Many of the buildings were built around 1905 or later to replace the wooden structures that were destroyed in the inferno of 23 January 1904. It must have been a tremendous building project to remove the rubble of the fire and at the same time plan for the rebuilding of a better city. The chief architect hired to organize and approve the building plans brought his newly acquired Art Nouveau inspiration to the buildings.
Just to be clear that building did not stop in that era, here is a picture of the new city hall with the library attached. The city hall is the taller one in the centre and the library is to the right.
Several of the buildings still have the iron labels of the year they were built.
The pictures in the gallery below can be expanded to see the details of the facades.
Not all of the buildings are limited to street access. There is a canal with entrances to many of the hotels and restaurants along its route.
You may have noticed how restaurants have scrambled to acquire sidewalk cafe space in the last couple of years. Sometimes, that space was built in the back parking lot. In this case, the back parking lot is flooded.
This is definitely a tourist destination. There are so many hotels and even a Hop-on-Hop-off bus service to show the highlights.
It makes sense to have fishing and ship supply stores close to the docks
If you want to stay close to the lighthouse, this is the closest hotel. There are many sailboats docked near it. Watch for beautiful pictures of them in the next post.
Oh my! Your pictures are stunning.. Alesund is so grand and pretty and quaint….loving traveling along with you Doug
I am happy that you are traveling with me, virtually.