There's not much left of the special wooden houses: during the ages, a large number of them burnt down, and the remaining ones are now mainly used as souvenir shops - open 7 days a week and catering to the American and Japanese visitors, selling trolls and knitted stuff.

For an experience of what has been, there are two must-sees: the Schøtstuene and the Hanseatic Museum. The Schøtstuene is a small wooden building that served as an assembly room for the Hanseatic merchants. They came here to eat, drink, meet and teach their pupils. The dining/meeting hall with its large fireplace is especially worthwhile to take a look at.

The Hanseatic Museum, a few doors away also in a traditional building, shows how a Hanseatic merchant lived in the 18th century. His own rooms were nicely decorated, in contrast to those of the boys that were still in training. They could even be locked up in their beds at night by their supervisor!