Restaurant Rustad

Summer open à la carte restaurant

Restaurant Rustad is part of Hotel Horten with an attractive location at Horten guest harbor. During the summer season this is an attractive à la carte restaurant. Open daily during summer, while after ended season the restaurant can be rented with a varieties of custom made arrangements. 

 

New concept

Both the restaurant and the hotel can be rented with customized arrangements according to your needs. Examples of events that can be ordered are:

– Events
– Course
– Conference
– Wedding
– Confirmation
– Anniversary celebrations
– Chefs

It is possible to bring your own raw materials cooked either by yourself or with restaurant Rustad's skilled chefs. The possibilities are many.

 

Modern surroundings

Both the hotel and the restaurant are newly renovated and refurbished, and offer social events and wonderful dining experiences in Hortens stylish premises.

Horten Church

When the navy's main base started moving to Horten in 1818, the place belonged to Borre parish. In 1852 the naval station got its own priest and in 1853 the construction of Horten church began. The church was finished in 1855, and was consecrated on 22 August of the same year.

Architect L.H. Grosch designed the church. In 1865, Horten was separated from Borre as its own congregation, and the church has belonged to Horten municipality since 1962. The painter Harald Kihle painted the church interior in 1925.

The large stained glass windows in the back of the choir with motifs from Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and the New Jerusalem were installed in 1992, and were a gift to the church. The original stained glass windows were destroyed after a German bombing raid on 9 April 1940.

The baptismal font is made of Nordland granite and made by penitentiary prisoners from "The Slavery" at Akershus fortress in Oslo.

The church's first organ (15 voices) was built by organ builder Brantzæg. In 1914, an 18-voice organ was delivered by organ builder Olsen-Jørgensen. The facade from the first organ was kept as it is today. In 1958, the organ was restored by Jørgensen. The instrument then got a new playing table, pedal keyboard and stool. The voices were retained, except for two changes in pedal and 2nd manual.

The church has 900 seats.

Lystlunden Park

Lystlunden Park is Horten municipality's largest park and sports facility. The park has a unique combination of enchanting nature and cultural attractions. The park's 150 hollow oak trees make it an exotic area. The many benches in the park to settle on, the park's duck pond were you can feed the ducks and its old pavilion makes the park a wonderful recreational area. Furthermore, you will find sculptures by Arne Durban and Ørnulf Bast here. Horten municipality has put a lot of effort into developing the park. You will also find new grills for general use – so just bring coal, food and blankets – and let the picnic start. In the evening you will be able to experience the park's special lighting.

Playground and adventure world
The park also has an exciting playground with old oak trees where the elves live. If you walk carefully and look around the trees, you may just discover them.

Multiple sports facilities
The sports center in Lystlunden Park has stadiums for football, rugby, archery range, and several training courses for football.

Gift from the Navy
Lystlunden was given as a gift to Horten's population by the Navy in 1852 for recreation and amusement. Most of the inhabitants of Horten were then part of the workers at the Navy's main yard (Karljohansvern).

Today, Lystlunden Park has its own association, which actively works to preserve the park's landscaping and distinctive features for the public's best interest.

Nykirke church

Nykirke church has an unknown year of construction, but it is assumed that it is the same age as Borre church and that it was built around the year 1100. In 1686, the church was completely restored. After this, the congregation at Nykirke took over responsibility, and since then several restorations have been made to the church. Both in the 1880s and 1950s, and most recently in 2003.

Coastal trails in Horten

History, culture and nature all in one
Horten is a coastal municipality with a 40 kilometer long coastline from Tønsberg municipality to the south, and to Re municipality in the north. 

Popular trails
* Sandsletta – Frebergvika – Slettefjell – Varnestangen
* Falkensten – Varnestangen
* Løvøya around
* Karljohansvern around
* Coastal Horten – Borre – Åsgårdstrand (Signed as Cycle Route No. 1)
* Coastal road Åsgårdstrand – The border to Tønsberg municipality

17 km long hiking path
The coastal path in Horten is part of the North Sea Route, and extends from Falkensten / Løvøya in the north to Åsgårdstrand in the south. Along the 17 km long trail you can wander in surroundings characterized by silence, peace and quiet. Nature here is diverse. It has large features of Edelløv forest and many nice places to sit down with a snack to listen to birdsong and waves.

Maps of historical trails
Detailed maps of historic hiking trails in Horten municipality are available at ut.no.

Bicycle Paradis
Are you interested in cycling in beautiful nature, Horten has great cycling trails. Horten city is surrounded by breathtaking scenery with both flat stretches like the ones between Åsgårsstrand and Horten, and with more wavy stretch over hills and fields.

