It was a bit early in the morning when the MS Trollfjord arrived at Trondheim - 6 a.m., to be precise. But we did want to take a look around so, after a early breakfast, we were off in the sunshine, out of the quay, across the new station being constructed and into the city.
Trondheim (and that's a point of controversy in itself) is, rather unexpectedly, a place of pilgrimage. Whilst Catholics travelled to Santiago de Compostela in the west, and to Jerusalem in the east and, of course, to Rome, there was a fourth point of pilgrimage in medieval times, to the site of the burial place of King Olav II, who was thought to have brought Christianity to Norway, at Nidaros Cathedral. Olaf died at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, and was canonised the next year.
In fairness, modern historians suggest that he was inclined to violence and brutality, and that most of the work of introducing the Christian faith was down to his underlings, but somebody has to get the credit, and supreme monarchs tend to corner that particular market if they can.
And so, we walked through the town to the Cathedral, which is as big and imposing as one might expect. Whilst nobody really knows where Olaf is buried (it is somewhere under the cathedral, but the actual location was lost during the Lutheran iconoclasm of 1536-37), and the building suffered through a series of great fires, it is still quite an imposing piece of architecture.
We stopped for an extraordinarily expensive cup of coffee (you just have to accept this in Norway, prices are generally eye-watering) before setting off for a walk around the Bryggen neighbourhood. Crossing the Gamle Bybru, an old wooden bridge now closed to traffic, I spotted something slightly odd-looking. "It's the bike lift.", Ros explained. Puzzled, I sought an explanation.
It turned out that Ros had been here before, as part of a North Sea Commission delegation, and that the locals were very proud of this, a mean by which people could get their bikes up the quite steep hill with rather less effort, thus encouraging bicycle use. Admittedly, I wasn't tempted, and can't see the idea catching on, but it is innovative, nonetheless.
Sadly, the boat was due to leave at noon, so we headed back to the quay for the voyage retracing our steps back out of the Trondheimsfjord before heading north again towards a brief stop at Rørvik.
In the afternoon sun, it was strangely relaxing, almost hypnotic, to watch the coast slip by, the odd house dotted along it. It did look a little isolated, even from the perspective of a resident of a village of about 200. We sat in our bay window with a book, pointing out bits of scenery, or small communities, and just chilled until dinner.
Dinner is organised. You have a table assigned to you for the entire voyage, as well as a sitting. And, if you've given Hurtigruten enough money, you get a table by the window. You are reminded that it isn't a cruise by the menu, which offers a set of courses which everyone gets unless they have declared an allergy in advance (an allergy to fish is probably unhelpful). The main ingredients are sourced locally from suppliers up and down the coast, so your cod, for example, was probably landed the same day and loaded onto the ship at a morning stop.
But the food is very good, the service keen but not too intrusive, and the scenery, dominated by snow-capped mountains, gorgeous as it slips by. And, of course, at this time of year, darkness never truly comes, especially as you approach the Arctic Circle, so visibility is just as good as it is at noon until very late.
And the next day promised an invitation to meet some aging locals...
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