INTKODUCTION.
I. Expenses. Honey. Language. Passports. Post Office.
Expenses. Travelling in Norway and Sweden is less expensive
in some respects than in other parts of Europe, but the great dis¬
tances which require to be traversed by road and rail, by steamboat
and rowing-boat, necessarily involve a very considerable sum total.
After arrival in the country, 20-25s. per day ought to cover all
outlays, but much less will suffice for those who make a prolonged
stay at one or more resting-places.
For the routes and fares to Norway from London, Hull, Leith,
etc. the traveller is referred to the advertisements in the daily-
newspapers and to the time - tables of the various steamboat com¬
panies. It may, however, be mentioned that the shortest sea-passage
is from Leith, whence good steamers ply during the season to
Christiansand, to Stavanger, to the Hardanger Fjord, to Bergen,
Trondhjem , and the North Cape. The minimum return - fare is
usually about &l., while a cruise to the North Cape and back costs
from 25l. upwards. Travellers approaching Scandinavia from Ham¬
burg , Kiel, etc. may obtain return and circular tickets at very
moderate rates.
Money. In 1873 and 1875 the currency of the three Scandi¬
navian kingdoms was assimilated. The crown (krone), worth Is.
l1/^., is divided into 100 ere (Swedish ore; see money-table be¬
fore the title-page). These coins and the government-banknotes
(but not those of private banks) are current throughout the three
countries. British sovereigns, worth 18 kr. each, usually realise
their full value at the principal centres of commerce, but the rate
of exchange is often a few ere below par. Large sums are best
carried in the form of circular notes or letters of credit, as issued
by the chief British and American banks. The traveller should be
well supplied with small notes and coins (smaa Penge) before
starting on his tour, as it is often difficult in the remoter districts
to get change for gold or larger notes.
Language. English is spoken on board almost all the Nor¬
wegian steamboats and at the principal resorts of travellers, both
in Norway and Sweden, but in the country districts the verna¬
cular alone is understood. Danish, as pronounced in Norway
(which is analogous to English spoken with a broad Scotch accent),
is on the whole the more useful of the two languages, as most
travellers devote more time to Norway than to Sweden, and as it
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