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Published: August 13th 2007
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Kristiansten Fortress
View over Kristiansten Fortress Two days visiting Trondheim
Norway is a very nice country with wonderful people and astonishing nature. I like Norway a lot but for various reasons I don't visit our western neighbours very often. But now in August I had both the time and the opportunity to visit
Trondheim for a few days so I decided to give it a "go".
Trondheim is a city with old traditions. For more than 1000 years there's been a sizeable settlement at the estuary of the Nidelva River in the Trondheimsfjord on the west coast of Norway. A long time ago Trondheim was the capital of Norway and the city has also been a popular pilgrimage site.
In Trondheim I first visited Kristansten Fortress, sitting on a hill east of the city centre. The fortress was built in the end of the 17th century for defend purposes and, according to the museum of military history in Trondheim, its proudest moment was in 1718 when it withheld the onslaught of the Swedish army. The Norwegians seem to be very proud of that for some reason... A little bit too proud in my opinion. As soon as the Norwegians have in one way or
Timbered house
Many houses in Trondheim are is this style. They have very nice colours and give the town character. the other have beaten us Swedes they have to tell everybody about it. So you could beat us in the 18th century. Who cares? Well, come on and try to beat us in ice hockey today!
Of course I am just joking here. Sweden and Norway may have had disputes in the past but that was a long time ago. Today there are virtually no tensions at all between the two countries. I say this in spite having once actually been shot at by the Norwegian navy. This happened a long time ago when I travelled with my family from the Swedish west coast into Norway across the Oslo Fjord. What we didn't know was that the Norwegian navy that day was engaged in a very large military exercise and that we were heading straight into their war game. To tell us that we were going into a zone where we potentially could get hit by debris from rockets used in a target practice the navy fired three shots in the water a few hundred meters ahead of the boat. We turned north and steered out of the danger zone and that was the end of that story.
Timbered house
Many houses in Trondheim are is this style. They have very nice colours and give the town character. The other big tourist site I visited in Trondheim was
the Nidaros Cathedral. This original cathedral was erected in 11th century but the building standing there today is of later date. The cathedral was originally erected over the tomb of King Olaf II, aka Saint Olaf. Rumours spread that holy water from a well near the grave of Saint Olaf had healing properties and this made the cathedral an important pilgrimage site drawing visitors from far away. Today the Nidaros Cathedral is one of the most important tourist attractions in Trondheim partly because it's importance to the city but mostly because it is a wonderful building. Over 50 statues cover the front of the building and several other statues and dozens of fascinating gargoyles can be found throughout the rest of the cathedral.
In some of the larger boroughs of Trondheim the most common houses are old timber houses. These houses are often quite large and are generally painted in bright colours. I found these houses very charming and I find that they gives the town it's character.
Since Trondheim is an old town there is plenty of historical places in town and old interesting buildings. There are several old
Timbered houses
Many houses in Trondheim are is this style. They have very nice colours and give the town character. churches, there are ruins after a city wall and there is the Archbishop's Palace dating back to the 12th century.
One interesting part of Trondheim is the old warehouses along the river. The harbour has for a long time been important in Trondheim. A long stretch of the Nidelva River is lined with wooden warehouses mainly from the 19th century. The houses was used as storage and could be reached from both the river, where boats could load and unload cargo, and from the land. Today there is no use for warehouses of this kind so today you find restaurants, real estates agents and other business in these houses. Some of the houses have also been turned into apartments.
In Trondheim there are several other tourist attractions worth mentioning. I didn't try it myself but I heard someone saying that you can go on a whale safari from Trondheim.
In central town there is actually a
bicycle lift. Maybe it doesn't really qualify as a tourist attraction but it draws visitors simply for being the only one of its kind in the World (according to the website anyway).
In the Trondheim harbour there is a statue of
Timbered houses
Many houses in Trondheim are is this style. They have very nice colours and give the town character. Leif Ericson, a Viking who sailed to America almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus. According to a sign on the statue Leif Ericson started the voyage to America from Trondheim. Though there are people who might disagree about that. I have from more than one source heard that Leif Ericson sailed from Iceland.
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Reskaninen
Reskanin
Me too :-)
Indeed, I went there too, but took different pictures :-) Very nice town, I must say. Since links are stripped here, no use of putting the direct link here, but it's on my travelblog.