Trondheim

Hi - sorry to have been quiet for a week or so, but we have been away on holiday! And, since we are living in Norway, what better way to spend part of your summer holidays than to travel in Norway.

For those of you who are a little shakey on their geography, Norway is a long thin country, stretching over 1,000 miles from top to toe (over 1,700 km) - it is actually the longest country in Europe! There are lots of mountains, and the coastline is punctuated by thousands of large and small fjords, islands and inlets, all of which make road building and maintenance challenging to say the least. I would hazard a guess that Norway has the largest amount of tunnels per road kilometer than any other country! In fact, it is easier to get to Kirkenes at the top of Norway via Sweden and Finland, than it is to drive up through Norway, as the roads are better!

So, unlike friends of ours, we took the easy route and booked plane tickets, first to Trondheim and then on to Lofoten. Lofoten is one of the most beautiful areas of Norway (well actually there are so many it is difficult to make comparisons!) and lies north of the Polar Circle (remember this is a 'summer holiday'!!).

Anyway first stop, which is what this post is abou was Trondheim. Trondheim is famous for

well this was outside the tourist office - cute isn't he?  No seriously, Trondheim is famous for this

Nidaros, Trondheim cathedral, which took over 300 years to build (started in the 11th century) over the tomb of St. Olav (Olav II, reigned 1015-1028) the first christian king of Norway.

In the Middle Ages, Trondheim was the religious and political capital of Norway, but during the 14th century, Bergen with its strong links to the German Hanseatic traders, became more important.  Now, Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway (after Oslo and Bergen) with a population of around 150,000.

Trondheim is a mix of old and new - it is always the old though that makes the best photos! Here are a few -


The back of Stiftsgaarden, the largest wooden palace in Europe. Still used as a royal residence today, the palace dates from the 1760's, and was built by a wealthy Norwegian family before ending up in royal hands in the mid 1800's. The interior is original in many places - a really interesting tour!



The old town bridge over Nidelva (River Nid)



Old houses in Baklandet, built after the fire in 1680.

Below, is one way to get across the river! This little row boat takes 12 people. and is a reconstruction of one that used to ferry people across the river to the station over 120 years ago, before a bridge was built in this part of town. In the old days the ferryman would row across the river summer and winter - now it is only May through September!

Nidaros cathedral from the 17th century fortress that overlooks the town.

Well, we were ony there for a day, and it hardly rained at all, though tempertures were on the cool side at around 16 degrees C.  Still as the Norwegian say 'there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing'.  

I have to go back though - on Sunday we came across the most amazing looking (from the outside at least) second hand/antiques warehouse. A huge building that stretched across one whole block from the river to the next street. Of course, since it was Sunday, it was closed, much to my husband's relief!



Shiny, shiny, shiny

So shiny in fact, it blinds drivers on the motorway bridge above it (on the few days a year when the sun is out, of course)!!!

I think this sculpture has been created as part of the Bybanen Project (tram way), which will eventually link Flesland airport to Bergen town centre. So far the tram goes from Bergen centre to Nesttun, which is about half way!

Anyway, this new piece of sculpture is still quite shiny, whether it will remain so throughout the winter, or whether it will gradualy tarnish and dim, remains to be seen!  I intend to take photos every now and then to see if it does fade. At the moment it reminds me of a glacier!

The tramway project has led to some interesting artworks being put up along the route, in particular a huge rabbit beside a lake - it looks as though it has just walked off a nursery wall - very rounded and baby like (odd and slightly freaky too!). Artwork has also been commissioned for some of the tunnels. Simple neon tubular lights are positioned in varying colours and geometric linear shapes, which you pick up on as you go past. It really does help to break the monotony of riding through a long tunnel.

By next spring the tram should be two thirds of the way to the airport, with the final stretch being finalised 2015 if finances hold! It will be a quick and easy way to get into town from Flesland airport but I wonder how much they will charge for that journey?

World War II legacy at Fjell festning

Relics of the second world war can be stumbled upon in many parts of Norway. Let's face it reinforced concrete and inch thick armour plating are difficult things to get rid of. Sometimes the area name will give the fact away that it was once a military area, with the word 'festning' or fortress tacked on to a village or town name.

We visited one at the weekend on the island of Sotra, about 50 minutes drive from Bergen. Sotra was the first line of defence of Bergen towards the Atlantic, and the Germans built a large underground fortress manned by a massive gun turret with 3 guns taken from the German battleship the Gneisenau, which was badly damaged in an Allied raid in 1942. The gun had a range of 37km - it was big.

The gun is no longer there now. It was called Bruno and was one of three from the Gneisenau, The first one (Anton) was split up and the guns used in Denmark, Bruno ended up at Fjell and Caesar ended up in Ørland, on the coast just outside of Trondheim, a major submarine base for the Germans during the war.

