Fredrikstad

Frederick II founded this town in 1567 after the Swedish army burned Sarpsborg, fifteen kilometres upstream, and the site he chose was the mouth of the Glomma where the river meets the Skagerrak, about twenty kilometres from the Swedish border, which explains the walls. The old town on the east bank is the best preserved fortified town in Northern Europe, its bastions and moats still legible in the street plan. The modern centre sits across the water on the west bank. Timber built the place, then shipbuilding kept it going until the main yard closed in 1988.