Røros

The most magical little town in Norway with an equally magical Julemarked

This past weekend we took a trip to Røros with some family friends. We stayed in the most quaint and cute cabin I’ve ever seen in real life and visited the best Julemarked (Christmas market) in all of Norway (this is not just my opinion, it’s ranked high on many lists of “best Julemarkeder in Norway”). It was a magical weekend. “Guys, we live in Norway!” was said a few times while we were there. We continue to experience moments of awe that emphasize the fact we no longer live in the US.

We drove down to Røros Friday afternoon which took around 4 hours. One thing we have to get used to here are the winter roads. It’s not terrible, but they don’t always clear them. They lay gravel and sometimes pack the snow down, but in our area, and some other areas that we drove through, the road becomes a sheet of ice with gravel poking out. It makes you realize why their speed limits are so slow and appreciate good traction. We took the drive slow, and our toddler did a great job sitting in his carseat without much complaint for the entire time.

We made it to our cabin around 4:00pm and got settled in. The guys took a trip out to the grocery store which was the same store we have in our town, but fancier. They had dry-aged steaks which we bought the next day for dinner with some sausages and roasted veggies. The cabin consisted of a main house with two bedrooms (one on the main floor and one in a loft), a full kitchen, a living room with a wood burning fireplace, a sauna, and a hot tub on the porch. There were also 3 outhouses, one with three extra beds, another for storage, and a third that was a barbecue house.

The barbecue house was the best part of this cabin. It was round, similar to a yurt, with a fire pit in the middle and benches for sitting around the perimeter. The fire pit had an adjustable grill over top which is where we cooked our meat for dinner on Saturday. It was so fun, and we all decided we needed a barbecue house at all of our future homes. The cabin also had a grass roof and was surrounded by large fields of snow and a frozen lake just over a hill. It’s definitely a place we want to return to in warm months as well.

Saturday was spent exploring the town of Røros and visiting the Julemarked. The Julemarked in Røros happens for just one weekend in December, so it was crowded. All of the streets were decorated and everyone was in good spirits. There was a children’s choir caroling through town and a small band walking around playing Christmas tunes. We also caught a glimpse of Santa Claus walking the streets with one of his reindeer. One road was lined with vendor stalls selling local goods and foods. There was everything from reindeer burgers to unique Christmas decorations and wool socks. It was exciting to see all of the different homemade crafts and sample some of the local foods like moose sausage and smoked salmon. Our 1 year-old liked sampling all of the sweet baked goods. Every so often we’d pass a firepit to stop and warm-up by or a cafe to run inside and grab a warm drink. We bundled up and wore our layers, but it was still chilly outside.

The whole town participates in the Julemarked and many stores and local attractions are decorated and open to the public during this time as well. Røros appeared to be a very artsy town. There were several galleries lining the street, and we stumbled into a very unique courtyard covered in mosaics and art pieces. It was neat. We walked up and down the streets and saw a church at the top of the hill and the old mining area.

Røros Mining Town is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, which means it is a protected culturally significant area. Copper was mined in this area and the leftovers from the time are preserved. The mining town area also participated in the market. There were games to play, like attempting to lasso reindeer antlers, a stand selling warm non-alcoholic gløgg (a type of mulled wine with nuts and raisins), a movie playing on an outdoor screen, and other hands-on activities for the children. It was a nice area and a place we’d like to visit during warmer months. We weren’t able to learn much about this part of Røros during our visit this time. Hopefully that means there’s more to come when we get to take a trip back to Røros one day.

We didn’t go overboard with our Julemarked purchases. I’m trying to pace myself because we have more markets to visit this month and in the years to come, but we did get a couple of cute gifts. One of the most common and unique holiday decor pieces we’ve seen are Christmas gnomes, and I cannot get enough of them. They’re so cute and funny. So naturally, when we came across a vendor selling a variety of these Christmas gnomes, we bought one with a dark, bushy beard. There was also a stand selling souvenir clay cups that said, “Julemarked Røros,” on them. I had to add this to my cup collection.

We made some great memories this past weekend. The family we went with has a teenage boy that our 1 year-old son buddied up with. He was copying a lot of what the teenager did. He’s very interested in doing “big boy” things these days. It felt like we had our first real Norwegian trip, experiencing the feeling of koselig (coziness) by the fire in a hytte (cabin/small countryside house) which is a very common weekend trip here. I can’t wait for our next weekend getaway!