Posebyen

Kristiansand was laid out in 1641 on a strict grid, the Kvadraturen, and Posebyen is the northern part of it where the old low timber houses survive: fourteen blocks of white-painted single-storey and one-and-a-half-storey buildings with courtyards, outbuildings and cobbled yards behind, saved by luck from the fires that took the rest. The name's origin is disputed, with a French derivation from soldiers quartered here in the eighteenth century being one common explanation. Most of the buildings are private homes, and the quarter functions as a residential area rather than a museum, with a few cafes and small shops. Guided walks run in summer, and the grid layout makes it impossible to get lost.

What you actually see

• The white timber grid - fourteen blocks of low painted wooden houses.
• The courtyards - cobbled yards and outbuildings behind the street fronts.
• The 1641 layout - the original grid plan still legible on the ground.
• The summer guided walks - local tours through the quarter in season.

When to go

May to September, when the gardens and courtyards are at their best and guided walks run; the quarter is quiet and pretty in snow but with nothing open. Any time of day works, though these are homes.

Honest expectations

This is a lived-in residential area with no attractions as such, and the interest is architectural. The walk takes an hour. Cafes and shops are few and concentrated on a couple of streets.

Nearby

Kristiansand's fish market and Christiansholm fortress are south; Ravnedalen park lies northwest.