17th
Aug 2015
What a delightful
city !
Nice weather yet
again when we woke up, so after packing up we made the short drive into
Trondheim. We drove right into the
centre, and found a parking spot without too much trouble, and headed into the
town. No 1 on the list today was to try
and sort my phone out. My iPhone 3,
which I have had for a year or two now, and has worked just fine, suddenly quit
a couple of days ago – Battery completely dead, won’t accept charge, etc. So I was hoping to find a place with a
battery for an iPhone 3 – But no such luck. Ended up having to buy an iPhone 5,
and then left my old phone with them to try and get some of the contacts and
other data transferred across to the new phone.
Trondheim is a
delightful city – And it wasn’t hindered by the beautiful weather. When the sun
comes out, the Norwegians enjoy it, and everywhere were people is shorts and T
shirts (and sometimes less !) just enjoying the sun. How do Norwegians get so brown if they rarely
see the sun ?? Unless it is fake
?............
Having dropped my
phone off, we went exploring, and first sight was (supposedly) one of the
largest wooden buildings in Norway.
Originally a private residence, it is now the Royal residence – We got a
peak inside but saw no royalty !
We then wandered
down to the fish market, a focal point of the city with all its fishing
history, and they have a small “fishing” museum there, as well as a good
selection of seafood there, although unfortunately it is all at “healthy”
Norwegian prices, so after admiring everything, we left to look for cheaper
options ! We found a coffee and bun for
a much more reasonable price at a delightful open air café in the pedestrian
mall area, and sat there enjoying the sunshine and people watching for a while.
From there we had
to return to the car to feed the parking machine again (another thing that
isn’t cheap around here !!), and as we were parked near the old wharf area on
the Nidelva River, we went to explore there while we were nearby. Despite frequent fires, the warehouses and
wharves in this area have been a focal part of the town, and many have been
recently restored and turned into offices and apartments. The oldest buildings date from the
1700’s. Just up from the wharf buildings
is the old bridge, the Gamle Bybro, which acquired its carved gates in
1861.
From there we
moved on to the cathedral – Nidaros, the oldest part of which dates from around
1320. The cathedral is the largest
construction in Norway from the Middle Ages – Several fires have ravaged it
over time, and large parts lay in ruins when restoration began in 1869. Unfortunately it was another high entrance
fee and being forbidden to take photos that meant we did not enter – But we did
cross over to the Archbishop’s Palace which was equally interesting, with parts
of it dating from 1160. After the Reformation it became the private residence
of the feudal overlord, and later served as a military base. We went into the Military Museum (Free entry
!) and the display was excellent, with a lot on the early history of Norway /
Sweden / Denmark and the powerplays and wars between them, and then an
excellent section on the Resistance from WW II.
Together with books I am reading at present, and some of the places I am
visiting on this trip, I am becoming more and more interested in this era – I
was useless at history at school, but now am finding myself very interested in
some of this. Must read and research more.......
We were really
enjoying Trondheim, and could easily have spent another day there, but we have
a long way to go, and we need to keep going while the weather is good ! We went back to pick up my iPhone – And
found out that the (big) SIM card from my iPhone 3 won’t fit into the new iPhone
5 I have just bought !! So it would be
stupid to spend all that money on a new phone which I then could not use until
I get back to UK and can get a new small SIM card of my phone provider. Now, while the Apple shop was more than happy
to take the phone back, the law in Norway prevents them giving a credit on a
foreign credit card – They have to give refunds in cash. But of course they did not have enough cash
to give me !! So I have had to leave
details with them for them to pay it into my bank account in Australia !! Sometimes things just don’t go the right way
! But this is fairly typical for Norway
– The Government here has very strict rules (it even runs the church and the
liquor stores !!), and sometimes these
are somewhat different to “normal” ways of doing things in other countries, and
this is just one example. So my fingers
are crossed that I see the credit in my bank account soon !!
After all that
time in the Apple shop, we left town just as rush hour was starting, and ran
into a bit of traffic as we headed north out of town. We have decided to take the more tortuous
coast road to the north as we are told it is a lot more scenic, and while the
weather is good, it seems a shame to waste it.
So we headed towards Steinkjer on the main road, around the
Trondheimfjorden, before forking off to the left and heading out towards the
coast. Stopping in Stiklestad, it is one
of the most famous places in Norwegian History.
It was here, at a battle in 1030 that King Olav Haraldsson, later St Olav,
died. The site is marked by a statue and
a chapel as well as a church, while his remains are now buried in Nidaros – The
Cathedral in Trondheim. We spent some
time exploring the area in the evening sunshine, including a typical 19th
century farm with buildings and outhouses from the period.
Shortly after
leaving Stiklestad, and passing through Steikjer, we found a little camp site
beside an arm of a fjord, and we were the only people there – Our spot down in
a little spit was unbelievable, with nothing in front of us but water. We had a superb sunset as some cloud came
over, and then turned in for an excellent nights sleep.
Here are the pics at last :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0331TrondheimAndOnToStikklestad?authkey=Gv1sRgCJOqrq66oa--sAE
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