The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 1567 by the danish King Frederik II. Fredrikstad’s history starts, oddly enough, with the fall of the neighbouring town of Borg. This historic town was razed to the ground by the Swedish army, during The Great Nordic War, and soon afterwards, King Frederik II decided to build a completely new city, by the Glomma (the river) estuary.
In Fredrikstad’s historic Old Town, you’ll find the best preserved fortress town in the Scandinavia. It consists of buildings from the 18th century and and a fortification with walls and moats from the 17th century. The Østfold Regiment was disbanded in 2002, 350 years of military presence in the fortress town came to an end.
The Old Town in Fredrikstad is a dynamic part of the city with it’s small shops with designer goods, arts and crafts, furniture, food and curiosities. It also includes many galleries and many cosy restaurants and cafés.
Fredrikstad City Museum with it’s historic city exhibition is also located here, and there is a flea market every Saturday on the town square. It was a really beautiful town and I love the big presence of history everywhere you look. It was also very fun to see it’s still is being used a town. Many Old Towns are just empty and not an active part of the community. In the Old Town people has it’s own residents, shops and restaurants.
