Day 4: Trondheim

Sunday 22nd June was a day when we did no travelling. 

Our ship arrived in Trondheim at 08:30 and was scheduled to remain there until 12:00. We were asked to vacate our cabin by 08:00 and left our rucksacks in the baggage area. Our bill was stuck on the cabin door but I noticed that they'd forgotten to charge us for one of our meals, even though we'd presented our cruise card. Duly settled up, we had breakfast and decided that we were going to stay on board the ship in the lounges reading until just before midday. There's not much to do in Trondheim on a Sunday morning!

08:10: Sailing up the Trondheim fjord, and at least it looks reasonable weather again.

The 'Lofoten' arrives in the port...

.....where the 'Nordkapp' is already there on the southbound Hurtigruten.

When the 'Nordkapp' sails there is the traditional exchange of blast on the sirens, which caused considerable distress to a little girl on the  'Lofoten'

The way from the docks to the city centre on foot is signposted and takes about 15 minutes. The area is being redeveloped with up-market offices and hotels. 

There is now much better access for pedestrians to the city with a new bridge over the station area so I couldn't resist including these two photos of the freight loading area..

....and the main Trondheim station. 

As our hotel room wasn't going to be ready until later we left our bags in lockers at station and then went to look around the city. On our return we had a problem with the luggage locker when we went to retrieve them. Fortunately  a railway official made some telephone calls and a member of the security staff appeared from behind a door and opened the locker. We also discovered another Norwegian speciality at the station. Toilets where you use your credit card to open the door for a 5 Krone fee!

The River Nidelva inner harbour outside the main station.

In the Torvet, or main square, is the statue of the Trondheim's founder, Olav Tryggvason, by the sculptor Wilhelm Rasmussen. It is a sundial, the column casting its shadow on a cobblestone clock face.

The Nidaros Cathedral was begun in 1070, but has been through numerous rebuilds and wasn't completed until the early years of the twentieth century.

The incredible west end of the cathedral with its rose window, three entrance doors, two towers and 57 statues. The cathedral is the setting for all the coronations of the kings and queens of Norway. It is the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe

The Stiftsgården is the royal residence and is situated on the corner of one of the main streets in the city centre.

The old medieval Vår Frue church was open on the Sunday afternoon so we went in and had a cup of tea served by some of the parishioners!

The old town bridge

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On either side of the river Nidelva the old warehouses have been converted into flats, shops and restaurants...

...and were very popular on this warm afternoon.

One of Trondheim's curiosities is this bicycle lift. You put one foot on a lump of metal which pulls you and the bike uphill. we saw nobody using it successfully!

In the evening we went out to an Italian restaurant that we'd booked over the internet and had huge helpings of pasta - we were unable to finish them!

Stephen went down to the station to see if anything was happening and saw this freight train of car transporter wagons heading south to Oslo.

It was early to bed as we needed to be up by six the following day. Fortunately our hotel room had good blackout curtains as the sun was still high in the sky at 22:00 - Trondheim is at latitude 63°N.

 Click here to go the next page - Trondheim to Tromsø