Anyway for NOK 30 you can wander around the inside of the turret that was under the gun, which goes down 3 stories and also outside around the hillside where the remains of buildings and anti-aircraft gun emplacements, etc. can be seen. If you pay NOK 60 you can get a guided tour - we had just missed the beginning of one so cheated a bit and listened in on some of the things the tour guide was saying as he took people round (we didn't join the whole tour, with only 10 people there I think they would have noticed!!)




 

Anti aircraft gun

The fort was still being built by Russian prisoners of war when the Germans capitulated in 1945, apparently they reckoned it would take another 10 years to complete the fortress to the standard required. It needed a proper hospital, and probably better accommodation/

Armour plating left to rust



Surprisingly peaceful considering the history there

We saw some aerial surveillance photos of the area, taken by the allies whilst the fortress was being dug out, which showed piles of stones cascading down the mountainside like a rockfall, and then next time a picture was taken, the pile was much larger! Difficult to hide that kind of bulding project - especially if there is a mighty great gun, etc. planted there for all to see (and avoid).

Beautiful scenery as ever, and this time fully accessible for everyone (no mountains to climb, or animal tracks to follow)!!


If we had the time, I could see us going to see the gun that survived the war. It is still in place up in Trondheim but a good 2 hours drive from the city and we won't have a car next weekend when we go there.  Ah well!

View across Sotra to the Atlantic \ocean from the top of Fjell Festning



Wrecked trawler hits central Bergen!

Summer in Bergen is tourist time. With 2 or 3 cruise ships berthing every day, each carrying up to 3,000 passengers, this is a time when you can see some odd things popping up in the streets in the name of art and culture!

Not everyone thinks they have artistic merit, and there have been a number of complaints about this installation, which is located outside the main art museums by the central lake. The artwork  shows parts of Vilma, a Russian trawler built in 1977, which was registered first in Bergen and then sold to Russian owners. In 2011 she was sent to Trondheim to be broken up as she had been under arrest in Kirkenes since 2004 and had incurred such huge fines she was no longer commerically viable as a trawler!

The artwork is a comment on our throwaway society. The trawler could have been easily be repaired but was thrown away because of commercial and financial 'logic'.

Any comments? I think it is quite neat actually!

It's a beautiful country but ..

I think evryone would agree that Norway is one of the most beautiful and scenic countries in the world, however, in order to experience that beauty it appears that many take risks, which are not always necessary. Tourists in particular, especially those coming from less vertically challenged countries such as Holland or even the UK, do not understand how dangerous it can become out in the mountains, especially when it has been raining. There are few man-made paths and the narrow animal tracks or rock strewn paths soon become slippery. Put that together with a steep mountainside, or very rough terrain and you can get problems.

I love this picture taken at the 182 metre high Vørringsfossen, a waterfall near Voss, 2 hours drive north east of Bergen. The man is actually walking along the edge of the rock face to go and take a picture of the water fall. The person who took it could not believe his eyes and sent it to the local newspaper, Bergens Tidende (published 2nd July 2012). When asked, the local Tourist Office said that no-one wants to have the responsibility of putting up signs or fences and railings to stop people from wandering into an unsafe area, as then it makes you liable if something goes wrong. The thought was that common sense should prevail, and if you have an accident it is your fault! Problem is though - who pays the expenses for the helicopter that has to fly out and pluck you to safety off a mountain ledge?

So far in the past few weeks 3 tourists have lost their lives experiencing Norway's beautiful scenery. One was an experienced paraglider, who crashed into a mountain wall, one was a canoeist, who has disappeared whilst white water rafting,and the third was a cyclist, who fell off her bike, over the edge of the road and down into a river. I am sure there will be more tragic stories in the newspapers before the tourist season is over.

Norwegians probably understand their country, and the way the weather can change extremely quickly, better than anyone. To them it is natural to either not take the risk, or to have the right equipment with them. Even Norwegians can get caught out with tragic consequences. It would appear, for instance, that those who go out in boats rarely wear life jackets - hence the high number of Norwegians who drown each year. Of course, it does not help that the water is 13 degrees celcius or less even in July, so at those temperatures no-one would survive for very long anyway, regardless of whether or not you were wearing a life jacket! Falling overboard is clearly the wrong thing to do in an icy fjord! Even more so when there is no-one else around for miles. It is a large country with a small population. It's a different kind of streetwise here!

Earthquake hits Bergen!

Yes, for real! We have just (9.03 a.m. Bergen time) been shaken, very slightly, by an earthquake. Apparently it hit 3,2 on the Richter scale and shook houses and windows in Askøy and Eidsvåg. Not quite California or Japan style - I don't think anyone had to hold the TV to stop it falling off it's stand as we did in Japan in the early 80's!

No reports so far of any damage - but a great excuse for the insurance companies to put their premiums up!!