Kristiansand, Norway

Not to be confused with Kristiansund in the North, Kristiansand is the final stop on our current cruise itinerary, and is a place we’ve never been to before.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t looking too promising, so we decided to spend some time in another local art museum – Kunstsilo – The Art Silo – which is located very close to the quay, so we could walk to it easily.

The building is fascinating since – at 38 metres in height, and bright white – it is actually a former silo dating back to 1935, when it would have stored 15,000 tonnes of grain. The art museum opened in May 2024, and in 2025 was named the world’s most beautiful museum by the prestigious Prix Versailles awards, which celebrates outstanding architecture and design worldwide.

We were impressed with the building and what they’ve done to it, but after yesterdays art experience in Aarhus, its content didn’t quite blow us away in the same way.

After taking a good look around, and enjoying some of the installations (The Storm Room stands out as being a genius representation of a leaky room in the middle of a violent thunderstorm), we decided to take a walk along the footpaths around the outer edges of the small peninsula known as Odderøya.

The coastline was rocky and interesting, with the occasional feature such as this lighthouse…

Unfortunately, we hadn’t brought any food with us, and the weather just got worse as we walked. By the time we called it a day and started making our way back to the ship, we were cold and wet from the rain, as well as hungry. Should we come back here again, we would give the silo a miss and head straight for the coastline footpath, armed with full picnic rations… and waterproofs.