Norway has held fast to many of its cultural traditions and it's not uncommon to see elaborate folk costumes worn at weddings and other festive events. Traditional folk dancing, singing and storytelling (often featuring trolls) are also popular. The country has produced a wealth of artistic talent including the painter Edvard Munch, composer Edvard Grieg, sculptor Gustav Vigeland and playwright Henrik Ibsen. Norway has also produced three winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Sigrid Undset and Knut Hamsun.
Norwegian architecture is renowned for its unique stave churches - among the oldest wooden buildings on earth - which have one foot in the Viking Age and the other in the 11th-century early Christian era.
Norwegian dishes include laks (grilled or smoked salmon), reker (boiled shrimp) and torsk (cod). Popular at Christmas time is lutefisk (dried cod made near-gelatinous by soaking in lye), which is definitely an acquired taste. A common sight on most breakfast tables is sweet brown goat cheese called geitost and pickled herring. Alcohol may be hard to find in some rural communities where virtual prohibition is the norm.
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