Distance: 0.0km (693.4km).
I wake up 642km away from my own home in Oslo. Yesterday I completed the pilgrim path from Oslo to Nidaros, today it was time to let my legs get a deserved rest. That is, a break from carrying a backpack, they still have to accept that I will walk a bit.
Nidarosdomen.
There was little thought through in advance about what I wanted to look at here in Trondheim. With one clear exception. Nidarosdomen, but it is in a way a mandatory visit after you have walked all the way here from Oslo. When you register at the pilgrim center in Trondheim that you have walked the pilgrim path and received the Olavsbrevet, you also get free admission to the cathedral.
Inside Nidarosdomen.
That Nidarosdomen is the most grandiose church in Norway is probably not up for an argument. Compared to many of the countries further south in Europe, Norway is not known for its large and monumental cathedrals, Nidarosdomen is the only one.
The altar and rose window, Nidarosdomen.
When I visit the cathedral, I am so lucky that they are testing out the lighting system. I do not know if it is a general maintenance or if it is for a specific event, but I get a kind of feeling that it is the latter. In any case, it is fun to go inside under the high ceiling and all the arches while the light goes on and off, at the same time as the windows, archways and columns change colours.
Green colours inside Nidaros Cathedral, but one blue window.
It felt great to have a play of light in Nidaros Cathedral as the end of the pilgrimage (even though it is not really finished).
Arches and columns, gray and blue colours.
The light in Nidarosdomen turned off, the columns in the middle lit.
What else can I see or visit in Trondheim? I had Rockheim in mind, a museum dedicated to Norwegian rock music, so I walked down to the harbour and found that it was closed. I would also like to visit Munkholmen, an island just outside of Trondheim with an old fortress and monastery on, but there are no boats going out there today.
Sculpture in the harbour, Munkholmen can be seen in the background.
In a café, I find a map of the old streets (called veite) in Trondheim. This was something new for me. The word 'veit' comes from Norse and means something like leading water through a ditch. So, in its original term it used as word for a ditch but is also used as a name for alleys. In Trondheim, there are still many of these back alleys left. So, with the map in hand, I set out in search of these old ditches, or rather the alleys.
Olav Tryggvason, Torvet, Trondheim.
Veite (old alley) in Trondheim.
Some of these alleys are pleasant narrow streets with wooden facades, but many of them has a feeling of really being an alley, dominated by rubbish bins. Places where you can expect cats to hiss at you and where people hide in the shadows if you walk there after dark, like taken out of a film noir.
Veite in Trondheim.
Nidelva.
I trudge along the banks of the Nidelva, most often with the river on the other side of the houses that stand upright close to the water. Before I decide to go up to Kristiansten fortress. The trip up goes through pleasant Bakklandet.
Bakklandet.
Kristiansten castle.
Kristiansten was built in 1682-84 as part of rebuilding Nidaros after the city fire in 1682 (April 18). It was King Christian V who ordered the construction of the fortress. The castle has a location that provides a good view of Trondheim. And especially visible from the centre of Trondheim and the surrounding areas is the white main tower or donjon, mainly a cannon tower.
View of Trondheim and Nidarosdomen from Kristiansten castle.
From inside the walls of Kristiansten castle.
Takes a walk along Nidelva where I can look over towards the spires of Nidarosdomen that protrude from the trees. It is rain in the air.
Nidarosdomen among the trees on the other side of Nidelva.
Torvet on a rainy afternoon.
In the evening I eat pizza at Trondhjem Mikrobryggeri. The square with the Olav Tryggvason statue is wet from the rain. I walk up to Nidarosdomen where the entrance can be reflected in the water in the square in front. Then I end the evening with a beer at Antikvariatet again.
Nidarosdomen in evening rain.
Nidarosdomen in the evening.
Tomorrow my pilgrim path will be eastwards and home again. I will then take the train to Lillehammer to go the Østleden home to my own door.
The facade of Nidarosdomen reflected in water.
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