Grimstad is lucky enough to be both a town and municipality in the county of Aust -Agder in Norway. It is situated in the region known as Sorlandet. Grimstad is the admin centre of the municipality, and is a beautifully scenic little maritime town nestled amongst a stack of time little island referred to as Skjaergard.
The town is bordered in the north by Birkenes and Froland, to the west by Lillesand and to the east by Arendal. Two breathtaking lakes are situated in the northern part of the Grimstad municipality being Lake Syndle and Lake Rore. In the southern part of the municipality two more beautiful lakes are located near the township of Reddal, being Lake Reddalsvannet and Lake Landviksvannet.
I'll be brutally honest here, it isn't exactly a large town, with only around 20,500 people. But what it may lack in size, its natural beauty and picturesque harbour make up for a million times over. The name of the city was originally Gromstad when the Danish governed Norway. However due to some sort of clerical error, when the city's name was registered it was spelt Grimstad.
Aside from the wonderful harbour, there is a small market, a church, a main shopping street and a museum that has been dedicated to the life of Henrik Ibsen, who was an apprentice to the local pharmacist in the mid 1800's. Not only an apprentice pharmacist, but Ibsen was also a poet. He wrote a masterful piece called Terje Vigen which truly illustrated not only his love of the town, but his through knowledge of the townspeople at the time.
Some of the popular tourist attractions include The Maritime Museum, which can only be accessed via boat, the Norwegian Horticultural Museum and the City Museum. The city also fields its fair share of concerts and exhibitions including the Norwegian Short Film Festival. The Agder Teater is a stone quarry that has been very cleverly hidden as an open air stage.
If you fancy some shopping Oddensenteret is the place to go. Other notable landmarks include the Homborsund lighthouse and the Nogne O brewery. If you get the chance, a visit to the Binabben lookout to view the city is simply awesome. The city also has three twin cities which are Billund in Denmark, Koping in Sweden and Asikkala in Finland.