Day 8 – 17 July 2023 – Trondheim

Another early wake up, the sun rises just after 3 am & we are in the Trondheim Fjord already, the 3^rd longest fjord in Norway. More beautiful scenery as we cruise along the fjord, the mountains are not as high as we pass small village after small village & scattered farms clinging to the edge of the fjord. As we finish breakfast the city of Trondheim comes into view & the captain & crew do another great job of docking this big ship onto a tiny wharf. We watch as boats pick up the mooring lines & ferry the lines to the mooring bollards.  There is a small boat port next to the wharf & on the shore a very modern large swimming complex with multiple pools. Most of the buildings we see near the port look new & have a stylish design. Our ship tour is in the afternoon so we decide to take a walk around town.

As we exit the pier a young woman in traditional Norwegian dress is handing out walking maps of the town & giving some walking suggestions. We decide to do the shorter highlighted walk & set off past the small boat port & over the railway footbridge, all very new & modern with a glassed elevator that doubles as a clock tower. There are many beautiful old stone buildings & as we walk through town we note that most of the shops are closed & there are hardly any locals walking around with very few cars on the streets, very unusual. Some of the streets are closed to cars, pedestrians only, with one garnished with lots of colourful umbrellas & another with garlands of colourful flowers. The shops are in a mixture of old & new buildings that are very colourful. We can work out from the Norwegian writing what most of the shops are, some of the shops are labelled using English.

We see some new battery electric trams on the streets, they look very smart, they are quite & a great modern idea. The Canberra Government should have purchased something like this for Canberra instead of spending billions of dollars laying tram tracks & overhead power wires. The electric buses have overhead charging stations so that they get recharged while waiting to start the next scheduled route, very clever. On the main square is a large wooden building which is the summer palace of the royal family of Norway. A statue on a spire in the square is of King Olav II, the person that established Trondheim as the capital of Norway in around 1050 A.D. There are lots of beautiful old buildings surrounding the square. Along the road we see a large church framed by trees & we walk to it next to have a look. The church is Nidaros Cathedral, building started in 1070 over the tomb of King Olav II & was completed around 1300. Over the years since it has been restored a number of times (it burnt down 5 times) and looks magnificent. It is such a large stone building & the design of the front façade is amazing with rows of statues of lots of saints. Apparently it is the resting place of eight of Norway’s kings. The richly decorated King’s Portal on the side of the church was built around 1230 A.D. & has just finished being restored, it looks magnificent as well.

Next to the cathedral is the old stone Bishop’s Palace, now repurposed as museums & galleries with an event due to start at 11 am, just as we are leaving. Across from the cathedral is Thomas Angells house, a very large old building dating from 1770, with a large courtyard inside, he must have been very wealthy. As we turn to cross the river over the old town bridge, formerly a lift bridge to let the boats under, we spot the row of very old colourful restored shipping warehouses lining the river, a really beautiful picture. We walk back to the ship past all of these old warehouses then over an old boat slipway area that is now cafes & restaurants. Our legs are getting tired & we are getting weary, the ship is still far away. We walked 10.2 kms.  Tereza’s knees ached but she reckons the walk was worth it, next time she will take some pain killers.  I had lunch while Tereza chose to rest on the bed, then we are off on a guided tour, less strenuous.

Thankfully the bus is on the pier & we enjoy the seats on the bus ride as we are driven back into town with our guide telling us about lots of interesting history of Trondheim. The old historic tram is next & we travel on the old tram out of the main part of the city & up the hill in Schongsdal overlooking the island the old part of Trondheim is built upon. Back on the bus & more interesting stories & history, with the bus driver taking us through a tunnel that has a large roundabout underground, the first time we have ever experienced something like this. As we head back to the ship it starts to rain & we only get a little bit wet as we wait in line to board again. We were the last ones back on the ship before the crew pulled the gangway in & the ship started to ready for departure.

The small island off the port was originally a place of executions for King Olav II with the heads of his enemies placed on spikes to warn others of their likely fate. After the Viking age it became a Benedictine Monastery, a prison, a fortress & now a tourist island with café & restaurant plus a swimming beach. We hurried to dinner to watch from our table while the ship depart Trondheim with the fjord widening as we get closer to the Norwegian Sea. It was a lovely mild day but once again we were too warmly dress. Another great, though tiring, day.