberg, south of Oslo.
The oak ship is considered to be one of the greatest relics from the Viking Age, it is over 21 meters long and 5 meters wide. The museum is part of the Msueum of Cultural History which contains archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad, Oseberg and the Borre mound cemetery.
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