16 shelters in Horten
The geography, climate and landscape of the geography has a rich diversity of animals and plants and has 16 protected areas. These will take care of rare, vulnerable and pristine landscapes, plants and animal species.

Borre Church

Borre church is 1 of 160 preserved stone churches in Norway, and is a listed medieval brick church. The church is a long church built in the 12th century, in a Romanesque style. Inside the church there are 300 seats.

The church has undergone several changes throughout its long history. In the years 1926-28, restoration work was carried out which still characterizes the interior today. At this time, all of the furnishings were replaced, except for the altar and pulpit from the 17th century. The altarpiece was carved by Abel Schrøder.

Inside the church there are several older paintings of foreign origin.

Note: there is neither parking nor toilets on site.

Løvøy Chapel

Stone church from the Middle Ages
Løvøy Chapel is beautifully located on the idyllic Løvøya in Horten, surrounded by lush forest, exciting trails and beautiful views of the Oslo Fjord. The chapel is a cozy and romantic stone church from the 13th century, and the smallest and most distinctive of Horten's three medieval churches. In the summer the pilgrimage goes by this medieval church, and there is a service every other weekend there.

The sacred St. Olav's source
Next to the chapel is the "wishing well":  The sacred St. Olav source which people believed to have had a healing power since the 13th century. The source is one of the 23 famous Olav sources in Norway. The water from the sources is said to be holy and give blessing and strength to those who drink or touch it. Characteristic of St. Olav's sources is that they are sources that do not dry out when other sources go out in dry periods.

Popular chapel to marry
The Løvøyapellet is a perfect place to marry in the summer, and a very popular chapel for this purpose. The church has 100 seats and a simple yet adventurous atmosphere.

History
Pilgrims from all the Nordic countries came here. The Reformation in 1536 put an official stop to the catholic pilgrimages to Løvøya but people continued to come to the well and church for years on. The church was in ruins for many years until preservation and restoration was initiated in 1882, and it was reopened in 1950.

Banqueting – Thon Hotel Horten

Thon Hotel Horten ensures that your event is successful and is involved in the planning phase from beginning to end, whether it is a wedding, baptism, confirmation, party, anniversary, Christmas party, birthday party or memorial service.

Baltzer Restaurant

Baltzer Restaurant gets its name from Baltzer Rustad, who operated a guest house and ferry service between Horten and Moss at the beginning of the 19th century.

For table reservations or other questions, call tel. 33 08 33 80.

Free parking in the backyard of the hotel.

The Viking hall “Gildehallen”

When reconstructing such a hall, the first problem is that you simply do not know what they looked like.

The hall has therefore been reconstructed based on archaeological theories, and mythical sources such as e.g. the legend of Beowulf seriously when deciding on the hall's design. The result is a building that is completely unique in the world – in addition to being a delight both for the eye and for those interested in history.

On the outside, roof shavings have been painstakingly laid, and the roof is adorned with a beautiful ridge crest. The lyra is decorated with beautiful wood carvings, and the main entrance has a beautifully carved portal.

Inside, the hall is equipped with a fireplace, benches and tables with hand-carved table supports, and Odin's ravens Hugin and Munin have found themselves comfortably at home among the beams.

The exquisite wood carvings on the center pillars in the hall each tell their own story, which together form the background for the hall. The stories that are told were already myths in the Viking Age, and it is conceivable that they adorned such halls even then. The wood carvings are done by hand (a machine is used to mill down the depth), and are shaped based on the so-called Vestfold style, mainly based on finds from Oseberg.

Many of the building parts have been processed by hand with axes and planers. It has been approximately 2,800 m2 that has been given an almost contemporary surface, and we applaud the skill and soul put into the work by craftsmen over a long period of time, summer and winter. This is a building to be proud of.

Ceramics and beautiful Viking glasses for serving have mostly arrived, and leather traps from spelsau to sit on. However, we do not want to stop here, and hope to see the walls adorned with tapestries, a high seat the hall must have, and other things we can think of!

History
From archeology we know this type of hall building from the fourth century onwards. They usually consist of a large room, where the hearth served as the central source of light and heat. Artifacts found in these halls indicate that they had an official function. Common finds are exclusive glass, weapons, gold and other objects that stand out from everyday life and work. The hall can be considered a ceremonial space suitable for expressing and maintaining the family and the importance of the family line. The finds in the halls are consistent with this in the form of traces of high seats, remains of meals and drinking rituals. Weddings and funerals were most likely held here, where inheritance and property were passed on to future generations.