Kristiansund

Kristiansund, officially rewarded township status in 1742, is a town and municipality in the Nordmøre district of county Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The town had 17,105 inhabitants as of January 1, 2004, and covers a land area of 22 km². Kristiansund borders islands/municipalities Smøla to the northeast, Tustna to the east, Frei to the south, and Averøy to the southwest (in the northwest, there's nothing but the sea, besides the small island Grip¹). For mail addressing purposes, the town's name is often written as Kristiansund N (N for North), to distinguish it from southern city Kristiansand.²

Kristiansund is built on four islands, where Nordlandet, also called Marokko ("Morocco"), is the largest and site of the local airport, Kvernberget (IATA code: KSU). Gomalandet and Kirk(e)landet, second and third in size, are considered 'separate islands' even though they hang together. The smallest island is Innlandet (also called Tahiti). Kristiansund is one of the most densely populated cities of Norway, having what is arguably the country's most urban small city center, due to the relatively small size of the four islands on which it is built and the very constricted central harbour/town area of Kirk(e)landet.

Started in 1876 and still going strong is the Sundbåt ("Sound/Strait Boat") shuttle service with a capacity of a few tens of passengers, travelling between the islands. The small motor ferry crosses the harbour from Kirk(e)landet to Innlandet, then goes on to Nordlandet, to Gomalandet, and back to Kirk(e)landet, repeating the round trip in half-hour intervals morning to evening on weekdays. The Sundbåt bears the distinction of being the world's oldest motorized regular public transport system in continuous service.

Kristiansund. Clockwise from upper left: Kirk(e)landet, Gomalandet, Nordlandet and Innlandet.

The road to Kristiansund from the mainland comes through the bridges and tunnel called KRIFAST, over Frei, and onto Nordlandet. A high bridge brings the road to Gomalandet and Kirk(e)landet. Another high bridge leads from Kirk(e)landet to Innlandet. There is a car ferry going from Kirkelandet to Averøy, whose people have been commuting to town since many years ago for work as well as selling agriculture products. A second car ferry goes from Seivika on Nordlandet to Tustna in the east, with road and ferry connections to Smøla and to Aure on the mainland.

Kristiansund is located on the northwestern coast of Norway, and is known as the major bacalao city of Norway. Bacalao is made of salted, dried codfish, and has traditionally been exported in large amounts to Spain, Portugal and Latin America as food suitable during Lent. In recent years Kristiansund has become the major oil and gas city at the northwestern coast. Oil companies like Shell, Statoil and Norsk Hydro have offices in Kristiansund from where they serve their offshore installations at Haltenbanken (one of the northernmost underwater oil fields in the world).

Due to the town’s heavy involvement in fish processing and international shipping, there used to be as many as seven consulates in Kristiansund, mainly to Latin countries. Currently, there are only five left: Finland, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, and Great Britain.

The local newspaper is called Tidens Krav.

Notes

1. Grip was Norway's smallest-area municipality before being merged into Kristiansund in 19XX.
2. This addressing mix-up was particularly problematic in the era before postal codes were established in Norway).

de:Kristiansund nn:Kristiansund no:Kristiansund